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Today I’m pleased to welcome Jacque Rosman, author of Murder at the Waterfront, the third book in the Academic Mom Mysteries.
Every mystery has a story behind its creation, and today Jacque is taking us behind the scenes to share how real-life experiences, research, and an unforgettable tour of Washington, D.C.’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office helped inspire her latest cozy mystery.
How a Practicum Tour Became a Murder Scene:
Researching the D.C. Chief Medical Examiner’s Office for Murder at the Waterfront, 3rd in the Academic Mom Mysteries
By Jacque Rosman
When I first moved to the D.C. area, it wasn’t for research. It was for marriage. My husband, the real-life inspiration for Cara’s spouse, “Seth” and I made a compromise. He transferred from the Department of Justice’s Dallas office to the DOJ headquarters in D.C. I was teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond (renamed Virginia University for the series), but VCU had an off-campus program in Fairfax County, so I transferred there.
That first summer we were married, I took on practicum liaison duties, visiting the placements where our social work students were training. It was a good way to learn about the area and scout out agencies for future research. I didn’t expect it to hand me the premise for a mystery novel.
One of those placements was a grief and loss center in the District of Columbia. Part of the social workers’ role there was doing grief counseling at the Medical Examiner’s Office after death notifications were made. The student’s supervisor offered to walk me through, and I got a full tour of the building: the cool, tiled lobby giving way to a colder examining room, the stainless-steel table, the surgical lights, that specific smell of disinfectant with something underneath it you don’t forget. I gave Cara that exact tour, guided by the student placed at the grief and loss center—who becomes the murder suspect—and an autopsy tech.
A few details from that visit made it onto the page almost unchanged. There was a Family Services room tucked away—comfortably furnished, grief pamphlets for every age group, closed doors where families are told the worst. There was a toxicology lab down the hall, all mass spectrometers and fume hoods, entirely separate from the autopsy suite. It was also the summer of the Chandra Levy case, and there were protests at the ME’s Office over how differently Black deaths were being investigated and covered compared to hers.
The other piece came from an essay by my former colleague, Sarah Kye Price, written for a book I edited under my real name, What Do Social Workers Do All Day. Sarah had served on a fatality review board as part of her job, and reading about it, I realized: that’s my way in. A fatality review committee gave Cara a legitimate, plausible reason to be sitting at the table with the M.E. who later turns up dead.
Of course, I did my own research as I was writing. The website for the Chief ME’s Office was bare bones—no staff bios online, no public organization chart, a line about the mayor appointing the Chief Medical Examiner. But how that actually worked in practice was murkier: how much influence do council members exert? I never found a clear answer, even after researching past corruption cases involving city council members, so I let that uncertainty become the plot rather than a research problem to solve.
I also tried to speak to forensic pathologists. My husband had a college friend who used to play in a band with him and later became a doctor, doing a rotation in forensic pathology, so I talked to him about the feasibility of certain plot details. My local chapter of Sisters in Crime, the Chessie Chapter, brought in Mary Jumbelic, a former forensic pathologist and author of Here Where Death Delights. The Chessie Chapter also featured a speaker on insurance fraud, which was useful for learning how to look up information online and what certain indicators mean regarding the possibility of shell companies.
By the time I sat down to write, the actual D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had moved into a new building in the Waterfront neighborhood, which is where the title came from, and where I sent Cara. The building is new. The politics of whose death gets taken seriously are not. That’s the tension Murder at the Waterfront is built on.
Murder at the Waterfront (The Academic Mom Mysteries) by Jacque RosmanAbout Murder at the Waterfront
Murder at the Waterfront (The Academic Mom Mysteries)
Traditional Mystery/Amateur Sleuth
3rd in Series
Setting – Washington D.C.
Publisher : Speaking Volumes, LLC
Publication date : May 19, 2026
Print length : 230 pages
Paperback
ISBN-13 : 979-8890224279
ASIN : B0H2C46SXZ
Digital
ISBN-13 : 979-8890224262
ASIN : B0H279G98V
She’s mastered the art of work-life balance—until murder tips the scales.
Assistant professor Cara Knight juggles raising two preschoolers, teaching social work, and chasing tenure, with a dean intent on derailing her hopes. When one of her students is arrested for murdering Washington D.C.’s chief medical examiner, and Cara inserts herself into the investigation, she risks far more than her career. Convinced of her student’s innocence, Cara stumbles into a tangle of city politics, grieving families, and secrets someone would kill to keep buried.
Can she diagnose the cause of death before she too ends up in the morgue?
Murder at the Waterfront is Book Three in the Academic Mom Mysteries. If you like clever sleuths, dry humor, and twisty whodunits, then you’ll love Jacque Rosman’s well-plotted puzzle.
About Jacque Rosman
Jacque Rosman writes the Academic Mom Mystery series, featuring Cara Knight, a social work professor whose research instincts keep pulling her into investigations that are decidedly off-syllabus. With wry humor, Jacque mines the absurdity of academia and motherhood for a series that’s equal parts twisty and true-to-life, set in the nation’s capital. When she’s not plotting murders, Jacque can be found juggling her own version of the academic mom life. Join the newsletter for updates on Cara’s next case and the meals that she can get all her family to eat.
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July 20 – deal sharing aunt – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
July 21 – Salty Inspirations – AUTHOR GUEST POST
July 22 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
July 22 – Sarandipity’s – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 23 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
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July 24 – StoreyBook Reviews – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 24 – Carla Loves To Read – SPOTLIGHT
July 25 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – SPOTLIGHT
July 26 – Books1987 – SPOTLIGHT
July 27 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 28 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 28 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
July 29 – FUONLYKNEW – RECIPE
July 29 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 30 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
July 31 – Romance Novel Giveaways – AUTHOR GUEST POST
July 31 – Book Hookup – REVIEW
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Many thanks to Jacque Rosman for visiting Salty Inspirations and sharing the fascinating real-life research behind Murder at the Waterfront. If this behind-the-scenes look piqued your curiosity, be sure to add this cozy mystery to your TBR and check out the purchase links above.
While you’re here, I invite you to browse the blog for more author interviews, guest posts, book tours, writing inspiration, and all things cozy mystery.
As always, thanks for stopping by for some Salty Inspirations! —Michelle❤️
Thank you for hosting, and inspiring me to write about the research I did for this book. I enjoyed it and hope your readers will, too!
Thank you so much for being my guest, Jacque! I really enjoyed having you stop by and share the fascinating research behind Murder at the Waterfront. It’s always fun to get a peek behind the scenes and learn what inspires a story. Wishing you a wonderful tour, and I hope readers enjoy the book as much as they enjoy learning about its journey to the page!