Ring for Murder (Lighthouse Inn Finale)

by Tim Myers

  Then again, maybe not.

  I got out my old copies and found myself being drawn back into the Lighthouse Inn mysteries myself. Alex’s voice came back easily and unbidden to mind, and I could see the glorious structure of the lighthouse, the polished hardwood floors in the Dual Keepers’ Quarters, and the formations of Bear Rocks as I considered the question, what happens next.

  It was time to see what my old friends were up to.

  My writing schedule was pretty brutal, but I carved out some time, and I wrote Key to Murder instead of taking a vacation.

  SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU’RE THE TYPE THAT READS THE LAST BIT FIRST, YOU MIGHT WANT TO SKIP THIS SECTION IF YOU HAVEN’T READ KEY TO MURDER. GO ON, DOWNLOAD A COPY AND READ IT NOW. DON’T WORRY, WE’RE ALL VERY PATIENT HERE. WE’LL WAIT.

  In Key to Murder, Alex and Elise finally make the lighthouse swap (not forever, but long enough to know there’s no place like home), and much more importantly, along with solving another crime together, Alex admits his love for Elise, and when he thinks he’s dying, he proposes. She accepts, and he fades away.

  But not for good, obviously. I love their interaction at the hospital after Alex wakes up. Elise isn’t sure how he’ll feel, but Alex couldn’t be more delighted. It took someone pulling a trigger to finally make Alex pull the trigger himself and propose. How appropriate is that?

  And that leads us to this book, Ring for Murder. I’ve had that title floating around in my head for ten years, and I can’t tell you what a joy it is to finally be able to use it.

  I’ve said this is the finale of the lighthouse inn mysteries. After all, the story arc is completed. We see Alex and Elise meet for the first time in Innkeeping with Murder, endure untold hardships together, fall in love, and finally, get married on the steps of the lighthouse, the way I’d seen them ending up from the start.

  But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the series is finished forever. If I get an idea that I can’t resist for another lighthouse inn mystery, whether it occurs before the wedding or after it, I’ll probably write it as well. I can’t say no to Alex and Elise, who gave me my first break in the publishing world and fulfilled a dream I’d harbored for several years, to see a novel of mine in print with my name emblazoned across it.

  So don’t hold me to it when I say this is the end.

  But if it is, I can rest peacefully knowing that all is right with the world.

  Alex and Elise are together, forever.

  And the lighthouse continues to watch over them until the end of time.

  Tim Myers

  February, 2011