The Body in the Back Garden (A Crescent Cove Mystery)
Queer Cozy (“Quozy”) Mystery
1st in Series 
Setting – The fictional town of Crescent Cove on Vancouver Island, Canada
Crooked Lane Books (August 22, 2023)

Synopsis

In this queer cozy series debut perfect for fans of Ellen Byron and Ellery Adams, Luke Tremblay is about to discover that Crescent Cove has more than its fair share of secrets…and some might be deadlier than others.

Crescent Cove, a small hamlet on Vancouver Island, is the last place out-of-work investigative journalist Luke Tremblay ever wanted to see again. He used to spend summers here, until his family learned that he was gay and rejected him. Now, following his aunt’s sudden death, he’s inherited her entire estate, including her seaside cottage and the antiques shop she ran for forty years in Crescent Cove. Luke plans to sell everything and head back to Toronto as soon as he can…but Crescent Cove isn’t done with him just yet.

When a stranger starts making wild claims about Luke’s aunt, Luke sends him packing. The next morning, though, Luke discovers that the stranger has returned, and now he’s lying dead in the back garden. To make matters worse, the officer leading the investigation is a handsome Mountie with a chip on his shoulder who seems convinced that Luke is the culprit. If he wants to prove his innocence and leave this town once and for all, Luke will have to use all his skills as a journalist to investigate the colorful locals while coming to terms with his own painful past.

There are secrets buried in Crescent Cove, and the more Luke digs, the more he fears they might change the town forever.

Amazon * B&N * Penguin

Guest Post

A Brief Tour of Vancouver Island

In my debut cozy, The Body in the Back Garden, readers find themselves in the fictional town of Crescent Cove, a charming seaside hamlet on the east coast of Vancouver Island. It’s a small place, populated by a diverse bunch of residents who are as inclusive and welcoming as Canada itself—though of course, as in every cozy mystery, an assortment of shocking and scandalous secrets lurk just beneath the surface of their perfect little burg. I wrote the book shortly after moving to the Island myself, inspired by what I think is the perfect setting for a good mystery: quaint towns juxtaposed with dark forests and lonely beaches. What better place for murder?

The book follows the amateur sleuthing of Luke Tremblay, who returns to Crescent Cove after the untimely death of his aunt. He’s inherited her cottage, which looks out across the beautiful expanse of the Georgia Strait, as well as her antiques shop on Main Street. Planning to sell them off and return to his life in Toronto, Luke soon encounters a belligerent stranger who then winds up dead in the back garden. Cue various shenanigans, including the unexpected return of a childhood friend and more than one attempt on Luke’s life.

You’ll have to buy the book to find out whodunit, but I’m happy to offer a free introduction to the Island, which is truly one of the most gorgeous places in the world. Of course, I’m required to say that because I live here, but once you’ve spent a little time in Crescent Cove, I think you’ll agree.

A lot of people confuse Vancouver Island, which sits off Canada’s west coast, with the city of Vancouver, one of the country’s largest metropolitan areas. Both were named after Captain George Vancouver (1757-1798), an officer in the British Royal Navy who mapped North America’s coastline from Alaska to California, but they’re very different places. Vancouver is a bustling city with a population of more than 2.6 million people, while the population of the entire Island is less than 900,000. Running 285 miles in length, it’s actually the top of a submerged mountain range and ranks as the 43^rd-largest island in the world. Though discovered by Europeans in the 1770s, it’s been home to indigenous peoples for thousands of years, including the Kwakwaka’wakw, the Nuu-chah-nulth, and the Coast Salish peoples.

In The Body in the Back Garden, we learn that Luke used to spend his childhood summers in Crescent Cove, making him one of the hundreds of thousands of people who regularly flock to Vancouver Island in the warmer months. It’s easy to see why—much of the Island is covered in ancient, primeval rainforests that are home to some of the oldest spruce and cedar trees in the world, some of them more than 1,000 years old and towering over 300 feet tall. Pristine beaches dotted all the way around the coastline play host to seals, otters, and bald eagles, while orcas and humpback whales are spotted frequently in nearby waters. It’s also worth mentioning that Vancouver Island has the mildest climate in a country famous for its frigid weather, with temperatures just barely dipping below freezing in the winter and summers filled with warm sunshine and cool breezes. If it sounds like paradise, well, it is. There’s a reason why half of Canada retires here.

The antiques shop that Luke inherits from his aunt sits in the center of Crescent Cove, and in describing the store and the other buildings on Main Street, I drew inspiration from the old-world charm you’ll find all over the Island. Victoria, the largest city here, is filled with historical buildings that have been lovingly preserved. The city has Canada’s oldest Chinatown, which in turn has Canada’s narrowest street, Fan Tan Alley—in the summer, you can find long lines of tourists eager to squeeze themselves through its two-foot width. Victoria is also home to Rogers’ Chocolate, Canada’s oldest chocolatier, and Murchie’s Fine Tea and Coffee, Canada’s oldest tea company. The Fairmont Empress hotel, which sits on the Inner Harbor, is one of Canada’s iconic grand railway hotels that were built across the country in the late-19^th and early-20^th centuries. They’re remnants of a time when rail travel was glamorous and exciting, and today, the Empress leans hard into this history, offering visitors a pricey but authentic high tea service in elegant surroundings that harken back to a glittering past.

