Death at the Dock: An Alyssa Chalmers Historical Mystery
Historical Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Setting – Portland, Oregon, in 1862
Independently Published
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 27, 2026
Print length ‏ : ‎ 191 pages

Synopsis

A sharp tongue. An even sharper mind. A Victorian sleuth criminals overlook at their peril.

1862. A new home in a prospectors’ town, a new life, and two steadfast admirers: Alyssa Chalmers’ future is secure among her friends.

But when Captain Moore sends a message, begging for her help, she can’t say no.

With the doctor and the First Officer by her side, she travels to Portland, Oregon. She finds a situation worse than she feared. Two of the captain’s crew have gone missing and the local marshal is adamant they simply jumped ship. Even the discovery of a body is unable to change his mind.

Captain Moore knows better. He is convinced that something sinister is going on, and he needs sharp-witted Alyssa and her sleuthing partners to figure it out.

But dark secrets and vices are lurking everywhere. Alyssa needs all her wits to figure out who to trust – and how to save the missing men before there’s another murder.

Death at the Dock is the third mystery in this captivating series that transports readers back to the 1860s, with a heroine determined to make her own way in a society made for men. Perfect for fans of Rhys Bowen’s Molly Murphy and Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody.

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Excerpt

“Where are the doctor and Mr. Kendrick?” Mrs. Wainwright asked Alyssa. “It is unlike them to leave you unaccompanied.”

A treacherous heat washed over Alyssa’s throat and cheek. She had sent both men ahead with the excuse of needing a few minutes to finish a chore. Mark Bryson, the doctor who’d been responsible for their well-being during the long sea journey on the “Artemis’ Delight”, and the First Officer, Charles Kendrick, had both become Alyssa’s steadfast allies when heinous criminals had struck first on board and then in Run’s End. But their friendship had blossomed into something warmer, until both men had asked Alyssa for her hand in marriage, less than 24 hours ago.

Her head whirled as she replayed those moments in her mind, and the men’s gracious reaction when she asked them for more time to decide an answer.

Mr. Wainwright, Second Officer of the “Artemis’ Delight”, craned his neck. “They’re already down by the river,” he told his wife. “The doctor has his medical bag with him, so you can rest easy, my dear.”

Alyssa was grateful for his presence. His calm manner and quiet authority hid a well-developed sense of humor, and he understood how to handle his wife’s tendency to be overly cautious when it came to her charges. He also knew how much Matron relied on Alyssa.

Part of it stemmed from the fact that the rest of the girls were poor orphans or had no family to speak of. Although all of them had gone through a rigorous selection process before clergy in Melbourne had sent them off to be married to prosperous Canadians, only Alyssa came from a respected, well-off family.

Yet education and wealth had made no difference when first her father and then her mother had died and she’d been left all alone in Melbourne. As a single lady, no ship would have offered her passage back to her native England, and staying in Australia without a companion to protect her respectability was likewise impossible. She’d joined the group of brides as her only option to travel as far as possible, although she’d kept her true intentions secret.

Marriage had never been her goal. Instead, she’d planned on trying to find a companion for hire and travel onwards from Canada. But she hadn’t taken into consideration how much the girls would come to mean to her.

Like Matron, as they still called the newly wed Mrs. Wainwright, she’d come to feel responsible for them. She’d taught them to properly read and write and to do sums, and in return they had taught her how to deal with the kind of hardship and neglect Alyssa had never encountered.

And then there were the two men in her life . . .

About the Author

Carmen has spent most of her life with ink on her fingers and a dangerously high pile of books and newspapers by her side.

She has worked as a newspaper reporter on two continents.

When she found herself crouched under her dining table, typing away on a novel between two earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, she realised she was hooked for life.

The shaken but stirring novel made it to the longlist of the Mslexia competition, and her next book and first mystery, The Case Of The Missing Bride, was a finalist in the Malice Domestic competition in a year without a winner. Since then, she has penned several more cozy mysteries, including the Jack and Frances series set in the 1930s. The cozy midlife witch series featuring Bex Merriweather and her cat familiar is the latest addition to her literary output.

In real life, she’s only spilled blood once, when she swatted a fly, and even that was an accident. Although she’s a devoted cat servant, her feline companion doesn’t talk. Yet.

Carmen now lives in Italy with her human and her four-legged family.

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