Mystery at the Masquerade

Love is in the Salt Sea Air--and So is Murder! Ellery Page, aspiring screenwriter, reigning Scrabble champion, and occasionally clueless owner of the village's only mystery bookstore, the Crow's Nest, is both flattered and bemused when he's invited to the annual Marauder's Masquerade, the biggest social event of the season in the quaint seaside village of Pirate's Cove, Rhode Island. The event is hosted by the wealthy Marguerite Bloodworth-Ainsley-a descendant of the famed pirate Tom Blood. Ellery doesn't even know Mrs. Bloodworth-Ainsley-nor, it turns out-does Mrs. Bloodworth-Ainsley know him. But Marguerite's son, Julian wants to know Ellery. Julian, handsome, rich and engaging, is a huge mystery buff. In fact, he's bought a few books at the Crow's Nest bookstore, but never quite worked up the nerve to ask Ellery out. As his relationship with Police Chief Carlisle seems to be dead in the water, Ellery is grateful for a little flattering male attention from the village's most eligible bachelor, but any hopes of romance hit the shoals when Julian is accused of murdering his mother's unlikable second husband during the annual ghost hunt in the old cemetery.