If this isn’t enough to tempt you, then perhaps you’ll want to see the world’s largest hockey stick in Duncan (truly the most Canadian of tourist attractions). Or you can hike to Canada’s tallest waterfall, Della Falls, while trying to avoid the densest concentrations of black bears and cougars in North America. Or, if you’d like something a little less dangerous, plan your visit for March and participate in the Greater Victoria Flower Count, where we count the number of blossoming plants and then share that number with the rest of Canada, which is usually digging out from under several feet of snow. (If you’re curious, the official count in 2022 was 27,875,292,158—yes, that’s almost 28 billion flowers.)

As Luke discovers in The Body in the Back Garden, there’s something for everyone here on the Island. Grab a copy and join him in Crescent Cove! You won’t regret it.

Excerpt

The drive back to the cottage took no more than five minutes, and when I got there, I found a Jeep Wrangler with RCMP markings waiting for me. My heart sank. I really didn’t want a third encounter with the police today.

With some reluctance, I trudged around the side of the cottage and found Jack Munro waiting for me, brawny arms folded across his tactical vest as he gazed out at the sea. My heart sank even further, but also fluttered a little as well. I had no idea how to behave around him now that I knew he was my old friend.

As I approached, shoes crunching on the stone path, he turned to face me. I paused. Jack looked mad. His square jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were drawn downwards in a fierce glower.

Uh oh.

“We need to talk,” he informed me, and I nodded jerkily after a moment’s hesitation.

“Sure. Okay. Do you want to come inside?”

With a shake of his head, Jack then advanced towards me until he was close enough that I had to look up into his face. “I want to know why you lied to me.”

I had to work moisture back into my mouth before I could reply. “What do you mean?”

“I spoke with Aleesha Perkins.” At my blank stare, he added, “Her mom runs the greengrocers in town. She delivered some groceries here yesterday.”

Oh yeah. I nodded again, mutely.

“Aleesha claims that she witnessed you assault Joel Mackenzie and then threaten him.” Jack’s resonant baritone was tight with anger. “Is that true?”

“I wouldn’t say assault, exactly,” I hedged. “I did push him, that’s true.”

“She says you pushed him off the front porch and that he landed on his back on the ground.”

“Uh. Yes.” Jack’s eyes narrowed and I added hurriedly, “But he provoked me. He called my aunt a thief and said she got what was coming to her. I…I got upset and pushed him harder than I intended.”

“And then threatened him.”

“No!” I protested. “No, I just told him that if he came back here he’d regret it.” I paused. “Okay. That sounds bad, I admit. But I didn’t mean anything by it. It wasn’t a threat.”

Jack said nothing. His features, familiar and yet not, were completely blank.

On a rising tide of panic, I reached out involuntarily and grasped his forearm. “Jack, please. Please believe me. I did not kill Joel Mackenzie. I didn’t see him again until I found his body this morning. I know how this looks, but…”

Jack stepped back from me, breaking my hold on his arm. “You assaulted and threatened a man who later turned up dead on your property, Luke.” His voice was cool now, dispassionate. “And you have no alibi for last night. How this looks is extremely bad for you.”

My feeling of panic increased as I stared up at him. “But you know me. You know I would never—”

He cut me off with brutal finality. “I used to know you. I’m not sure I do anymore.”

I had no response to that. There was nothing left to say. My panic slowly subsided, leaving hurt and fear in its wake.

A deep silence fell between us. Waves crashed in the distance and gulls screeched overhead. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?” he finally asked. “Because if there is anything, you need to tell me now.”

I shook my head once. “There isn’t anything,” I said, barely able to speak through the tightness in my throat.

He nodded without taking his eyes off me. “I strongly advise you to stay put here at the cottage while we continue our investigation.”

I said nothing, and after a long pause Jack brushed past me as he headed back to his Jeep. I watched him go with something close to despair.

I was now the only suspect in a murder, and the person in charge of investigating that murder clearly disliked me. I wanted to trust that Jack would figure out who the killer was rather than pin this on me, but given our recent interactions, that seemed far from certain. If I didn’t want to end up in prison, there was only one option left.

I needed to solve this myself.

About the Author

Mark is originally from Calgary, Alberta, and grew up on the cold, windswept Prairies of western Canada. Fleeing southward, he earned a Ph.D. in the history of science, medicine, and technology from the Johns Hopkins University and then worked as a professor at Michigan State University for fifteen years. Finally, he persuaded his amazing husband to move to Vancouver Island, where they now live.

When he’s not writing stories about murderous Canadians, he plays the viola in the Civic Orchestra of Victoria, walks his dogs along the seashore, and thinks up interesting ways to kill people.

Website * Twitter * Instagram

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway