When marine surveyor Elias Ward storms into Maren Oakes's boatyard during the chaos of Launch Week, clipboard in hand and accusations on his lips, she assumes he's just another difficult client. But when Elias ends up dead in her yard - and the cradle pin that killed him turns out to be the wrong size - Maren realizes someone used her own equipment as a weapon.

Now her office has been searched. Her notebook has been tampered with. And the salvage paperwork on her most prized restoration project doesn't add up.

Maren knows boats don't lie. People do.

With her steady, sharp-eyed girlfriend Simone feeding her soup and hard truths, her loyal assistant Finn piecing together an unsettling timeline, and Detective Jonah Pike reminding her - repeatedly - not to touch anything, Maren follows the trail of falsified paperwork, stolen evidence, and old town secrets deep into the heart of Salvage Bay.

But the closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous her beautiful coastal Maine town becomes. Because someone killed to keep this buried. And they're not finished yet.

The Salvage Note is the first book in the Salvage Bay Mystery series - a cozy mystery with a sapphic heart, a cat who solves crimes on his own schedule, and a town that keeps its secrets in the water.

Sloane Grant spent years in the fast-paced world of nursing, where she learned that everyone has a story?and a few secrets. Now, she's traded the hospital wards for a much quieter life of "fictional homicide," trading her stethoscope for a notebook and a sharp pen.

When she isn't dreaming up small-town scandals, Sloane is a full-time "chaos coordinator" for her two daughters. Her home office is currently overseen by a strict editorial committee consisting of three cats?Mooshi, Pixie, and Sugar?and one small, very vocal dog named Chocky.

Sloane believes that the best mysteries are solved over a warm drink, and that no puzzle is too complex when you have a sharp mind and a loyal pet by your side.