Murder and Muffins

A psychic cat.
A sarcastic parrot.
And a seaside mystery brimming with ghosts, cookies, and scandal.

When introverted Abby Hale inherits her family’s seaside bookshop, she dreams of quiet days, ocean breezes, and alphabetized shelves. But her peaceful plans crumble like overbaked scones when a town socialite collapses during a book signing and her best friend Juliette stands accused. Abby’s loyalty spins her life into a web of deceit, danger, and ghosts that won’t rest.

Thankfully, she has help–sort of. Her psychic cat Whispers has a talent for sensing danger, her parrot Max never knows when to stay silent, and her former professor Alden Marsh hides a detective past he’d rather forget.

Suspects rise with the tide: the too-charming baker Jason Parker, whose midnight muffins and sugar-sweet smile may be hiding something darker beneath the glaze; her elusive Uncle Nick, the actor who knows more than he’s saying; and the town’s smooth-talking Harbormaster, whose stories might be half truth and half treachery.

Between haunted lighthouses, smudged ledgers, and the rising tides, Abby races to expose secrets and save her bookshop, before the tide—and the truth—wash every clue away.

Interesting concept

There's so much here, possibly too much.
The author certainly has the makings of an interesting story .

The town & characters are interesting, at least what little we are told.

Our main character Abby has visions & talks to ghosts. She has a psychic cat, and a parrot who translates for the cat.

The murder is not a murder for most of the book, but is continuously referred to as such.

The kidnapping, aparent torture, threats, and forced signing of a deed doesn't exactly make for a cozy read and runs closer to thriller territory.

There's also a random POV change that happens without warning & isn't repeated again.

I suspect the author had AI help them with some parts of the story & didn't do a good job editing.
To clarify: it feels like the author came up with an original idea and story but turned to AI when stuck and didn't edit it well.