Come Shell or High Water by Molly MacRae

Come Shell or High Water (A Haunted Shell Shop Mystery, #1)

by Molly MacRae

From Molly MacRae, acclaimed author of the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, the first in a charming new series set on a beautiful barrier island off the coast of North Carolina and featuring a widowed folklorist, a seashell shop, and the ghost of an 18th century pirate…

As a professional storyteller, Maureen Nash can’t help but see the narrative cues woven through her life. Like the series of letters addressed to her late husband from a stranger—the proprietor of The Moon Shell, a shop on Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The store is famous with shell collectors, but it’s the cryptic letters from Allen Withrow, the shop’s owner, that convince Maureen to travel to the small coastal town in the middle of hurricane season. At the very least, she expects she’ll get a good story out of the experience, never anticipating it could end up a murder mystery . . .

In Maureen’s first hours on the storm-lashed island, she averts several life-threatening accidents, stumbles over the body of a controversial Ocracoke local, and meets the ghost of an eighteenth-century Welsh pirate, Emrys Lloyd. To the untrained eye, all these unusual occurrences would seem to be random misfortunes, but Maureen senses there may be something connecting these stories. With Emrys’s supernatural assistance, and the support of a few new friends, Maureen sets out unravel the truth, find a killer, and hopefully give this tale a satisfying ending . . . while also rewriting her own.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

4 of 5 stars

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Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Come Shell or High Water is the first book in a new light paranormal cozy shopfront mystery series by Molly MacRae. Released 25th June 2024 by Kensingon, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. 

The author is prolific and experienced especially with the genre. This is a nicely written, entertaining, and engaging series starter with a light paranormal twist set in the Outer Banks. The MC is a widowed folklorist and former malacologist (invertebrate snail/shell expert), hence the seashells. Arriving during hurricane season, she's trips over a body, almost gets drowned, and meets the ghost of a pirate. 

Being firmly cozy, there are eccentric and quirky characters aplenty. The book starts with a chaotic and crisis filled opening (MC Maureen is very nearly drowned), and an abundance of characters to start with, but for readers who bear with the chaos, it soon resolves into a fun and readable story. 

The unabridged audiobook format has a run time of 10 hours 26 minutes and is capably read by Callie Beaulieu. She has a well modulated alto voice and delineates the characters clearly, and manages to make the often rapid fire dialogue understandable in context. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Four stars. It's a promising start to a new paranormal cozy series. It would be a good choice for public library acquisition, home use, or a buddy read. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. 

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Reading updates

  • 21 August, 2024: Started reading
  • 21 August, 2024: Finished reading
  • 21 August, 2024: Reviewed