Murder at Harbor Village

By G.P. Gardner

A coastal Alabama retirement community is the ideal picture of senior living—until someone gets killed—in this cozy mystery series debut.
 
After a long tenure as a professor of social work, Cleo Mack is ready to become the youngest new resident at Harbor Village in picturesque Fairhope, Alabama. The retirement community boasts classes in painting, pottery, and photography—not to mention being a buyer’s market for husbands. It seems an ideal place to make new friends and rediscover life. Until a dead body is found in the pool.
 
When the victim turns out to be the unpopular director of senior living, Cleo is named acting director. Now she must rely on her well-honed people skills to uncover a killer in a place where short-term memory isn’t what it used to be, and age is just a number. But if Cleo isn’t careful about her snooping, her number may soon be up . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lyrical Press
• Release date: Nov 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781516108992

Reviews for Murder at Harbor Village

[carlathelibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Murder at Harbor Village is the debut of a new series set in the small town of Fairhope, Alabama. Cleo Mack is considering taking retirement after being offered an incentive, but she is still too young to retire and is not sure if she can handle it financially. She is a social worker, but has recently been teaching at the University. She is in town looking to see if she wants to move to the small town, close to her daughter and her family. Shortly after arriving in town, Cleo meets a resident of the retirement community, Harbor Village. As well, she meets the director of the village at a coffee shop. After a conversation, she is offered a part-time position as resident director at Harbor Village and an apartment in the complex. When the Director of the facility is found floating in the pool dead, a strange set of circumstances is set into motion. It's also a shock for Cleo to learn that the unlikable lady is also the current wife of her estranged ex husband. Cleo is named Acting Director and works with the police to help solve the murder. Cleo soon discovers that things inside the idyllic community are not what they seem.

This was a fun and interesting cozy with a couple of mysteries that tie together in the end. There was a lot of questionable circumstances, especially surrounding how Cleo got her job, but it is fiction. The culprit was pretty easy to figure out, but it was finding the evidence and being able to determine who was involved that kept the story going. I enjoyed most of the characters, but especially Patti. It will be nice to see her continue to develop in future books. This was a good start to a new series, and I am looking forward to seeing where G.P. Garner goes with these characters in her next book. The publisher, Lyrical Underground, generously provided me with a copy of this book upon my request. The rating, ideas and opinions shared are my own.

[joannefm2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cleo Mack is a young widow in Alabama who is offered early retirement from her teaching job at a university. While she's still deciding - her daughter wants her to move to Birmingham - she stops off in Fairhope and immediately falls in love with the town. Then she meets an older woman who tells her how nice her retirement community is; and a younger woman who is an RN at the same facility, and she makes the decision then and there to call Fairhope home.When she's offered a job at the facility the next day, she's surprised but accepts. Then someone is murdered and she's offered the job of Executive Director - which she agrees to take on a temporary basis only. Soon enough she finds out that there's more to the story, and as circumstances will have it, that there's also a very real reason she was offered the job...I honestly wanted to love this book. It's a mystery, which I love, and the cover was enticing. However, there were too many unnecessary details, which seemed like the author only wanted to get her 'word count' up enough to get it published. Things like, "I added some chocolate covered almonds and put the snacks into a plastic bag from the grocery store." Do we really need to know it was a 'plastic bag from the grocery store'? Or about all the snacks? Then there were conversations (and thoughts in her head), things like asking where the detergent is, the bed linens, where to put the modem, etc. These are all superfluous and too much like the things we do in our ordinary life. We know they need to be done; we don't need to hear Every Single Detail. Even to putting the iron on the shelf in the laundry room. Did we think it would be on the coffee table instead? But then it explains why Cleo - in her 40's - would want to move into a retirement community and hang out with people in their 80's playing dominoes. Who would do that? Isn't that like a teenager wanting to hang around with people in their 40's? I can't see how anyone would think this was normal behavior. It's nice that she's friends with the residents; but they shouldn't be her only source of a social life if they think playing dominoes, eating sandwiches and going to bed at 8 pm is a fun night. (I also can't see someone owning two cats and just leaving one to fend for herself while taking the other with her. I'm a cat owner, and I would never do anything like this.)So while the first half of the book was really strange and didn't make any sense, the second half picked up a bit and it got interesting. I enjoyed reading about how Cleo was actually taking charge of everything and figuring out what was going on; it brought the book to a nice pace. The writing was done very well, and the descriptions of the harbor area were lovely; I do believe this author has potential. Although I never felt that Cleo was threatened in any way or in danger of any kind, and I felt the circumstances surrounding the murder was rather 'mild' to put it, it was still a decent start for a first book, and I hope to see this author hone her skills and improve over time. I'd like to see less mundane details and more teeth in the series. All in all, not a bad beginning for a new series and I will read the next.

