What do you think?
Rate this book
Windjammer Mystery #3
Cold Coast: A Brie Beaumont Mystery Thriller
Award-winning author Jenifer LeClair delivers a taut thriller set against the rugged Maine Coast and the Bay of Fundy, a landscape both beautiful and unforgiving. Detective Brie Beaumont teams with the Maine State Police to investigate a grisly murder away down East near the village of Tucker Harbor, Maine. A second death, a four-year-old mystery involving a research scientist, and a mysterious unexplained phenomenon draw Brie into an ever-tightening web of intrigue and danger. Themes of isolation and the destructive power of secrets play hauntingly throughout this gripping thriller, the third in Jenifer LeClair's acclaimed Windjammer Mystery Series.
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 27, 2013
23 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Jenifer LeClair
8 books37 followersJenifer LeClair is the author of the award-winning Windjammer Mystery Series set on the coast of Maine and featuring homicide detective Brie Beaumont as the series protagonist and detective. "Rigged for Murder" and "Danger Sector" are the first two books in LeClair's gripping mystery series and are set aboard a historic windjammer and on the islands and coastal areas of Maine, where she has sailed since 1994. LeClair brings a remarkable authenticity to the remote and beautiful setting of her action/adventure mystery novels and has won Independent Publisher Awards for Best Regional Fiction for both "Rigged for Murder" in 2009 and "Danger Sector" in 2011. "Rigged for Murder" also won the 2009 RebeccasReads Written Art Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and "Danger Sector" was a finalist in the 2011 Midwest Book Awards. Jenifer LeClair lives in Minnesoata, but has adopted Maine as her second home and spends time there every year researching, travelling the highways and byways, doing photography, and sailing to various destinations in the Gulf of Maine and beyond. Her adventures aboard the Maine windjammers have taken her from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to Gloucester, Massachusetts and Mystic, Connecticut and to dozens of islands and coastal villages in between. You can visit and write to author Jenifer LeClair on the web at www.windjammermysteries.com and watch for her new book, "Cold Coast," coming in July of 2013.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 6, 2017
My favorite of the series thus far!
I'm obsessed with coastal Maine and therefore appreciate any book that can transport me to that rocky coast, riddled with beach rose, the cry of a gull overhead, ringing buoy bells, distant fog horns on stormy grey seas, lobster boats in the harbor, salty seaweed air, creaking swaying docks, cable knit sweaters, lighthouses winking in the dark...
I tend to read these while on vacation in Maine and have purchased three books from the same Blue Willow gift shop, in Perkins Cove, each year! It's my little tradition.
I enjoyed the previous two books of the series very much but this one just really sucked me into that Maine surrounding and gosh these books have some fun investigation plots!
I find Brie very likable and the way the author describes everything she does, wears, eats, etc. it just feels like I'm the character or something and I enjoy feeling encompassed by my character's surroundings and this author does it brilliantly! I feel like I just ate a delicious meal at the diner upon her finishing, I feel like I hopped into a car and went to investigate a lead in Machias, I feel like I put on a cozy cable knit sweater after a warm shower as a Nor'Easter wreaks havoc against the cozy inn's walls...
Some of my favorite highlights from book are:
Well, my favorite part to come across was page 1 as it coincidentally talks about Bar Harbor/Acadia (see previous review of "Historic Acadia National Park") and I was just about to visit there for my 2nd time when I was reading this...
"The Maine Wind felt its way along the coast on a heading east by northeast. Brie Beaumont zipped her jacket, turned up the collar of her wool sweater, made her way to the bow of the ship to man the fog horn. The sun-a constant companion in the early part of the day-now was a fickle friend. They had weighed anchor in Southwest Harbor for their long day's voyage northeast along the coast to Tucker Harbor, Maine. Cadillac Mountain, the crowning glory of Acadia National Park, had worn a cap of golden light as they'd sailed beneath it and across the mouth of Frenchman Bay, where spruce-covered islands rose like green pleasure domes from the blue Atlantic.
