United States, Mystery 

From the jacket: The Bad-News Man by Mary McMullen. It's been twenty-five years since she's seen him. Twenty-five years since his violent outburst prompted her to walk out on his lies, his freeloading-and their marriage. And now, suddenly, like a ghost from her past, he's back. Cosmo Fane. The original bad-news man. When May Lockett first catches sight of the sponging musician she fled so many years before, her initial reaction is shock, quickly followed by apprehension and dismay. After all, she had specifically chosen a quiet place like Provincetown, Massachusetts, to settle in because it seemed the last place a gadabout like Cosmo Fane would turn up. And she's been so content with the calm of her life at the Lilacs, the cozy country inn she inherited after years of hard work for the original owner. Well, the former Mrs. Fane is not about to let history repeat itself. So when Cosmo checks into the Lilacs proposing a reconciliation-including a share of the profits-May promptly sends him packing. Only Cosmo is not so easily gotten rid of. As it turns out, May is not his only reason for visiting Provincetown. He's been seen in the company of some rather shady characters lately, and his arrival did coincide with the discovery of a dead body washed up in the surf. But that could just be happenstance. Cosmo Fane may have his character flaws . . . but murder? - from Amzon