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Volume 9 • Issue 1
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
🍂 FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
Happy Tuesday, everyone, and welcome to another week in Sunset Cove!
Can you believe we are only a couple of days away from October? Seriously, where did September go? It feels like we were just talking about the first hints of fall, and now the calendar is about to flip again.
Around Sunset Cove, that means things are going to start looking a little different. In just a few weeks, pumpkins will begin appearing on porches, storefront windows will take on a decidedly spookier look, and I'm sure at least one resident will go completely overboard with the cobwebs. I have my suspicions about who.
Which makes me curious: Do you decorate for Halloween? Are you a pumpkins-and-fall-wreath person, or are we talking skeletons, ghosts, gravestones, and a front yard that requires its own electrical grid? Hit reply and tell me. I want to know how many Halloween people we have in our little Chronicle community.
Before any ghosts start appearing around Sunset Cove, though, we have a very real body to investigate.
Today we're visiting East Black Oak, where a retired detective has finally opened her dream bookstore. Unfortunately, her grand opening doesn't exactly go according to plan.
We also have more mysteries making headlines and plenty of books waiting in today's promos.
Let's open Volume 9.
🐾 PERRY'S PAW PRINTS
"Someone needs standards."
For Halloween decorations?
"Obviously."
What qualifies you to judge?
"I am naturally associated with mystery, darkness, and the supernatural."
You're a Maine Coon who screams when dinner is four minutes late.
"Atmosphere."
And what exactly will you be looking for in the winning house?
"No fake cats."
Of course.
"And tasteful use of fish."
Why would anyone decorate for Halloween with fish?
"Then clearly these people need professional guidance."
This contest is already a terrible idea.
🔦 TODAY'S MYSTERY SPOTLIGHT
BOOKSTORE GRAND OPENING BECOMES CRIME SCENE AFTER GUEST DROPS DEAD
Keeled Over
A Candice Holladay Cozy Mystery
by Carla Crowe
Retired detective Candice Holladay has finally opened her dream bookstore in the quaint town of East Black Oak.
The appropriately named The Crime Scene is celebrating its grand opening, and the evening is supposed to include something considerably more romantic than murder: the Police Chief plans to propose to the school principal.
Instead, one of the guests drops dead.
Candice can't help wondering whether it was really an unfortunate complication—or something much more sinister.
With her friend Gracie and ex-police dog Chowder beside her, Candice begins uncovering evidence involving legal and illicit pharmaceuticals, suspicious delivery irregularities, and the town's longtime pharmacist.
Then a pharmacy delivery driver is murdered.
What began as a suspicious death at a bookstore celebration starts exposing something much larger, including a criminal organization operating within the community and connections to a local doctor.
Someone clearly doesn't appreciate Candice asking questions, and the threats soon begin. But after partnering with reporter Christopher, Candice isn't prepared to walk away from the investigation simply because someone wants her quiet.
With murder, money, and a criminal operation threatening the tranquility of East Black Oak, Candice may be getting considerably more than she bargained for when she opened a bookstore called The Crime Scene.
📰 MORE MYSTERIES MAKING HEADLINES
THE TBR INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
You didn't think we'd start a brand-new volume with only one mystery, did you?
I've got more books from fellow authors waiting on today's news desk, so take a look through the case files and see what catches your attention. Maybe you'll discover a new sleuth, a new suspicious little town, or—because apparently none of us ever learns our lesson—another entire series for the TBR.
At this point, I've stopped pretending we're trying to make the pile smaller.
📚 COMMUNITY BOOK EXCHANGE
MORE BOOKS ARE WAITING
Today's book promos are officially open, which means it's time to go browsing.
There are more mysteries waiting to be discovered, and if you're looking for something new to read as we head into October, this is a pretty good place to start. Browse around, investigate a few covers, and see what belongs on your Kindle.
Will this help the TBR situation?
Absolutely not.
But we've already established that The Sunset Chronicles is an enabling environment.
🎃 AROUND SUNSET COVE
SUNSET COVE IS ABOUT TO GET SPOOKY
Give it another few weeks and our little coastal town is going to look considerably different.
Soon the pumpkins will start appearing outside the shops. Autumn wreaths will hang from front doors. Storefront windows will trade their usual displays for ghosts, black cats, witches, and whatever other decorations the shopkeepers manage to drag down from their attics.
And because this is Sunset Cove, I'm quite certain somebody is going to turn decorating into a competition.
I can already picture the old houses near the water after dark, porch lights glowing behind carved pumpkins while the fog rolls in from the coast. Add a few strategically placed skeletons and suddenly our charming little town is going to look like the setting of an entirely different kind of mystery.
Although, given Sunset Cove's history...
Maybe nobody will notice the difference.
I'm looking forward to taking you around town as everyone starts decorating. We may even have to conduct an unofficial Sunset Cove Halloween decorating contest right here in The Chronicle.
Perry has already volunteered to judge.
Nobody asked him.
🗞️ NEWS FROM ELLY'S DESK
While Sunset Cove gets ready for October, there's plenty happening behind the scenes too.
I'm especially excited about what's coming with Slim Chance with a Killer. Rosalind and Perry's newest case is getting closer, and I'll have more to share with you soon.
If you've been waiting for an opportunity to get involved early, keep watching your inbox.
There are things happening behind the newsroom doors.
And for once, I'm not letting Perry investigate them.
📰 UNTIL TOMORROW...
That closes Volume 9 • Issue 1.
Today we watched a dream bookstore grand opening turn into a crime scene, followed Candice and Chowder into an investigation much larger than one suspicious death, added more mysteries to our TBRs, and opened today's book promos.
And back home, Sunset Cove is getting ready for October.
In just a few weeks, the pumpkins will be glowing, the storefronts will be decorated, and our charming little coastal town will start looking just spooky enough for Halloween.
Personally, I can't wait.
We'll be back tomorrow with another edition of The Sunset Chronicles. Until then, enjoy your Tuesday, find something good to read, and tell me:
Do you decorate for Halloween?
I want to hear what happens at your house.
Happy Reading!
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