Keeper's Ledger Line: A Cozy Mystery

Salvage Bay's lighthouse is polished for donors, packed for the Heritage Gala—and wrapped in rules, locks, and "e;restricted access."e;Boatwright Maren Cole is only supposed to help her girlfriend, Simone, get the catering through the night without the Historical Society's board making it impossible. But when archivist Daphne Crowell dies during a sudden flicker of darkness, the gala doesn't stop. The story stays smooth. The doors stay guarded. And the people with keys keep deciding what everyone is allowed to see.Maren has learned that in Salvage Bay, paper doesn't just sit in folders—it vanishes. So when Daphne's binder looks disturbed and a single hidden photocopy turns up behind a donor plaque, Maren and Detective Jonah Pike follow the only thing more dangerous than gossip: a record that can't be explained away.Because this time, the clue isn't a rumor.It's a ledger line.And it says the dark was authorized.