Edited Out (A Seffie Wardwell Mysteries)
by Rebecca Douglass
3rd in Series
Setting – Maine
Publisher : Independently published
Publication date : August 25, 2025
Print length : 263 pages
About the Book
Who erased the writer?
Winter in Maine is long, dark, and cold, and California transplant Seffi Wardwell is combating the winter blues with a full calendar. Tending the plants at the local bed-and-breakfast, writing reports for the library, and generally keeping an eye on events in Smelt Point barely leaves time for pastry and gossip at Sweet Dreams, the local bakery and heart of the village.
When the participants at an artistic retreat held at the bed-and-breakfast grow combative, Seffi is there to smooth things over, stiffen the spine of the innkeeper, and keep things going. But when a writer turns up dead, Seffi’s called on to wield a different kind of expertise. Then someone lets slip there was poison in a coffee bought at Sweet Dreams, and it looks like Seffi’s favorite source of treats is in real trouble. Can her knowledge of plants save the inn—and the local bakery—before the killer strikes again and tears the heart out of Smelt Point?
Review
Seffi is relatively new resident of Smelt Point, a small town that doesn't have a lot of glitz. The highlights are the Inn, the bakery, and the library. To try to make ends meet, the Inn is hosting an artist's group - authors, painters, illustrators - of all ages for a month long residency. Although intended to be an opportunity for these artists to connect and be productive, there's an undercurrent of tension. Then the murder of the one guest no one particularly liked. This isn't Seffi's first murder but she knows how to handle Chief Miah Cox - she taught him many years before.
The story is well-written, with a steady pace, and there's enough suspects and clues to make it hard to guess the killer. There are a few other surprises as well. The characters are well developed and described - I could visualize them and their behaviors. Although this is the third book in the series, it was easily read as a stand-alone. I found myself interested in Seffi's history and her move from California to Maine. I'll be adding the first in the series to my ever growing TBR list.
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.
About the Author
Rebecca M. Douglass has lived, worked, and hiked around the American West for more years than she’ll admit, while raising two children to adulthood and dreaming up interesting ways to bump people off. Thanks to good friends in Maine, she has also fallen in love with that mysterious coast.
Since retiring from work at the library, the author has moved to Seattle, where she is writing the Seffi Wardwell Mysteries. In addition to her Ninja Librarian series for younger readers and the Pismawallops PTA mystery series, she has had short stories published in a magazines and anthologies.
When she isn’t writing, Ms. Douglass likes to go hiking and backpacking, or travels to discover new places or revisit old favorites, including the Sierra Nevada mountains, the desert Southwest, and of course Maine, where so many of the best cozy mysteries are found.
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