They were now off Schoodic Point, which drifted in and out of fog like the mythical land of Brigadoon. Over the last half-hour, Brie witnessed all the elements on display here. A large cloud would open and send a wall of rain over the point. The sun would blaze out and shoot a rainbow across rockbound shore. Then the fog would roll back in and the dance would begin anew, as if Mother Nature couldn't decide how to attire herself.
After Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, the last vestiges of hardcore tourism fell away. Beyond Schoodic Point, the Atlantic opened up, sheer cliffs rose from the sea, and the tides ran in and out of the Bay of Fundy with a vengeance. The Bold Coast, austere and wildly beautiful, awaited.
A few hundred yards ahead a thick fog bank rolled toward them. Brie cranked the old Lothrup foghorn and let out a long blast followed by two short blasts, the signal for a sailboat underway. She checked the second hand on her watch, cranked again, and two minutes later let out another blast-one long, two short. The scene replayed itself over and over until they sailed free of the fog bank forty minutes later.
Beyond Schoodic Point, the wind was building, stirring up the sea and hurling spindrift across the bow of the Maine Wind. To the northeast, a leaden sky lurked on the distant horizon, a potential omen of trouble brewing away Down East. Brie turned the phrase over in her mind as she snugged the jib sheet, ran it around the belaying pin in a figure eight, and made it off. "Down East" was an expression born in the golden age of sail when mariners would be sailing downwind, traveling east along the coast of Maine, where many of the ships' captains lived. And so, Maine came to be known as Down East." (page 1 and 2)
Ahhh now doesn't that just conjure up a sensation of actually being in Maine? I always say my heart belongs in Maine...who knows perhaps I'll live there one day. I've been visiting Maine each year since at least 4 years old...though I didn't start spending overnight trips there until after I was married, but my husband and I go to Maine 3 times a summer for days to nearly a week at a time, for the past 9 years and I'm so glad my husband has a (new-found) passion for Maine as I do! We have our favorite spots but we're planning on incorporating new places (like how we discovered Bar Harbor/Acadia last year). I also would LOVE to visit more famous lighthouses of Maine!
"They walked into the room to their left. Brie had visited or stayed at a few inns in Maine since she had arrived, and they all seemed to share a certain comfortable hominess, she thought. Like Great Aunt Mildred's parlor might have looked, if she had a Great Aunt Mildred with a parlor, that is. The Whale Spout Inn did not disappoint with its pine floors and colorful throw rugs. An antique sofa with rose colored velvet upholstery sat near the fireplace. A pale green knitted throw lay across one of its arms. Opposite the sofa, two high-back chairs covered with a multi-colored tapestry flanked the other side of the fireplace. The back wall of the room was covered with dark wood bookcases filled with books and a variety of maritime objects and ships' models. The inns she had visited always had lots of books, something that particularly delighted her. Maine seemed to be a bookish place-at least the coastal areas she had visited." (page 54)
"Brie left the diner and started down the road that ran through the village between the shore and docks on one side and the houses on the other. Narrow as it was where it came through the village, the road was actually part of the highway that continued wast along the Bold Coast, all the way to Lubec, Maine. Near Lubec, the famous West Quoddy Head lighthouse-easternmost point in the U.S. -stood watch over the Bay of Fundy from its high cliffs. She would have gotten to see it from the ship during this voyage. That opportunity had been lost when she'd come ashore to work the case." (page 61)
"Brie followed the road back out of Machias the way she had come in. Once outside the town limits, she mentally reviewed the interview with _______-both what he had said as well as her conjecture about what the real truth was. At this point she had no reason either to believe or disbelieve what he had told her. She had learned long ago that she seldom got the whole truth from a suspect or person of interest, but rather a version of the truth. Therefore, she didn't take testimony at face value. In her book, the truth was always discounted. Once you had stripped away the layers of embellishment, half-truths, and outright lies, the truth was what you had left. It was a process of distillation, with the detective as alchemist. (page 89)
"She woke to the sound of the foghorn at the entrance to the harbor. She lay for a few minutes listening to its mournful call. Out the windows of her room a soft, gray world had replaced the one with sharp edges and definition. The fog seemed a metaphor for her mood this morning." (page 104)
I'm obsessed with coastal Maine and therefore appreciate any book that can transport me to that rocky coast, riddled with beach rose, the cry of a gull overhead, ringing buoy bells, distant fog horns on stormy grey seas, lobster boats in the harbor, salty seaweed air, creaking swaying docks, cable knit sweaters, lighthouses winking in the dark...
