First published 2018
A washed-up actress rents a shabby Hollywood bungalow in the 1950s, only to hear whispers about the previous tenant's supposed suicide. She grows suspicious when she finds a threatening message written inside a book her secretive landlord keeps under close watch. Meanwhile, rare books dealer Franklin Altman meets an elderly German stranger who claims to possess a manuscript that could rewrite the outcome of World War I. Across the country, Professor Dominic Hallkyn receives an anonymous call that sends him racing through Boston streets, chasing down a precious Chaucerian text for reasons that will prove far more sinister than he imagines. In South Carolina, bookstore owner Ellen Gallagher discovers that a first edition Agatha Christie novel, personally signed for the Queen of England, has vanished from her thrift shop. She turns to her friend Annie Darling to help recover the missing treasure. Four award-winning mystery authors weave separate stories where literary artifacts become weapons, and the love of books turns deadly.
Genres: fiction, mystery, thriller, books-about-books
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, literary-mystery
Setting: Hollywood, Boston, South Carolina
Period: 1950s
159 pages · Kindle Edition · MysteriousPress.com/Open Road