Seashells & Suspicious : A Seaside Cozy Mystery of Murder, Shell Shops, and Secrets Washed Ashore

by Merlin Newton, Michael Azameti (Editor)

Lana Tidewell thought she left Coral Bay and its ghosts behind—until a mysterious inheritance calls her back to her late aunt’s seaside shell shop. But when a body washes up near the pier and a strange conch hums with secrets, Lana finds herself tangled in a murder investigation brimming with folklore, hidden messages, and a shell rumored to echo the sea’s darkest memories.

As she teams up with a skeptical fisherman and a sharp-eyed sheriff, Lana must navigate cryptic letters, forgotten shipwrecks, and an ancient secret order before another wave of danger crashes ashore. Can she solve the mystery before the tide claims another soul?

Seashells & Suspicions is the atmospheric first entry in the Murders and Mermaids Mysteries series—perfect for fans of seaside cozies, amateur sleuths, and mysteries with a haunting edge.

302 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 2, 2025

Reviews

[Jae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lana has returned to Coral Bay after inheriting her late aunt’s seashell shop. When a body washes up onshore, Lana finds herself drawn into a mystery that stretches back years, one brimming with strange shells, cryptic messages, and a cult-like order. The sea is hiding secrets, and it has memories of its own. It’s up to Lana to expose the secrets and calm the sea.

The story was odd and eerie, compelling at times and vexing at others. It was fractured and disjointed with precious little continuity. It was like reading the narrative of someone’s fragmented dream. The story was chaptered, but each chapter read like a stand-alone, short story; there was no smooth transition between chapters. Characters were not fleshed out, and I don’t believe I really learned what any of them even looked like. The author was good at describing the atmosphere around Coral Bay, but not so good with the characters. It was a difficult story to sink into. Not helping were several irksome things:
SPOILERS!!
- This line: It was an auger shell just like the one she’d found in her aunt’s hidden drawer in Chapter 2. What?! Who references a previous chapter within the story’s narrative?!
- For most of the book, the name of her aunt’s shop was Tideshell Gift Shop. Later in the book, however, the shop was being called Tidepool Treasures. No mention was made of Lana changing the name.
- The author’s inability to count. Behold: There—etched faintly into the metal back—were three initials: M.T. and ...a piece of sea-blanched card stock with four words scrawled in jagged ink across the center: ‘The answers aren’t in the waves.’ Erm…
- The “action” seemed to take place over a mere matter of months, and in that time, Coral Bay had FOUR sheriffs: Sheriff Cray, Sheriff Dunn, Sheriff Calder, and Sheriff Ames. When Dunn (Sheriff #2) was introduced, mention was made that Cray (Sheriff #1) was out recuperating, but it was never explained if she was ill, injured, or had surgery. She did reappear, only to vanish after Calder (Sheriff #3) arrived on the scene. Ames (Sheriff #4) was the Last Sheriff Standing at the end. No mention of what became of his predecessors.
- When did Lana get a parrot? In the middle of the book, said parrot (Captain Squawk) played a pivotal role by spouting out ominous-sounding phrases and warnings. He, too, disappeared by the end of the book.
- Chapter 11 mentioned the murdered man. What murdered man?!
- This doozy: On page 112 they buried the cracked compass. On page 113 the cracked compass nestled in a pouch around her neck. Was Lana buried with it? Egad.

I wanted to like this book. It was eerie bordering on creepy—perfect to read while curled up beneath a blanket, but the story was all over the place. Many things were not resolved at all, which was frustrating, and not much made sense. I can’t condone scoring this higher than a 2.