I tend to read these while on vacation in Maine and have purchased three books from the same Blue Willow gift shop, in Perkins Cove, each year! It's my little tradition.
I enjoyed the previous two books of the series very much but this one just really sucked me into that Maine surrounding and gosh these books have some fun investigation plots!
I find Brie very likable and the way the author describes everything she does, wears, eats, etc. it just feels like I'm the character or something and I enjoy feeling encompassed by my character's surroundings and this author does it brilliantly! I feel like I just ate a delicious meal at the diner upon her finishing, I feel like I hopped into a car and went to investigate a lead in Machias, I feel like I put on a cozy cable knit sweater after a warm shower as a Nor'Easter wreaks havoc against the cozy inn's walls...
Some of my favorite highlights from book are:
Well, my favorite part to come across was page 1 as it coincidentally talks about Bar Harbor/Acadia (see previous review of "Historic Acadia National Park") and I was just about to visit there for my 2nd time when I was reading this...
"The Maine Wind felt its way along the coast on a heading east by northeast. Brie Beaumont zipped her jacket, turned up the collar of her wool sweater, made her way to the bow of the ship to man the fog horn. The sun-a constant companion in the early part of the day-now was a fickle friend. They had weighed anchor in Southwest Harbor for their long day's voyage northeast along the coast to Tucker Harbor, Maine. Cadillac Mountain, the crowning glory of Acadia National Park, had worn a cap of golden light as they'd sailed beneath it and across the mouth of Frenchman Bay, where spruce-covered islands rose like green pleasure domes from the blue Atlantic.
They were now off Schoodic Point, which drifted in and out of fog like the mythical land of Brigadoon. Over the last half-hour, Brie witnessed all the elements on display here. A large cloud would open and send a wall of rain over the point. The sun would blaze out and shoot a rainbow across rockbound shore. Then the fog would roll back in and the dance would begin anew, as if Mother Nature couldn't decide how to attire herself.
After Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, the last vestiges of hardcore tourism fell away. Beyond Schoodic Point, the Atlantic opened up, sheer cliffs rose from the sea, and the tides ran in and out of the Bay of Fundy with a vengeance. The Bold Coast, austere and wildly beautiful, awaited.
A few hundred yards ahead a thick fog bank rolled toward them. Brie cranked the old Lothrup foghorn and let out a long blast followed by two short blasts, the signal for a sailboat underway. She checked the second hand on her watch, cranked again, and two minutes later let out another blast-one long, two short. The scene replayed itself over and over until they sailed free of the fog bank forty minutes later.
Beyond Schoodic Point, the wind was building, stirring up the sea and hurling spindrift across the bow of the Maine Wind. To the northeast, a leaden sky lurked on the distant horizon, a potential omen of trouble brewing away Down East. Brie turned the phrase over in her mind as she snugged the jib sheet, ran it around the belaying pin in a figure eight, and made it off. "Down East" was an expression born in the golden age of sail when mariners would be sailing downwind, traveling east along the coast of Maine, where many of the ships' captains lived. And so, Maine came to be known as Down East." (page 1 and 2)
Ahhh now doesn't that just conjure up a sensation of actually being in Maine? I always say my heart belongs in Maine...who knows perhaps I'll live there one day. I've been visiting Maine each year since at least 4 years old...though I didn't start spending overnight trips there until after I was married, but my husband and I go to Maine 3 times a summer for days to nearly a week at a time, for the past 9 years and I'm so glad my husband has a (new-found) passion for Maine as I do! We have our favorite spots but we're planning on incorporating new places (like how we discovered Bar Harbor/Acadia last year). I also would LOVE to visit more famous lighthouses of Maine!
