by Cleo Coyle
First published 2023
A lost dog arrives at Penelope McClure's Rhode Island bookshop in a state of panic during Pet Mystery Week. Penelope and her son Spencer trail the frightened animal through the woods, where they discover the dog's owner lying unconscious from a gunshot wound. The victim is Mrs. Cunningham, a beloved widow who volunteers at the local animal shelter and leads the bookshop's pet lovers reading group. Police dismiss the shooting as a hunting accident, but Penelope suspects something more sinister. She calls upon Jack Shepard, the ghost of a 1940s private investigator who haunts her shop. Jack brings his own canine case from decades past that might illuminate the present mystery. Together, the living bookseller and her spectral detective partner work to uncover the truth behind the attack on the kindhearted Mrs. Cunningham. As they dig deeper, Penelope realizes the shooter may strike again, and she must solve the case before another innocent person becomes a target.
Genres: fiction, mystery, contemporary, ghost-stories, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth
Vibes: atmospheric, charming, cozy, suspenseful, whimsical
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, found-family, pet-as-plot-device, supernatural-partnership
Setting: Rhode Island, bookshop
Period: 1940s, contemporary
336 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Berkley
Content warnings: death, violence