New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon makes her hardcover debut with an irresistible new meta-mystery series about an amateur sleuth who doesn’t just solve crimes, she writes about how to do it . . . TIP #1: WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU COUNTS AS WORK EXPERIENCE Meg Gates could use a guidebook for life. Indeed, she’s faced some challenges. She dropped out of college to work for a tech startup that failed—and her fiancé just took her bridesmaid to Italy on what was supposed to be Meg’s honeymoon. Now, at twenty-six, Meg has taken the ferry ride of shame from Seattle back to Bainbridge Island to live with her family. At least she has her rescue cocker spaniel, Watson, by her side. But it’s Meg who could use a rescue—and she’s hoping it will come in the form of a part-time gig doing research for a bestselling mystery writer. TIP #2: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW – OR WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW That’s when the lightbulb goes Meg will write her own guidebook—a manual on criminal investigation. But before she can impress her new boss with her pet project, the author’s manager is found dead on the rocks beneath the author’s Gothic mansion. Now it’s time to put her guide to the test, as Meg sets out to clear her employer of suspicion and solve the crime. But there’s one important caveat she’ll have to add to her guide— TIP #3: BEWARE OF UNKNOWN DANGERS

Bainbridge Island bookseller, aspiring author, and amateur sleuth Meg (no relation to Bill) Gates investigates the murder of a crabby food critic in New York Times bestselling author Lynn Cahoon’s latest Pacific Northwest-set mystery for fans of Kate Carlisle, Lorna Barrett, Jenn McKinlay, and Ellery Adams. Twenty-something bookseller and sleuth Meg Gates has a solving crimes may be easier than writing. She’s been working on a guide to becoming a detective—but she’s her own worst critic. She needs a how-to in order to write her how-to! At the Bainbridge Island writers’ group, she meets freelance food critic Lee Anderson, who invites her to join him for dinner at the Local Crab so he won’t be suspected of reviewing the place. Lee is a bit of a crab himself and intends to do a hatchet job on the eatery. Instead, someone does a job on the critic—he’s found dead by the marina. Now Bainbridge’s culinary elite are on the suspect list. With help from her beau, Dalton, and the Mystery Crew at Island Books, Meg dons her sleuthing cap to solve the mystery du jour—before another murder is served cold . . .