"They walked into the room to their left. Brie had visited or stayed at a few inns in Maine since she had arrived, and they all seemed to share a certain comfortable hominess, she thought. Like Great Aunt Mildred's parlor might have looked, if she had a Great Aunt Mildred with a parlor, that is. The Whale Spout Inn did not disappoint with its pine floors and colorful throw rugs. An antique sofa with rose colored velvet upholstery sat near the fireplace. A pale green knitted throw lay across one of its arms. Opposite the sofa, two high-back chairs covered with a multi-colored tapestry flanked the other side of the fireplace. The back wall of the room was covered with dark wood bookcases filled with books and a variety of maritime objects and ships' models. The inns she had visited always had lots of books, something that particularly delighted her. Maine seemed to be a bookish place-at least the coastal areas she had visited." (page 54)
"Brie left the diner and started down the road that ran through the village between the shore and docks on one side and the houses on the other. Narrow as it was where it came through the village, the road was actually part of the highway that continued wast along the Bold Coast, all the way to Lubec, Maine. Near Lubec, the famous West Quoddy Head lighthouse-easternmost point in the U.S. -stood watch over the Bay of Fundy from its high cliffs. She would have gotten to see it from the ship during this voyage. That opportunity had been lost when she'd come ashore to work the case." (page 61)
"Brie followed the road back out of Machias the way she had come in. Once outside the town limits, she mentally reviewed the interview with _______-both what he had said as well as her conjecture about what the real truth was. At this point she had no reason either to believe or disbelieve what he had told her. She had learned long ago that she seldom got the whole truth from a suspect or person of interest, but rather a version of the truth. Therefore, she didn't take testimony at face value. In her book, the truth was always discounted. Once you had stripped away the layers of embellishment, half-truths, and outright lies, the truth was what you had left. It was a process of distillation, with the detective as alchemist. (page 89)
"She woke to the sound of the foghorn at the entrance to the harbor. She lay for a few minutes listening to its mournful call. Out the windows of her room a soft, gray world had replaced the one with sharp edges and definition. The fog seemed a metaphor for her mood this morning." (page 104)
September 10, 2014
Brie Beaumont is a homicide detective on leave from the Minneapolis PD, recovering from PTSD after her partner was killed and she herself was wounded. To attempt to recover, she has taken a summer job as second mate on the windjammer, The Maine Wind. Twice before she has become involved in murder investigations and has become known to the Maine State Police officers.
In this third book in the Windjammer mystery series, the ship drops anchor in Tucker Harbor, Maine, and several of the passengers decide to take a hike along the coastline, where they stumble across a dead body. Dent Fenton, a lieutenant on the Maine State Police homicide team, asks Brie to leave the ship this time and be deputized to officially work on the case.
What follows is an interesting police investigation, as Brie and the other detective sift through the details of the victim's life. I would rate the first two-thirds of the book a solid three stars. But in the last third of the book, the action and intrigue really pick up, turning the book into a real edge-of-the-seat-page-turner and earning it a four-star rating from me after all.
I certainly hope LeClair is busy writing book four in the series. I really want to know what Brie decides to do with her life when summer ends. What sets this series apart from others though is the time spent sailing on the Maine Wind. If you've ever wanted to sail off into the sunset, read this series.
In this third book in the Windjammer mystery series, the ship drops anchor in Tucker Harbor, Maine, and several of the passengers decide to take a hike along the coastline, where they stumble across a dead body. Dent Fenton, a lieutenant on the Maine State Police homicide team, asks Brie to leave the ship this time and be deputized to officially work on the case.
