Peter Bartholomew Mysteries Books in Order

The Peter Bartholomew Mysteries are Sally Gunning's earlier Cape-set whodunits, and they have a different energy from her historical novels. These books take place on the fictional island of Nashtoba, a setting that blends the feel of Cape Cod and the islands into one close, weathered community. Peter Bartholomew is not a detective by trade. He runs an odd-job company called Factotum, so he is forever in other people's houses, yards, boats, and business. That makes him the perfect magnet for trouble.

Pete really cannot keep away from dead bodies.

The series opens with Hot Water, when a simple cataloging job turns into a bathtub death, and from there the cases keep arriving through everyday island life. In Under Water he finds a pregnant teenager's body in the Sound. Ice Water drops him into a Christmas season murder tied to local land pressure. Troubled Water and Rough Water show how quickly apparently quiet island routines can turn vicious, whether the spark is family history, property, or simple old anger.

Pete is the center, but he is never alone for long. His ex-wife Connie is one of the series' main emotional threads, and their push and pull gives the books more than a puzzle to solve. Pete's sister Polly also recurs, bringing both warmth and chaos. Around them are local police, old friends, eccentrics, summer people, and year-round islanders who all seem to know one another's business, or think they do. That small-town closeness is part of the fun and part of the danger.

Island life means nobody stays a stranger for long, and nobody keeps a secret easily.

The later books keep widening the net. Still Water sends Pete undercover inside a troubled household. Deep Water starts with the death of a local drunk and a suspicious wad of cash. Muddy Water begins with a murdered bride, Dirty Water mixes a shooting confession with a hurricane, and Fire Water digs up literal bones from Pete's own marsh. The tone sits somewhere between traditional amateur sleuth mystery and coastal small-town drama. There is wit, but there is also loss, resentment, and the sense that old history never quite washes away.

If you want Cape atmosphere, recurring characters, and mysteries built from family grudges, money problems, and buried local scandals, this series delivers. Read in order if you can. The cases stand alone, but Pete and Connie's story lands better that way.