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Moonlight Harbor Mysteries: The Sailor's Manifest
From the author of the Moonlight Murder Mystery Club and the Moonlight Shadow Mysteries — ten novels of Crescent Harbor, Maine.
A beloved teacher is dead. The town calls it a fall. The baker knows better.
When seventy-six-year-old retired schoolteacher Gerry Beaufort is found on her own kitchen hearth, Crescent Harbor mourns a sweet old woman who simply slipped. But Sage Holloway-Yates — baker, former food scientist, and a woman who cannot stop noticing what doesn't belong — sees what no one else a pair of reading glasses folded the wrong way by a woman who could not have folded them wrong, and the ghost of a teacup on a counter where Gerry never once stood to drink her tea.
Someone was in that kitchen. Someone calm enough to put the kettle on.
And someone who didn't come for Gerry's ship's silver or her scrimshaw — but for a single water-stained page hidden in an old sea a list of names from a ship lost off this coast in 1854, kept by one family for six generations so the drowned men would not be forgotten. Now the list is gone, the wrong man is about to take the blame, and the only person asking the right questions is a baker with a black cat, a husband who reads numbers the way she reads dough, and a found-family murder club that meets on Fridays.
But the deeper Sage digs, the clearer it becomes that Gerry's death is only the surface — the first ripple of something this town drowned a very long time ago, and that someone is still keeping, carefully and quietly and at any cost.
The Sailor's Manifest is Book One of the Moonlight Harbor Mysteries. A complete mystery, solved — no cliffhanger — and the opening piece of a five-book treasure hunt. Coastal Maine warmth, a clever cat, a clean read, and a heart that lingers after the last page.
Perfect for readers who love amateur-sleuth cozies, small-town charm, found family, a cat with opinions, and a mystery with something true at the bottom of it.
One page can keep a name alive — or get someone killed.
Start the series today.
A beloved teacher is dead. The town calls it a fall. The baker knows better.
When seventy-six-year-old retired schoolteacher Gerry Beaufort is found on her own kitchen hearth, Crescent Harbor mourns a sweet old woman who simply slipped. But Sage Holloway-Yates — baker, former food scientist, and a woman who cannot stop noticing what doesn't belong — sees what no one else a pair of reading glasses folded the wrong way by a woman who could not have folded them wrong, and the ghost of a teacup on a counter where Gerry never once stood to drink her tea.
Someone was in that kitchen. Someone calm enough to put the kettle on.
And someone who didn't come for Gerry's ship's silver or her scrimshaw — but for a single water-stained page hidden in an old sea a list of names from a ship lost off this coast in 1854, kept by one family for six generations so the drowned men would not be forgotten. Now the list is gone, the wrong man is about to take the blame, and the only person asking the right questions is a baker with a black cat, a husband who reads numbers the way she reads dough, and a found-family murder club that meets on Fridays.
But the deeper Sage digs, the clearer it becomes that Gerry's death is only the surface — the first ripple of something this town drowned a very long time ago, and that someone is still keeping, carefully and quietly and at any cost.
The Sailor's Manifest is Book One of the Moonlight Harbor Mysteries. A complete mystery, solved — no cliffhanger — and the opening piece of a five-book treasure hunt. Coastal Maine warmth, a clever cat, a clean read, and a heart that lingers after the last page.
Perfect for readers who love amateur-sleuth cozies, small-town charm, found family, a cat with opinions, and a mystery with something true at the bottom of it.
One page can keep a name alive — or get someone killed.
Start the series today.
189 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 11, 2026
About the author
Blake Rivers
87 books14 followersI did not write any of this AI Slop that keeps being attributed to me. I would never use AI. I am sorry Goodreads is so bad at this… I have three books. The Assassin Princess, A Step into Darkscape and The Assassin's Codaci, and a short story collection called Takes of Legacy.
Hi, I'm Blake and as you may have guessed by now, I'm a writer. Yup, that’s right, I write books and I wrote my first novel, The Assassin Princess, in 2011 when I was twenty-eight. Two sequels followed, A Step into Darkscape and The Assassin's Codaci. This magical fantasy series started as a story written about my girlfriend, at the time, an artist who dreamed of being a fierce warrior in another world, who kicked butt and swung a sword to battle the enemy. It grew and became The Assassin Princess, a tale of an artist who is kidnapped and taken to a strange land full of magic, talking unicorns and dragons. It goes dark, exploring jealously, greed and hunger; it goes light and reaches for the best in even the most flawed of characters. But in essence, it still remains about her at its heart.
