A small-town summer on the coast of Oregon - sparkling water, tall trees, lots of festivals . . . and murder.

Big-city transplant Felice Bowes is as shocked as everyone else when a controversial local official is viciously killed during the biggest festival of the season. She's even more surprised when the local police chief asks her to help with the investigation, especially when she didn't like the victim and some of the locals would like her to be the guilty party. But while gathering information and interviewing fellow residents, she's most worried about the effects of the crime on a community already on the razor's edge of solvency, and her own safety.

In The Summer Festival is Murder by Jill Lyon, we find that the ripples of murder travel far. Unless it's rooted out and the damage repaired, the evil lying hidden just under the surface of a seemingly normal small town can wreck more than a beautiful summer.