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USA Today Bestselling author Kathi Daley brings you a heartwarming mystery series about finding answers and fostering hope while building friendships and embracing the magic of life by the sea and small town holidays.

Ainsley Holloway had come to Gooseberry Bay to find answers about her past. She’d come to find an explanation for the dreams that haunted her after the death of the cop who’d both rescued and raised her. And she’d come to identify the family she couldn’t remember but knew in her heart she’d once belonged to.

Ainsley hoped that by finding these answers, she’d also find healing. She hoped that once she’d resurrected the memories buried deep in her mind, she’d find peace.

The Cottage at Gooseberry Bay is a series about, not only finding answers, but finding hope.

It’s a series about family and friendship.

It’s a series about shared holidays, festivals, and celebrations.

It’s a series about shared heartbreak and hardship.

And it’s a series about the bond that can be forged amongst strangers when tragedy binds two or more individuals with a common goal.

In book 13 in the series, it's Halloween in Gooseberry Bay and the ghosts and goblins are out in force. The whole gang turns out to help with the haunted house and related community events until someone close to them turns up dead.

135 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 12, 2023

561 people are currently reading
164 people want to read

About the author

Kathi Daley

321 books1,791 followers
Kathi lives with her husband, kids, grandkids, and dogs in beautiful Lake Tahoe. When she isn't writing, Kathi likes to read (preferably at the beach or by the fire), cook (preferably something with chocolate or cheese,) and garden (planting and planning not weeding). She also enjoys spending time on the water when she's not hiking, biking, or snowshoeing, the miles of desolate trails surrounding her home.
Kathi uses the mountain setting in which she lives, along with the animals (wild and domestic) that share her home, as inspiration for her cozy mysteries.

Join me on Facebook at Kathi Daley Books (www.facebook.com/kathidaleybooks) for updates on my books, photos of life in Lake Tahoe, recipes, contests, and giveaways. For weekly updates and contests sign up for The Daley Weekly Newsletter (http://eepurl.com/NRPDf).



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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Linda Galella.
1,047 reviews104 followers
November 2, 2025
Is there such a thing as a cozy mystery that’s too cozy? This might be it…

COTTAGE ON GOOSEBERRY BAY:HALLOWEEN BAY is book 13 in a series. It’s easily read as a standalone but might be better if readers have read at least a volume or two of the earlier stories. Author, Kathi Daley, does do a fair job of filling in details of relationships between characters but after 12 previous adventures, there’s a lot of history.

In this story, Edna, a well known character is killed in a car accident right after being elected to an important town office. Ainsley and friends are helping investigate, once again. Turns out Edna death has lots of potential suspects due to her prickly personality. The real estate developer is also in the picture when it’s learned Edna owns land he wants. So many possibilities for an 127 page book.

Gooseberry Bay is full of charming characters that care about each other. Living here is a bit like being in a nice, warm aquarium where when bad things happen, good people rally around and make it all better. It’s free from foul language and offensive violence or sexual content. A perfect read for when you need something light between heavier books or are looking for Halloween party inspiration, in this particular volume📚
Profile Image for Chris.
529 reviews2 followers
February 22, 2024
These are quick reads and I like them, but man, they are very repetitive throughout the storyline.
Profile Image for RO G'ma.
1,061 reviews43 followers
September 12, 2023
Halloween Bay is the thirteenth book in Kathi Daley’s Cottage on Gooseberry Bay series. This is an entertaining and clean series with a strong emphasis on family, friends, community, and caring. The setting is charming, and the three-dimensional characters are well-developed. The intriguing mysteries, twists, and red herrings will keep readers engaged and guessing. Ms. Daley’s descriptive writing draws the reader in, making them feel like they’re participating in all the heartbreak, joys, and investigations. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading well-crafted cozies.

After Ainsley Holloway’s adoptive father passed away, she found a photograph of a woman with two young children. For reasons Ainsley couldn’t explain, she felt connected to the people in the photograph and started doubting her past. In her search for the truth about her past, Ainsley and her two Bernese Mountain Dogs, Kai and Kallie, moved from Georgia to Washington State and rented a cozy cottage in Gooseberry Bay. Ainsley, who originally planned to stay for only a month or two, quickly made friends, settled into the community, and opened Ainsley Holloway Investigations.

