Murder in the Margin: A Small Town Rare Book Dog Cozy Mystery

by Beth Harborman

When rare book dealer Sarah Haines moved to the quiet coastal town of North Point Harbor, she was looking for a fresh start — not a front-row seat to a murder investigation. But when a local developer is found dead with a mysterious leather-bound maritime log in his briefcase, Police Chief Julian Vance calls on Sarah to examine it. What she finds hidden in the margins is a coded message left by a recently deceased estate appraiser — and it's clear someone in town is willing to kill to keep those secrets buried.

With help from her grumpy antiques-dealing neighbor Elias Thorne, her best friend Maya at the local tea shop, and her perpetually napping beagle Dostoevsky, Sarah begins to unravel a web of fraud targeting North Point Harbor's elderly residents. But the deeper she digs into the cipher, the more dangerous things become — and the killer already knows she's looking.

Murder in the Margin is the first book in the Rare Finds Mystery Series, a clean cozy mystery filled with small-town charm, clever clue trails, and a rare book dealer who's better at solving puzzles than staying out of trouble. Perfect for fans of bookshop mysteries, coastal settings, and amateur sleuths with loyal dogs at their side.

103 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 23, 2026

Reviews

[Sally Marcheterre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an very enjoyable read. Interesting, really good main character, and moved along at a fast clip. I jumped into the next in the series.

[Jerry Chick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent story with interesting characters. Quite obvious who the bad guy was early in the story.