A Downeast Maine Mystery Book 1
Author: Lee Hollis
Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book (Audiobook Available)
ISBN #: 9781496755056
Kensington Cozies
320 Pages
$27.00. $13.77 Amazon
May 26. 2026
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Ever since Halibut Cove's popular eatery, The Chowder House, started serving matriarch Maggie Holbrook's famous clam chowder it's been in high demand. Cooked up at the restaurant by Maggie's ambitious 19-year-old granddaughter, Audrey, the dish even has a regular nightly customer, retiree Chips Hogan....until one fateful Sunday night.
After serving Chips his chowder, Audrey rushes off to Maggie's hilltop home for the weekly family dinner with the rest of the Holbrooks -- her three uncles, and her mom, Jill. But before the meal's end, Jill, a police chief, gets an alarming call. Chips has been found in the street -- dead. Jill races out to investigate...and is shocked to learn Chips' chowder was poisoned.
When a Chowder House server recalls seeing local diner cook Waldo Duggan in the alley that same evening, he becomes a suspect. And when it's uncovered that Waldo bitterly believed the Holbrooks stole the lucrative chowder recipe from the Duggans in the 1930's, he's only further implicated...
Despite everything, Maggie can't believe Waldo would murder anyone. For fair-minded Maggie, to keep an innocent man out of jail, and to ease Audrey's guilt over serving the chowder, there's no choice but to team up to crime solve. Soon grandmother and granddaughter are immersed in a stew of rivalries, long held feuds, and looming threats. Because beneath the surface, even a pretty town has its ugly side...
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Aubrey Holbrook works at the Chowder House as a waitress. She's happy enough with her job, although it's slightly irritating that every night at closing time, grumpy local Chops Hogan shows up to get his daily bowl of chowder. Aubrey leaves after serving him, as she wants to be home -- which is living with her grandmother Maggie -- for the weekly Holbrook dinner.
But while everyone is eating, Aubrey's mother Jill, who is the police chief. receives a call that Chips is dead. When the autopsy results are in, Chips was poisoned by the chowder. Aubrey is devastated, and worried, because she served him. After reviewing evidence, no one admits to it, although it was said that another local named Waldo Duggan was seen at the back door.
The rivalry between the Duggans and Holbrooks goes way back, with Waldo's family accusing Maggie's of stealing their chowder recipes. Even so, when Waldo is arrested for the crime, Maggie doesn't believe he did it. So along with help from Aubrey, they've invested themselves in investigating the case in order to find a killer.
Unfortunately, it won't be easy. Her Uncle Cord's fiancée's family might be suspects; and that makes things worse. But did any of them kill the man? Maggie finds out more than she wants to know, and it might be the thing that causes the killer to decide to get rid of anyone who's interested...even if it means doing away with both Audrey and Maggie, at whatever cost...
This is the first in a new series by Lee Hollis. The authors have done themselves well. At first it seems that there are a lot of characters in this book, and there are. You have all the Holbrooks (and there are many of them); along with various others (including an entire other family), and minor characters that flit in and out.
But don't be fooled -- there is more to the story than at what first you see. There is another mystery which shows up along the way, and that one is just as interesting as the first. I do love a mystery within a mystery (but that's just me). The plot is written extremely well, although I would have loved more physical descriptions of Aubrey and her friend Isabella, but it didn't detract from anything.
Concerning the main mystery, it unravels at a medium pace, and you need to look for clues yourself. Although I knew the killer before Aubrey did, it was still delightful to watch how she handled what information she received. The murderer was no slouch; they knew exactly what to do to eliminate an eventual victim.
The ending was nicely done, and I don't want to say anything else rather than give away any spoilers. I truly enjoyed reading this and would definitely recommend it to others.
I received an advance copy of this book but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Lee Hollis's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/lee-hollis/
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