By the Sea Cozy Mystery Series

If you like Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie, you'll love Esther and her best friend, Sophie, in book One of the By the Sea Cozy Mystery series! Oceanside High students Esther and Sophie prefer life between the covers of their favorite books, but they open an entirely new adventure and begin an exciting new chapter when the Stuart twins, Parker and Paisley, move from Great Britain to an old mansion in Esther and Sophie's small beach town. The girls score invitations to a celebrity author's book-launch party at the twins' mansion, but after the selfies are snapped, someone goes missing, and everyone is a suspect. Used to hiding behind her glasses and cardigans, Esther has secrets that only her cat and Sophie know. But when someone's life is at stake, what will Esther risk to solve the mystery and save her friends?

Save the date for a masquerade! Forget Phantom of the Opera. The Oceanside High Masked Ball has Esther and Sophie waltzing around clues to solve a cozy mystery murder by the sea. When Esther has her first actual date, she can't find a single book in the school's historic library that will help her. After Romeo and Juliette depressed her, Mr. Darcy infuriated her, and Eliza Doolittle abandoned her authentic self, Sophie dived into contemporary literature to ensure the masked ball will be a success for these two BFFs. The school's Victorian-era library is the perfect setting for a masquerade. When the girls add the dance committee to their list of responsibilities as library aids, a threat is made, and a close friend is the target. After the party is over, can Esther and Sophie unmask the murderer before it's too late? What will the girls do if their last dance is with a killer?

You're invited to join Esther and Sophie at The End, a mysterious event that's supposed to be a really killer party. But murder is on the agenda, and these two best friends must figure out who's behind it all before the killer finds his plus one. Esther and Sophie want to stay in their small town by the sea and volunteer in Oceanside High's historic library forever, but it's time to grow up, apply for college, and protect the library from demolition. While the adults argue about the library's future, the girls investigate the intriguing invitation, but they're the only ones who believe The End may be someone's final event. Every student at Oceanside High has marked themselves as going to the dance party slated to be held at a Stonehenge replica high on a cliff over the ocean. As the mystery host leaves disturbing clues, Esther and Sophie soon realize the dance party and the crimes surrounding it are just the beginning of the end. Will it be their last dance, or will they be able to put the spotlight on a killer?