Berried to the Hilt: A Gray Whale Inn Mystery

In Agatha-finalist MacInerney's enjoyable fourth Gray Whale Inn mystery (after 2008's Murder Most Maine), innkeeper Natalie Barnes's biggest concern is choosing the winner of the Cranberry Island annual cranberry bake-off, until a lobsterman hauls up a piece of an old sunken ship. The inn quickly goes from vacancies galore to a full house as University of Maine archeologists and members of a Florida-based treasure hunting group swoop in to vie for first claim on the discovery. Most vocal of the Cranberry Island residents is elderly Eleazar White, who insists that anything hauled from the ship belongs in Maine. Eleazar threatens treasure hunter Gerald McIntire with an antique cutlass only hours before Gerald's dead body is found floating at the wreck site. Natalie determines to prove Eleazar innocent of murder while planning her wedding and keeping peace among her feuding guests. The satisfying conclusion will whet the reader's appetite for Natalie's next adventure. (Nov.)