Come shell or high water

Maureen Nash travels to Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, before the island has reopened to tourists after a hurricane to meet shell shop owner Allen Withrow. After rescuing a beautiful carved shell from the ocean, she manages to electrocute herself at Withrow's shop and is found by elderly brother and sister Burt and Glady Weaver. After coming to, Maureen remembers stumbling over a body. Skeptical, the Weavers go with Maureen to search for it, with a disembodied voice telling Maureen to look by Ikey D.'s grave. The voice belongs to a ghost, pirate Emrys Lloyd. After finding Withrow's body, Maureen investigates, with Glady's and Emrys' help, after she learns she is a suspect in the murder. It takes a minute for Maureen to accept she is not hallucinating, as only she can see Emrys. A strong sense of place, a sympathetic heroine, and an opinionated ghost will appeal to fans of Carolyn Haines' Sarah Booth Delaney cozies.