by Cleo Coyle
First published 2018
Penelope Thornton-McClure runs a bookshop in a small Rhode Island town. She shares her store with Jack Shepard, the ghost of a 1940s private investigator who helps her solve mysteries. When an elegant customer breaks down in Penelope's shop, she suspects something sinister lurks behind the year's biggest bestselling novel. The popular book has gripped their tiny town, but readers are turning up dead. First one customer dies, then another death connects to the same bestseller. Penelope discovers the novel contains more than fiction. Real secrets hide within its pages, linked to an old unsolved case. Now Penelope and Jack must uncover the truth behind the fraudulent bestseller. A killer stalks their town, and Penelope could become the next victim unless she and her ghostly partner solve the cold case that inspired the deadly book.
Genres: mystery, supernatural, ghost-stories, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth
Vibes: atmospheric, cozy, intriguing, suspenseful, whimsical
Tropes: amateur-detective, cold-case-mystery, found-family, paranormal-partnership
Setting: Rhode Island
Period: 1940s, contemporary
304 pages · Kindle Edition · Berkley
Content warnings: death, murder