[jetangen4571 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, women-sleuths, embezzling, murder, law-enforcement, retirement-community After being encouraged to take early retirement, Social Work professor Cleo discovers a lovely small town on Alabama's gulf coast, meets some kind and interesting people, and makes fortuitous decisions. Despite Harbor Village's label as being for *old folks*, she decides to live there and work there part time. Good thing, too! There are some oddities which turn out to be a lot more than they seem once her job changes after a murder is discovered. There's a lot more to the story and a whole cast of real characters, but that would get into the spoiler thing. I totally enjoyed reading it! I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you! Disclaimers--I am a retired RN and have worked in a similar setting, I was disturbed that the drug theft was not given suitable attention since it was included in the story; my daughter is an LMSW; and I dislike cats because of allergies.

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Cleo Mack decides to take early retirement from her position as a Social Work professor and chooses to settle at Harbor Village retirement community where she will get a reduced rent on an apartment by working part-time. After moving in, she is placed in an awkward situation when the Executive Director is discovered murdered. It turns out that the victim was the current wife of her Ex and that he is in control of the Corporation that runs the community. He now wants Cleo to take over and find out what happened.The story was fun (reminding me a great deal of the Assisted Living facility where my Mom is) and how that characters interacted. Nice start.

[kris_anderson-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Murder at Harbor Village by G.P. Gardner is the debut novel in A Down by the Bay Mystery series. Cleo Mack has been offered a chance at early retirement from the university where she is department chair and teaches social work. Cleo decides to visit Fairhope, Alabama while trying to decide about her future. She falls in love with the picturesque town and a chance encounter with Nita Bergen helps the final pieces fall into place. Nita introduces her to Harbor Village, a retirement community, where she lives with her husband, and her circle of friends who welcome Cleo. Cleo is contacted by Jamie Barnes, Director of Assisted Living at Harbor Village, who offers her a part-time job handling resident services and Cleo works an apartment into the deal. A month later, Cleo returns to move into her new apartment and begins a new chapter of her life. The next morning, Lee Ferrell, the executive director, is found dead in the pool and Cleo finds herself in charge of Harbor Village. Travis McKenzie, Cleo’s ex-husband of twenty-three years, runs Harbor Health Services, needs fresh eyes on Harbor Village, and he feels Cleo is the right woman for the job. Something fishy is going on in this quiet community and Travis is relying on Cleo to ferret out the truth. How does is relate to Lee’s death? That is just what Cleo intends to find out.Murder at Harbor Village is a light cozy mystery with friendly characters and a striking town. Cleo is looking forward to this new phase of her life when a murder disrupts her plans. She is suddenly thrust into an administrative roll (there goes the retirement) with a host of problems. She is shocked when she learns the victim is Travis’ new wife (makes him a good suspect). Cleo soon learns that murder is not the only mystery at Harbor Village. We are taken through Cleo’s daily tasks as she learns her new role which she handles with grace considering she has no clue what she is doing (practical knowledge goes a long way). We are introduced to numerous characters and learn the complexities of running a retirement village. I liked the author’s relaxed writing style which makes the book easy to read. The mysteries were complex and multifaceted. The suspects are limited, but I believe readers will find it challenging to identify the killer. I like how she bounces ideas off Nita, Jim, Dolly and Riley (her new circle of friends) and works with Chief Ray Boozer on solving the whodunit. The resolution relies on speculation instead of firm facts and there was an unanswered piece of the puzzle. I enjoyed reading the refreshing Murder at Harbor Village and I look forward to reading the next A Down by the Bay Mystery.