"Closely Harbored Secrets" by Bree Baker

In the latest Seaside Café cozy mystery from Bree Baker, Closely Harbored Secrets, Halloween is drawing nigh, and tea shop café owner Everly Swan is attending a ghostly walking tour when one of its actors is found dead. In an especially spooky twist, the victim has scratched Everly's name in the ground. Was the woman fingering Everly as the culprit, or was she merely trying to tell her something?

Naturally, investigating this murder wasn't on Everly's to-do list for the week, as she would much prefer to raise funds for Charm, North Carolina's famous wild horses while baking her sweet treats and serving one of her delicious specialty iced teas. Everly’s limited-edition blend this season is called “Widow's Brew,” a crimson-hued blend of blood orange tea with hibiscus and rose hips.

Meanwhile, Aunt Fran's campaign for mayor is in full swing, and with voting just around the corner, Everly, Aunt Clara, and her aunt’s other supporters are busy trying to see that their candidate wins, but Fran's fellow candidates aren’t going down without a fight. And as if all that weren’t enough, Everly gets an emotional sucker punch when love interest (and homicide detective) Grady Hays tells her they should call things off—before their romance has really even gotten off the ground. Hurt but wasting no time, Everly accepts a date with a local paramedic who's had designs on her, and while she has a good time with the kind suitor, she instantly regrets the move. Interestingly, so does Grady.

On the home front, a tricky bookshelf repair is keeping her up at night, but her DIY efforts pale in comparison to the clean-up efforts she must undertake when someone breaks into her Victorian home and wrecks the place. The plot builds to a slow boil on Halloween night, and Everly faces her gravest danger yet when she discovers the identity of the killer.

This is just the kind of clean cozy read that I love, and I believe many of you would like it as well!