What follows is an interesting police investigation, as Brie and the other detective sift through the details of the victim's life. I would rate the first two-thirds of the book a solid three stars. But in the last third of the book, the action and intrigue really pick up, turning the book into a real edge-of-the-seat-page-turner and earning it a four-star rating from me after all.
I certainly hope LeClair is busy writing book four in the series. I really want to know what Brie decides to do with her life when summer ends. What sets this series apart from others though is the time spent sailing on the Maine Wind. If you've ever wanted to sail off into the sunset, read this series.
June 30, 2023
“Cold Coast, A Brie Beaumont Mystery Thriller”, the third book in the Windjammer Mystery Series -- a great follow up to “Rigged for Murder” and Danger Sector.”
While “Rigged for Murder” introduced readers to the main characters of the series (Brie and John) with more focus on sailing and the possible beginnings of a romance than mystery (although, there was that in my estimation – mystery, I mean), “Cold Coast” is much more focused on murder, mystery and intrigue. It kept me going from start to finish and the ending was a total surprise.
The writing is clean, clear and crisp with just the right blend of intrigue and ongoing character development. I enjoyed learning more about the culture of “Mainers” through this book and the Maine seacoast in general. It’s a “must visit” on my travel list. And, the remaining books in the Windjammer Mystery Series are “must reads” on my reading list.
While “Rigged for Murder” introduced readers to the main characters of the series (Brie and John) with more focus on sailing and the possible beginnings of a romance than mystery (although, there was that in my estimation – mystery, I mean), “Cold Coast” is much more focused on murder, mystery and intrigue. It kept me going from start to finish and the ending was a total surprise.
The writing is clean, clear and crisp with just the right blend of intrigue and ongoing character development. I enjoyed learning more about the culture of “Mainers” through this book and the Maine seacoast in general. It’s a “must visit” on my travel list. And, the remaining books in the Windjammer Mystery Series are “must reads” on my reading list.
August 17, 2025
This book started off slowly and only picked up the last 50ish pages.
There were some writing flaws that had to do with characters accents. Saying they have an accent repeatedly, spelling it out and then pointing out the accent again seems redundant.
A book should show and not tell when it comes to this genre. There were certain moments in this book that could have flowed better and cut our fluff.
The plot seemed like there were too many concepts trying to come together and I personally felt it could overwhelm a reader.
There were some writing flaws that had to do with characters accents. Saying they have an accent repeatedly, spelling it out and then pointing out the accent again seems redundant.
A book should show and not tell when it comes to this genre. There were certain moments in this book that could have flowed better and cut our fluff.
The plot seemed like there were too many concepts trying to come together and I personally felt it could overwhelm a reader.
July 30, 2022
This series is quickly becoming one of my favorites! Though I missed the windjammer and the crew. I understand the need to give Brie some options as she makes some heavy decisions. I also found the premise a little far-fetched, but I suppose those are the things that no-one thinks of that are probably real. Already packed the next one for an upcoming trip!
July 4, 2017
Another stop on the Windjammer trip; another death to solve. There were quite a few twists and turns in this book. I have downloaded Books 4 and 5, but will take a break for a bit and read another favorite author.
February 24, 2026
I love this series of Jenifer LeCkair’s books! Following the life of character Brie Beaumont is interesting and exciting. The end of Cold Coast, caught me by surprise, as I’m always trying to guess the “who done it” in this series.
August 23, 2018
Good series if you like the water, stories about sailing, yummy food, and a mystery. It's a good beach read and I've enjoyed the series so far.
September 12, 2019
On 2nd thought I move this down to two stars. Needed a real editor and not a fellow writer. Far too much extraneous to the plot which itself was disjointed.
September 16, 2021
If you enjoy mysteries, Maine, and boats then you will enjoy this. Not for the, uh, writing, but for the setting.
March 14, 2024
Enjoyed the twists and turns of this book. Kept me guessing.
March 9, 2025
Who doesn’t love Maine, boats and the coastal towns with the fog rolling in and out! A great mystery series!!
December 27, 2025
Love it! Did not guess the murderer until they were revealed!