In this installment, Halloween is just around the corner, and the entire peninsula gang volunteered, plus Adam Winchester, Remi Beckett, Sawyer Banning, and Jackson Davidson, who volunteered to help with the Halloween Festival’s haunted house. Ainsley is hired by Dianna Long to determine if a land developer, Rising Star Enterprises’ representative, Clint Potter, who is buying all the property in her neighborhood so that they can build an exclusive upscale condo complex, is using illegal means to scare the homeowners to sell. Meanwhile, when Fergus O’Malley suffers a heart attack, he decides to step down from his seat on the town council, and Edna Jenkins, who campaigned for and lost two previous elections, decides the third time would be the charm and hits the campaign trail again. Ainsley and her friends join forces to investigate the death of a local business owner.
Profile Image for Darla Taylor.
1,857 reviews
September 17, 2023
Ainsley Holloway came to Gooseberry Bay after her dad died in search of answers about her past. While living in Gooseberry, Ainsley got more than answers. She also found a community that made her feel at home and some friends who became family. Ainsley decides to settle down and she opened a PI firm.

In this book, it's Halloween and everyone is celebrating. Ainsley and her friends are volunteering at the fair and the haunted house. Ainsley has a complicated case, but she's also looking into the death of a friend. Was it an accident or was it murder?

Kathi Daley is one of my favorite cozy mystery authors, and this series is one of my favorites of her many series. The book's well-written and the characters are well-developed. I was drawn into this engaging story from the start and kept hooked, reading it in one sitting. The two mysteries are multifaceted and will keep you on your toes throughout. This series is about starting over and the bonds formed between friends. Kathi Daley is an exceptional author and storyteller. Here she blends small town charm and mystery in a way that captures you, bringing you into the story so much so that you'll forget anything around you. I'm very eager for the next book. I highly recommend both book and series which I suggest reading in order as the books build upon each other.
Profile Image for Nikki.
1,425 reviews12 followers
September 14, 2023
Number 13 in the Cottage On Gooseberry Bay series by Kathi Daley. It's an easy to read cosy mystery series by an accomplished author with lots of book series published.

This series is about Ainsley. She moved to Gooseberry Bay to find her family after losing her father in a fire and realising he wasn't her real father after all. She is a private investigator and has made good friends in the group of cottages where she lives.

This book is centred around Halloween, local council elections are being held, and one of her friends and fellow shop owners is running. Ainsley is helping at the local Halloween Haunted House with several of her friends. When someone close to their group is found dead, Ainsley has to find out who caused their death.

It's a really good series about family, friendships, love, and solving the murders that happen in their small, coastal town.

The books are all standalone stories, but they are best read in order of publication to preserve continuity of the characters and wider storyline.

If you like this series, I can highly recommend other series by the same author - Inn at Holiday Bay; Bookstore at Holiday Bay; Tess and Tilly Cozy Mystery; and Resort at Castaway Bay; there are other series as well which I'm working my way through.
Profile Image for Loretta TheMoodyRedhead.
1,053 reviews4 followers
October 19, 2023
This wasn’t one of my favorites in this series. I do always enjoy the books as they’re released, but I like Daley’s Inn at Holiday Bay even better. However, I like the characters in this series but there are so many changes happening that we don’t get enough time to spend with the ones we have known for awhile.

There was so much going on in here and a lot of voting/political mumbo jumbo that I found myself nodding off a few times. It just seems like there were so many of Ainsley’s questions needing answers that we didn’t have enough time to spend with Jemma, Adam, Remi, Kai, Kallie, and a few of the other close knit friends. I feel like there wasn’t enough cohesion. Everything was all over the place.

Another thing is that I didn’t get enough of a Halloween feel from this.

In this read someone was murdered and then there was a lot of drama amongst a group of neighbors because they didn’t all share the same idea. Everything was wrapped up that Ainsley was after, so there’s that…

Next book I’m reading is by CeeCee James. It is book 8 of 8 in her Baker Street Cozy Mysteries: “A Calculated Whisk”.
890 reviews6 followers
September 13, 2023
Ainsley is hired by Donna who is dealing with a Developer who wants to buy all the houses in her development to tear them down and build expensive condos, some neighbors have jumped right on board but there are several neighbors who don't want to sell and the Developer has made it an all or nothing deal so now it's neighbor against neighbor pressuring those who don't want to sell to sell and 2 of the holdouts have had incidents that destroyed their homes. Donna is worried that the contractor is responsible and wants Ainsley to investigate. Meanwhile Halloween festivities are going on all around the bay, there's a special election to fill a council seat and Edna is running for it. A hit and run car accident leaves someone dead and while grieving Ainsley and the others are trying to find out if it's connected to the election or the Developer problem. Lots of twists and turns along with a few surprises, in the end the murderer is someone completely unexpected. Great read.
Profile Image for Joanie Hinton.
733 reviews28 followers
September 12, 2023
Ainsley's business neighbor Edna is running for a council seat in a special election. She hopes to stop a new development from buying and tearing down a neighborhood where the neighbors are fighting for sell or don't sell. When Edna is killed in an auto accident Ainsley and some of her friends aren't sure if it was an accident or deliberate. While investigating lots of secrets come to light and some are very unexpected.
364 reviews7 followers
September 14, 2023
Good book

