SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA WHODUNNIT DAGGER 2026LONGLISTED FOR THE ILP JOHN CREASEY FIRST NOVEL DAGGER 2026’Utterly delightful and crackling with wit, I could not put this down!’KRISTIN PERRIN,New York Timesbestselling author ofHOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER’Alluring and impressive. . .a powerful new voice to the genre’ELLE COSIMANO,New York Timesbestselling author ofFINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT’Billie McCadie is Nancy Drew, if Nancy had been raised by Emily Post and Dorothy Parker’JULIA SEALES, bestselling author ofA MOST AGREEABLE MURDER’Delightful. . .a nostalgic treat wrapped in the briny ocean breezes of Maine’NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKSWhat are the chances of receiving a love letter and an engagement ring for a perfect stranger, only to see that same woman murdered the very next day?It’s 1964 in the tiny town of Eastport, Maine, and Billie McCadie is bored to death. She’s surrounded by dull people with more manners than sense, and no sign of the intrigue or romance that fills her beloved novels. That is, until an engagement ring and cryptic love letter turn up, addressed to ‘Gertrude’. Until she meets yacht-club handsome Avery Webster. Until the unsettling phone calls and visits from a man in a fedora begin. Until she’s one of the last people to see Gertrude alive . . . and the first to see her dead.What follows is an intoxicating cocktail of stalking, blackmail, Jell-O salads, and champagne secrets, all served along the rocky Maine coastline. Everyone is a suspect. Everyone has a secret. And (strangely) everyone has a boat. But who is willing to kissandtell? As the body count rises and the danger nears, why does Billie feel like she’s more than just a side character? And after yearning to be in the action for so long, would it beterriblyunladylike to have some fun of her own?A love letter to uncivilized behaviour,Etiquette for Lovers and Killersblends mystery and romance into a twisty, murderous delight that aches for better manners.