These Toxic Things

by Rachel Howzell Hall

First published 2021

Mickie Lambert makes digital scrapbooks from her clients' treasured objects. When curio shop owner Nadia Denham dies by apparent suicide, Mickie begins cataloging the woman's final collection. Twelve strange items from flea markets nationwide. A music box. A hair clip. A key chain. Each piece carefully chosen by Nadia during her travels. Someone else wants these objects to stay buried. Threatening messages warn Mickie to abandon her work. She refuses to stop. The deeper she digs into each item's history, the more questions surface. Who owned these belongings first? How did Nadia acquire them? The answers lead Mickie toward a dormant serial killer and secrets that stretch back decades. She discovers that Nadia's past connects to her own life in ways she never imagined. Now Mickie must decide how far she will go to learn the truth about these twelve deadly souvenirs.

Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller

Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: deception, secrets, unreliable-narrator

Setting: Curio Shop

11 pages · MP3 CD · Brilliance Audio

Content warnings: death, murder

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