Buried Secrets

Emma Chandler comes home to escape murder—and finds a twenty-five-year-old victim waiting at the bluffs.

Widowed and done with police work, Emma has built a gentler life at Brewed in the Morning, surrounded by strong coffee, her enormous dog Barnaby, and neighbors who know when not to ask questions. The remains belong to Robert Langford, dismissed as a runaway after a 1975 Yacht Club reception.

Antique dealer Ollie Bradshaw kept Robert’s papers—and the doubts Cedar Harbor preferred to forget. Together, he and Emma uncover a false alibi, missing civic records, and fortunes built after Robert vanished. Someone who protected the old story is still watching, and the former detective behind the café counter has begun asking the questions everyone agreed to bury.

Solving Robert’s murder could shatter the refuge Emma fought to build. Walking away would let Cedar Harbor bury him twice.