Dead Men Need No Reservations cover reveal

Introducing the Seventh Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mystery!

Dead Men Need No Reservations cover - Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mystery #7

What Dead Men Need No Reservations is about

A party of six guests checks into the Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast. Only five check out.

Seaside Cove B&B owner Rick Atwood is asked to help solve the murder of the group’s sixth member, a man known to his so-called friends as Snappy Welles. Rick quickly discovers that Snappy’s friends hated him. They also have secrets.

While Rick pursues the official investigation with Chief of Police Adam Cunningham, Rick’s daughter Alex launches a shadow investigation. Once again, Alex wants to find the killer first. Hoping to channel Alex’s energy and keep her safe, the duo brings Alex on as a Junior Consultant. When Alex uncovers a key piece of information, the secrets and lies unravel. Before long, Rick is forced to choose between bringing a killer to justice and saving his family.

The Dead Men Need No Reservations cover

I’m a believer in the power of the MacGuffin. While not everyone is familiar with the term, there is one famous MacGuffin every film buff knows—the Maltese Falcon. The term was actually coined by Angus McPhail, an English screenwriter who worked a lot with Alfred Hitchcock. It refers to some small thing that everyone in the story wants. In Dead Men Need No Reservations, the MacGuffin is an antique pocket watch that disappears.

My cover designer is the amazing Dar Albert of Wicked Smart Designs. I told her she needed to include a pocket watch on the cover. I also wanted her to depict a missing personal journal. The only other direction was to make the cover consistent with the previous ones in the series. As usual, she blew me away. She gave me the two elements that I said were important. But she also added the dead guy and a towel animal!