February 2, 2014
Brie Beaumont is a homicide detective on leave from the Minneapolis Police Department and decided to take a cruise aboard The Maine Wind, an old-fashioned sailing ship. The ship is owned by Captain John deLuc. When an incident left Captain deLuc's crew short one person he asked Brie to be second mate and she accepted. Brie and John have become close during their time together on the ship and it is now nearing the time for Brie to decide if she is going to return to Minneapolis and her duties as a detective.
The Maine Wind docks at Tucker Harbor, Maine after a storm. Tucker Harbor is a small lobster fishing village. Brie and another crew member decided to take the longboat ashore and several passengers expressed interest in going ashore and hiking along a trail that led to the village. The group set out on the trail but suddenly Brie heard a terrified cry from Hurley, one of the ship's passengers, that was followed by one from another passenger. The group had come across a body on the trail. It turned out that the body was that of Jake Maloney, one of the residents of Tucker Harbor. The police were summoned and Dent Fenton of the Maine State Police started the investigation. When he realized Brie was an experienced detective he asked that she assist him in the investigation. Brie agreed to help and soon found that another murder had occurred earlier in the village.
This is the third Windjammer book with Brie Beaumont. It seems wherever The Maine Wind takes her Brie winds up in the midst of a mystery. Previous books are Danger Sector and Rigged for Murder. It is not necessary to read the books in order but they are all full of wonderful descriptions of life on a sailing vessel and the mysteries are tense and keep the reader guessing until the final outcome.
The Maine Wind docks at Tucker Harbor, Maine after a storm. Tucker Harbor is a small lobster fishing village. Brie and another crew member decided to take the longboat ashore and several passengers expressed interest in going ashore and hiking along a trail that led to the village. The group set out on the trail but suddenly Brie heard a terrified cry from Hurley, one of the ship's passengers, that was followed by one from another passenger. The group had come across a body on the trail. It turned out that the body was that of Jake Maloney, one of the residents of Tucker Harbor. The police were summoned and Dent Fenton of the Maine State Police started the investigation. When he realized Brie was an experienced detective he asked that she assist him in the investigation. Brie agreed to help and soon found that another murder had occurred earlier in the village.
This is the third Windjammer book with Brie Beaumont. It seems wherever The Maine Wind takes her Brie winds up in the midst of a mystery. Previous books are Danger Sector and Rigged for Murder. It is not necessary to read the books in order but they are all full of wonderful descriptions of life on a sailing vessel and the mysteries are tense and keep the reader guessing until the final outcome.
February 19, 2015
Lobster villages on the Maine DownEast coast, throw in a windjammer with a 2nd mate/detective, a murder, and then a surprising twist with a connection to ELF at Clam Llake Wis. It's a winner for this old salt. Author uses real villages, highways & harbors reader has known of, some visited by land and sea.
September 10, 2015
I really like Jenifer LeClair's mysteries. They are easy reading as well as great who-dunnits. I especially love the Windjammer series as I have sailed the windjammers in Maine and totally familiar with the settings of her novels. This one was not a disappointment. Same great characters, new characters, and a story that kept me guessing. Enjoy!
September 7, 2013
This is the 3rd book in the series about Brie Beaumont. The book is a fast read, has a good pace to the writing. Each book has its own story, yet Brie's background is inserted into the book so that you know her history. Can't wait for the next book in the series.
January 19, 2015
Good read, enjoy the authors works
I enjoyed all three of the windjammer series. This book became a little too involved at t he end for my taste. Still it was an enjoyable read. I enjoy the authors descriptive phrases. I look forward to the next book.
I enjoyed all three of the windjammer series. This book became a little too involved at t he end for my taste. Still it was an enjoyable read. I enjoy the authors descriptive phrases. I look forward to the next book.
July 20, 2015
For some reason this one was my favorite so far.
July 27, 2014
Awesome mystery! Heart pounding at the end. Can't wait for the next one in the series!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews