Shadows on a Morning in Maine: An Antique Print Mystery

Wait’s middling eighth Antique Print mystery (after 2014’s Shadows on a Maine Christmas) finds professor and antique-print dealer Maggie Summer in Waymouth, Maine, where she’s opening an antiques mall with boyfriend Will Brewer. Maggie’s also in the midst of adopting nine-year-old Brooklin Deschaine, but that process is nearly derailed when the little girl stumbles across a slain seal during a visit. The seal is the third to have been shot in nine days, and the Marine Patrol remains clueless regarding the culprit. After a local fisherman becomes the shooter’s next victim, Maggie launches her own investigation, determined to restore order and safety to Waymouth before Brooklin returns. Wait tackles the topic of adoption with empathy and nuance, but this story line, coupled with Maggie and Will’s conflict-riddled renovation of the antiques mall, eclipses the book’s central mystery, which is introduced so late it’s practically an afterthought. Wait paints a vivid picture of life in coastal Maine, but readers in search of a fair-play mystery may be left wanting. (Sept.)