I started writing when I was seven years old. Back then it was mostly poems about whatever interested me at the time, be it the seasons or the planets, or my love for libraries and books. I also turned my hand to a few short stories, all hand written and lost over time.
I don’t remember why I started writing, but I do remember what inspired me to do it. It was Yuri, writing his poems to Lara in the frozen house in the film Dr Zhivago, and the beautiful music played, Lara’s Theme; it was the sound of the typewriter at the very start of the film Misery, where Paul Sheldon finishes his latest book.
These still inspire me to this day, along with whole host of other influences: the novels by Brandon Sanderson, Sarah J. Maas, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Anne Rice, Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell to name a few. Any movie that shows a typewriter.
Hi, I'm Blake and as you may have guessed by now, I'm a writer. Yup, that’s right, I write books and I wrote my first novel, The Assassin Princess, in 2011 when I was twenty-eight. Two sequels followed, A Step into Darkscape and The Assassin's Codaci. This magical fantasy series started as a story written about my girlfriend, at the time, an artist who dreamed of being a fierce warrior in another world, who kicked butt and swung a sword to battle the enemy. It grew and became The Assassin Princess, a tale of an artist who is kidnapped and taken to a strange land full of magic, talking unicorns and dragons. It goes dark, exploring jealously, greed and hunger; it goes light and reaches for the best in even the most flawed of characters. But in essence, it still remains about her at its heart.
I started writing when I was seven years old. Back then it was mostly poems about whatever interested me at the time, be it the seasons or the planets, or my love for libraries and books. I also turned my hand to a few short stories, all hand written and lost over time.
I don’t remember why I started writing, but I do remember what inspired me to do it. It was Yuri, writing his poems to Lara in the frozen house in the film Dr Zhivago, and the beautiful music played, Lara’s Theme; it was the sound of the typewriter at the very start of the film Misery, where Paul Sheldon finishes his latest book.
These still inspire me to this day, along with whole host of other influences: the novels by Brandon Sanderson, Sarah J. Maas, J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, Anne Rice, Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell to name a few. Any movie that shows a typewriter.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 17, 2026
Wonderfully written!!>
Enjoyed every chapter!The descriptions of baking,the town,the characters and the theme were so skillful the I could see and feel the scenes!!! Loved the cat and his keen perspective!!!
Enjoyed every chapter!The descriptions of baking,the town,the characters and the theme were so skillful the I could see and feel the scenes!!! Loved the cat and his keen perspective!!!
August 19, 2026
Decent
This was an alright read. There's definitely a way to over-describe things, and this book does that to a fault. The story line was decently cool, but every little detail was just so drawn out. Meh.
This was an alright read. There's definitely a way to over-describe things, and this book does that to a fault. The story line was decently cool, but every little detail was just so drawn out. Meh.
September 3, 2026
Great story
There was nothing in this book I didn't like, but I wish I'd read the prequels first). The writing is skillful, the through line is taut--and entirely plausible, and the characters true to life.
Looking forward to the sequels (I now wish I'd bought the set).
There was nothing in this book I didn't like, but I wish I'd read the prequels first). The writing is skillful, the through line is taut--and entirely plausible, and the characters true to life.
Looking forward to the sequels (I now wish I'd bought the set).
August 6, 2026
Well worth the read. One chapter put to bed, but the rest of the book entices.
September 12, 2026
an interesting way of writing that is soothing to ponder
September 19, 2026
It’s written by AI and stole a real author’s name.
October 9, 2026
Maybe AI. Maybe not. Not good, either way. Too repetitive. Too slow. A waste of time.
November 12, 2026
Quite the deep-thinking mystery!
Very much enjoyed this sea coast mystery and history. Just wish Shadow - the cat - had been paid more attention. Hehehe.
Very much enjoyed this sea coast mystery and history. Just wish Shadow - the cat - had been paid more attention. Hehehe.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews