This well written cozy mystery takes place in upstate New York in a small town with a library that is trying to stay open with reduced funding from the city. Gabriela left her job in a New York city library with her son after she split with her husband. She is now the Director of Circulation at the small town library. She moved from NYC to take care of her mother and misses life in the big city. Plus she's gone from a well-funded library system to a library that is having a rummage sale to try to make money to stay open. She finds a small cross along with a lot of junk that people have donated for the rummage sale. When the carved center turns out to be ivory and a clue links the cross to Catherine of Siena, a medieval saint, Gabriela turns to her expertise as an authenticator of historic documents to lead the quest to discover the truth about this mysterious object. While she is working to authenticate the cross, there are several mysterious murders in town that seem to be linked to the cross. Will the cross bring money to keep the library running or will it continue to cause problems in the town??

There were several fantastic characters in this book. Gabriela is a tenacious truth teller who wants to help everyone even if it endangers her life. She loves her work at the library and loves spending time with her son. Her mother drives her crazy at times because she always has something to say about anything her daughter is doing. The mother was my favorite character -- she was an Italian immigrant and some of her comments made me laugh out loud. There is a also the start of a new romance that fit right in with the story.

This book is a mystery. Since Gabriela was the first person to find the cross, she feels like she should help the police find the murderer. She gets herself in some difficult situations especially toward the end. I can usually guess who the bad guy is but I didn't see this ending coming. ( )

Gabriela is a 40 year-old divorced mom of ten year-old son Ben who moves back to her hometown of Ohnita Harbor from New York City after her divorce.

In New York City, Gabriela worked in Authentications at the New York Public Library. Back home in Ohnita Harbor, she works in the town library, which is the oldest library in the country still in its original building, called “the Fortress”.

Like most community libraries, it is struggling financially. Gabriela is organizing a rummage sale to raise funds and, with a group of volunteers, is wading through the mountain of donations. When they open up one box of donations, they discover an intriguing ivory cross that looks like like could be an antique worth a great deal of money.

Word gets out about the cross and many people are interested. The library maintenance man Mike seems overly curious, as does a local antique dealer who offers his assistance, and the head of the library board of directors becomes increasingly insistent that the cross be sold immediately before a true assessment can be made.

When a local banker and good friend of Gabriela’s is found dead in the harbor after seeing the cross, it is assumed she accidentally drowned. Soon after, a body is found dead on the library lawn. Is the cross cursed or is someone after the cross?

Gabriela uses her contacts to find out more about the cross, and discovers it may have belonged to St. Catherine of Siena, a medieval saint whose head is actually on display as a relic in the Duomo de Siena in Italy. If this cross belonged to St. Catherine, it could be worth enough to save the library.

There were many things that spoke to me about The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor. The setting is a stand-in for Oswego, the author’s hometown and where I attended college. I volunteer at The Book Cellar, a used bookstore located in a New York Public Library branch, and we get donations of books all day every day, so I totally related to Gabriela’s job.

I have visited the Duomo de Siena, and saw for myself the head of St. Catherine. Gabriela’s friend has a basset hound, and I used to have a beloved basset myself.

The characters in the book are interesting. Gabriela is described as “a truth teller”, perhaps a nice way of stating she says what she thinks whether people want to hear it or not. Her young son Ben is portrayed realistically; he can be sweet and kind, and then cranky and self-centered as many children his age are.

Gabriela’s mother Agnese is from Tuscany, and Gabriela is glad to be able to be back home to care for her mother after she was widowed and now has a health scare. Agnese’s Italian comes in handy when they need to speak to people in Siena.

The Secrets of Ohnita Harbor is a fascinating mystery, and the local setting will appeal to many who live in the area. I highly recommend it and am glad to see that there will be a second book in the series, The Secret of Still Waters Chasm, set in the Adirondacks.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Patricia Crisafulli's tour. ( )