I have enjoyed all the books in this series. Every book has a couple of storylines. I enjoy the friendships between the characters. Originally I just wanted to find out about Ainsley and her missing sister. Now I care about All the characters. At first I wasn't happy about the development story line but it turned out well. The death of a main character was surprising but I am sure we will see why in the next book.
412 reviews1 follower
September 29, 2023
Good read

Ainsley is contacted by someone who thinks people are being forced into selling houses to a developer. While that all plays out Edna is killed in a car accident which at first was thought to be connected with the sale of the land or the election she apparently won. In the end it had nothing to do with either thing and the developers had nothing to do with the activity in the neighborhood.
10 reviews1 follower
October 8, 2023
This is a great series

I love this author and I have read all the books in this series and The Inn at Holiday Bay series. The author has such a talent for developing her characters and drawing you in to make you feel like you know them. If you like cozy mysteries that mix mystery with the warm feeling you get with family and friends then you will enjoy this series, as well as her other series.
90 reviews
September 15, 2023
Sad, but a great book

I loved this book as I usually do. Kathi has a wonderful way of writing the friendship of the Peninsula gang. How nice those friendships are especially with someone being killed, the unity of friends help to solve the murder. Along with Ainsley's new clients problem, everyone helps...
184 reviews2 followers
September 15, 2023
Great book

I love this whole series. This book is another story of the friends from gooseberry bay and their friendships, lives, loves and always a mystery or two to solve. This book was sad in places but overall was a great story. Of course the mystery is solved, but it leads us to some good ideas wondering what happens next!
376 reviews4 followers
September 20, 2023
gooseberry bay. Halloween bay

Ainsley is dealing with a few things in this book of the series. A friend is killed, a client needs help to keep her home, and hey it's Halloween! Time to help out the festival! Zombie? Sure!!

As always well written, well thought out mystery. Love this author and her different series. Recommend them all!
491 reviews1 follower
December 23, 2025
The war of the neighborhood

Well you never know who is going to be a good neighbor until $ is on the line. Then the real estate or the friendship. This was a battle until the end. But there was also a fun Halloween thing going on too. Lastly a party to celebrate the end of the week and volunteer kids, adults and family.
Profile Image for JoAn.
2,462 reviews1 follower
September 17, 2023
I have enjoyed every one of the books in this series. The characters are well developed now and I would love to meet all of them in Gooseberry Bay. The story is smoothly paced, and this mystery was complex which made for a great afternoon read.
Profile Image for Tarri.
627 reviews6 followers
September 26, 2023
A visit with all the residents of Gooseberry Bay. New romances, returning romantic partners, haunted houses, zombies, vandalism, threats among neighbors, an election, and a death. Was it an accident or murder?
974 reviews3 followers
September 27, 2023
Cottage on Goosenberry Bay: Halloween Bay

It's a fairly good storyline but was a little boring in several places. I am not sure where or what can be done.to improve the flow but more action would help.
123 reviews1 follower
October 17, 2023
Halloween High jinks.

Enjoyable read as one comes to expect from Kathi Daley. The hometown and friendly feel of neighbors caring for each other and their town. Ainsley appreciates a good mystery and search for clues is fun to work through.
419 reviews7 followers
October 4, 2024
While this is one of my favorite series of the author. This particular book was not one of my favorites there was very little suspense and a lot of it was repetitious. I'm hoping the next book will be a bit more engaging
Profile Image for Susan.
1,623 reviews
September 13, 2023
really enjoyed the latest book, looking forward to the next...
Profile Image for JANE VAN HORN.
2,106 reviews12 followers
September 14, 2023
Great book

This is anotIher great book in the Cottage on Gooseberry Bay series by Kathi Daley. I can't wait for the next book.
7 reviews
September 16, 2023
Love Kathi’s writing style but her last few books seem to lack substance. I’ll continue reading but not as good as her first one.
964 reviews2 followers
September 23, 2023
Interesting neighborhood situation, and so real life sadly. Good mystery!
Profile Image for Janet Epperson.
530 reviews3 followers
October 3, 2023
Latest book in this series. As always great. The characters are awesome.
4,417 reviews43 followers
October 22, 2023
Who killed Edna and why??? A Trunk??? I enjoyed this story and recommended the book.
156 reviews
Read
August 19, 2024
Oh my!


I was really surprised at the death of a character I thought of as an ongoing one. Well written and very engaging.
18 reviews1 follower
September 4, 2024
Suspense overload

As always you never know is around the corner with the Gooseberry Bay mystery
Great read and you won't be disappointed
661 reviews11 followers
January 1, 2025
A great escape! I love the quirky characters! I also enjoyed the Halloween theme.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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