This time, when I say Gabby Allan “launches” a new series, it’s an appropriate word. Much Ado About Nauticaling is the first Whit and Whiskers mystery, and it’s set on Catalina Island off the coast of southern California. There’s something refreshing about this cozy mystery. Whitney Dagner did not blow up a job or escape a cheating boyfriend. Instead, she decided to leave a corporate job and return home to the town of Avalon on Catalina. Her family has been involved in the tourist business there for over one hundred years.

In fact, Whitney has invested in the town. She hasn’t had the grand opening of her gift shop The Dame of the Sea yet, but she’s operating the glass bottom boat tours on Sea Bounder. The family hosts business parties as well as family groups and tourists. Goldy and Pops, Whitney’s grandparents, still help out occasionally, but they’re officially retired. The business is in the capable hands of Whit and her brother, Nick.

But, the night the Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year floats under the boat, dead, Whitney isn’t so sure her younger brother is capable. Whitney never liked Jules Tisdale, but she was operating the boat all evening. She thought Nick had an alibi, having flown off island. But, Nick flees from the police before he has an accident on his golf cart. Then, after talking with the police once, he disappears. It doesn’t take long for Whitney to discover why her brother is the primary suspect. It will take longer for her and a couple friends to come up with some other suspects who disliked the victim enough to kill him.

Although Whitney is a reluctant sleuth, she has a solid supporting cast in this first in a series. Her roommate is a dispatcher for the police department, and her ex-boyfriend, Felix Ramirez, is a diver for the department. Goldy and Pops are delightful characters. Whitney’s cat, Whiskers, is nothing more than a cat, although she does have a moment or two to shine.

Much Ado About Nauticaling has both an original setting and an original job for the sleuth. Readers will want to return to Santa Catalina and sail away with Whitney for another mystery.

Much Ado About Nauticaling by Gabby Allan. Kensington Books, 2021. 9781496731067 (paperback), 304p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a .PDF to review for a journal.