Graves and Gulls at Dawn

Dawn on the church steps. The bell rings, the crowd turns, and the groundskeeper is gone. Minutes later a gull drops a tagged charm on Mara Winter’s hood and panic ripples through Tidecross Haven. When a second body is found away from the shore, the small town faces closure of the site and a ferry stoppage that would gut the weekend trade. Elias Brandt is benched after a safety complaint, so Mara, Tilda, Lore, Klaus, and Marshal Sigrun hold the line while rumors of curses spread.

This case is fair-play. Every clue sits on the page:

sand ripple drag lines that show two different loads

a ceremonial box with one modern coffin handle

bell rope fibers on a rain jacket in the vestry

a gull band tag that leads to a bait station on the tower

a misprinted sunrise time that shifts the crowd window

a wet coin tucked inside an old compass

chalk on a tram spur that matches loft alignment marks

a weather vane that sings in two keys when the wind changes

Expect small-town warmth, tight procedure, and a clean reveal that ties motive to method. The Compass Rose spine advances as one high-point inlay comes back into play.

Read if you like seaside cozies with real timelines, Anglo-German characters, a clever cat who notices things, and puzzles you can solve without guesswork.

Series note
Each book stands alone and also returns one missing inlay to the Compass Rose that steadies Tidecross Haven.