Doubloon Jeopardy

Museum of Mysteries #3

by Catherine Dilts

As the townspeople of Crescent Harbor, California, prepare for the inaugural Pirate Days festival, excited tourists clad in pirate attire descend on the charming village. Local legend claims a pirate landed there and buried his treasure. Scarlett McCormick, head curator of the esteemed Reed Museum of Art and Archaeology, is pressured to validate the legend or face a mutiny. Scarlett plans special exhibits at the museum to coincide with the event, and she stops at a pumpkin patch for autumn decorations. The errand takes a disturbing turn when she finds a dead man dressed like a pirate. Dead men tell no tales, so it’s up to Scarlett and her friends to learn the truth. The discovery of an ancient cutlass and gold doubloons supports the man’s connection to the pirate festival. But the cause of his demise remains unclear. Was it an accident or murder? While Scarlett investigates the death and the artifacts, she unwittingly becomes a target. Will she solve the mystery before she’s forced to walk the plank?

215 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Catherine Dilts is the author of the Rose Creek and the Rock Shop mystery series, and several installments in various Annie’s Fiction series, for a total of twelve traditionally published novels. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and the Pikes Peak Writers anthology. After a career in environmental compliance for a global corporation, Catherine now gets to write fiction full time. Most of her published works have a cozy mystery flavor. She is stepping into Indy publishing this year with her co-author daughter Merida Bass and the YA science fiction Tapestry Tales series.
https://www.catherinedilts.com/

Reviews

[Chuck Neumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Doubloon Jeopardy" is a mystery novel that is part of a series called Museum of Mysteries. The stories revolve around the new head curator Scarlett McCormick and her friends. In every novel she becomes involved in solving a murder mystery. These novels would make a good series on TV's Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel if they still did mystery films. In this novel Scarlett (an unusual name for a museum curator but she does have red hair) stumbles on a dead man in the town's pumpkin patch while picking up items for the museum's thanksgiving display. Since she found the body, she seems to feel it is her job to find out who killed him. Meanwhile, almost everyone in town is dressed up as pirates in the town's first annual Pirate Days festival. That brings in plenty of suspects for Scarlett to investigate. She is helped by her friend Allie, the museum's security chief Winnie and a local FBI agent Luke, who is slowly becoming more than just a friend. The mystery itself is interesting. The characters are well drawn, although a couple of them seem a little odd. All and all a fun read. Part of the fun is the fact you know the main characters from earlier novels. I rated it a four based on what it is, a cozy murder mystery.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good addition to the Museum of Mysteries. However, I found it a bit boring and wordy and slow. It was a good mystery, but it could have not gone on so long to solve it. The ending just sort of stopped.

[Cheryl Springer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that mysterious really, but still a nice read...

[Melmo2610 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am enjoying this series! This is a fun mystery with pirates and murder. Good read!

[Laura Gobat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book slow hard to get through. It felt very disjointed.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little scooby dooish.