Fogged Inn

Ross, Barbara. Fogged Inn. New York: Kensington, 2016.

Julia Snowden and her boyfriend Chris have recently opened an evening hours restaurant in Busman's Harbor, Maine. After a corpse turns up in the locker, and several guests pay with tampered (although legitimate) gift certificates on the same evening, Julia becomes suspicious. Rather than leaving it for the officials, Julia can't resist the temptation to snoop on her own. Her apartment over the restaurant is broken into and the gift certificates are stolen. Julia uncovers evidence that the gift certificate recipients all have a connection. Who was the the recipient of the other gift certificate purchased in that lot who did not arrive? The main characters were likable, although I did not feel they were particularly well-developed in this fourth book in the series. It was my first time to read a book in this series although the first has been on my wish list. The characters were probably better developed in earlier installments. I have trouble believing that all of the guests would lie to the authorities. I did not really enjoy the way this one ended. I would love to make another comment, but I don't want to give away the plot. While the book is a pleasant one, it is flawed. I received an advance reader's copy from the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation a review would be written.