It’s been twenty years since Bette left the Cove, and everything’s much the same. Change is slow in this historic coastal town raised on crabbing, oysters, and shipbuilding.

Those things are still the lifeblood of the town. Plus one more: tourism. 

And why not? The Cove has much to offer. Beautiful views of the Chesapeake Bay, fishing, swimming, wonderful summer cottages and homes, friendly people, festivals, live music, history, a new local brewery, and one of the best crab places on the Chesapeake Bay.

But the heart of the town is in the Covers, the real working class people who’ve been here for hundreds of years and keep the town alive even in the dead of winter when everyone else is gone.

WHO IS BETTE WHALEY?

Bette was a smart but rebellious nineteen-year-old who dreamed of living in the city when a young and handsome man came to the Cove and swept her off her feet. Roman Waters took Bette out of her grandmother’s magnificent but rural home and into the big city of Bethesda. For twenty years Bette made a home for her and Roman and their only baby, Vance.

That was then, this is now.

Now she’s a forty-two-year-old woman newly divorced. Vance is in college, doing his Master’s in Marine Biology, and her ex has run off with a younger woman.

But five days after the divorce was final, Bette’s grandmother passed away and left to Bette the grand family home and estate on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay . . .  

 THE CRAB FEAST COZY MYSTERIES

Join Bette as she returns to the home of her youth and reacquaints herself with the community where she grew up. Her aunt Pris lives next door, and there are plenty of other familiar faces, too.

Take Marcus Seabolt for example. Guy was her best friend all through high school and circumstances bring her face to face with him soon as she gets back.

What kind of circumstances? Oh, see Marcus is a police officer now, and not just an officer, a real live detective.

Sounds curious? Bette’s only a few days back in the Cove and an old Whaley family rival turns up dead, and now Bette’s a suspect . . . 

BUSTER CRAB

Every good detective needs a sidekick.

In the second book, Bette meets her soulmate: a mysterious but devilishly handsome Chesapeake Bay Retriever who shows up on her shore . . . 

 IT’S A CRAB FEAST, Y’ALL

There’s no greater culinary joy than a real Maryland Crab Feast. All you need is a table laid out with old newspapers, a bushel of steamed late-September Maryland blues, a mallet, and all your best friends.

There are things that make the feast grander: Corn on the cob, some watermelon, potato salad, cheese and pickles. You need lots of butter. You have to have your pot of Old Bay, and who wouldn’t like an ice cold beer to go along? Maybe the sun is bright and the sky is blue, and your feet are in the hot sand as y’all pulled the picnic table down to the beach.

The crab feast is a fundamentally human enjoyment. A feast is more than a meal. A feast is about excess. Too much food, too many friends, too much beer. The Crab Feast is a hundreds-year-old event simmering in the blue collar crabbing communities, brought to a celebratory boil as even the prim and proper upper class of Maryland could no longer deny the joy of gathering everyone you care about together in one place to roll up your sleeves and honor your circumstances by stuffing your face. Yes, you’re going to eat too much. Yes, your hands are going to sting from spices working into little crab shell cuts. Yes, you’ll get dirt under your fingernails . . . 

But you didn’t dress up nice. You’ve got rolls of paper towel, and a bucket to rinse you hands. There’s gonna be no dishes. Everyone you care about’s here, and the crab is sweet and savory, and the beer is flowing. And maybe in a minute, your uncle’s going to get out a guitar and your auntie will sing that song you love . . .