Etiquette for Lovers and Killers

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA WHODUNNIT DAGGER 2026 LONGLISTED FOR THE ILP JOHN CREASEY FIRST NOVEL DAGGER 2026 'Utterly delightful and crackling with wit, I could not put this down!' KRISTIN PERRIN, New York Times bestselling author of HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER 'Alluring and impressive . . . a powerful new voice to the genre' ELLE COSIMANO, New York Times bestselling author of FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT 'Billie McCadie is Nancy Drew, if Nancy had been raised by Emily Post and Dorothy Parker' JULIA SEALES, bestselling author of A MOST AGREEABLE MURDER 'Delightful . . . a nostalgic treat wrapped in the briny ocean breezes of Maine' NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS What are the chances of receiving a love letter and an engagement ring for a perfect stranger, only to see that same woman murdered the very next day? It's 1964 in the tiny town of Eastport, Maine, and Billie McCadie is bored to death. She's surrounded by dull people with more manners than sense, and no sign of the intrigue or romance that fills her beloved novels. That is, until an engagement ring and cryptic love letter turn up, addressed to 'Gertrude'. Until she meets yacht-club handsome Avery Webster. Until the unsettling phone calls and visits from a man in a fedora begin. Until she's one of the last people to see Gertrude alive . . . and the first to see her dead. What follows is an intoxicating cocktail of stalking, blackmail, Jell-O salads, and champagne secrets, all served along the rocky Maine coastline. Everyone is a suspect. Everyone has a secret. And (strangely) everyone has a boat. But who is willing to kiss and tell? As the body count rises and the danger nears, why does Billie feel like she's more than just a side character? And after yearning to be in the action for so long, would it be terribly unladylike to have some fun of her own? A love letter to uncivilized behaviour, Etiquette for Lovers and Killers blends mystery and romance into a twisty, murderous delight that aches for better manners.

Anna Fitzgerald Healy's writing has been featured in Dark Matter Magazine, Mystery Tribune, the Hoxie Gorge Review, and several anthologies by Brigid's Gate Press. She grew up on the Maine coast and now works in LA, living in a (possibly haunted) miniature castle in the Hollywood Hills. She's already well underway with the second book in this series.