The Books by the Bay Mystery series tops my list of favorite cozy mysteries. I look forward to every book and the series is an auto buy for me. The reasons that I love this series so much is the story telling ability of Ellery Adams and the character development. Each book in the series is different and unique. So many times books feel formula driven in some series. Not so in this series as the plot is fresh and well researched. The mystery is well developed. The series can also be atmospheric as I could visualize Olivia's visit to the Allen's cottage. Scenes from other books in this series are still fresh in my mind. The North Carolina coast is well described and almost has a personality like a character.I like very much how the character evolve in each book. Olivia has developed into a more open and loving character through out each book. However, she has retained the strong spine of steel personality through out the development. I look forward to keeping up with the characters in the Bay Writers Group who too have evolved. One would like to know this group and be friends with them. New characters make appearances in all books and some stay in Oyster Bay for future books. I also thought that the marriage of Olivia and Rawlings didn't detract from the book as it does in some tv series. They leave space in their lives to be independent from each other when they feel that need but still in the end are a couple who love and respect each other. They stayed true to their pre-marriage characters.Finally I always love to read of Olivia walks on the North Carolina shoreline with Captain Haviland and her treasure hunter. I am always interested in what treasures that the ocean will give up. This is the 7th book in the series and it has not become stale at all. It is always fresh and new. Looking forward to the next book in this series.