The Stranger Vanishes
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub is back, with a new heart-warming cozy mystery set in the magical village of Lily Dale
In the quirky, picturesque lakeside community of Lily Dale, where the residents can talk to the dead, young widow Bella Jordan is the lone skeptic among believers. She doesn’t believe in ghosts . . . but after a year in the village, she would admit that her new friends do sometimes seem to know impossible things.
Still, when a Black stranger dressed in old-fashioned clothing arrives unexpectedly at Bella’s guesthouse at midnight on Juneteenth, only to vanish the next day as if he’d never existed, Bella’s sure there has to be a logical explanation. One that has nothing to do with the strange warning Odelia, the medium next door, delivers from the Spirits: Beware of . . . Barry?!
Bella doesn’t know a Barry, and she has enough people in her life already, what with her young son Max and their two kitties, handsome vet Drew, a plethora of kind but nosy neighbors and a full house of summer guests. But as the mystery of the missing stranger deepens, she starts to wonder: did the Spirits really mean Barry? Or did they mean bury . . .
If you’re a fan of gentle mysteries filled with quirky but endearing characters, and haven’t met Bella and her friends yet, you’re in for a real treat! The Stranger Vanishes is the fifth Lily Dale cozy, and it’s safe to jump right in.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The disappearance of a visitor to Lily Dale, N.Y., home of psychics, mystics, and mediums drives Staub's busy fifth Lily Dale mystery (after 2021's Pros and Cons). On Juneteenth, widow Bella Jordan, Valley View Guesthouse's manager, is startled by a tall Black man seeking shelter. By morning, he's gone, leaving only a satchel containing an old diary as evidence of his existence. Bella's inquiries into her missing guest lead nowhere. Still, she and her writer friend, Calla Delaney, become fascinated by the pre–Civil War diary revealing a local murder by a traitorous member of the Underground Railroad. Meanwhile, Calla, frustrated with her novel's progress and her slacker boyfriend Blue, son of the wealthy and politically ambitious David Slayton, reluctantly becomes swept up in Slayton's run for governor. As days pass with no sighting of the stranger, spirits of enslaved people who fled captivity appear to Calla and urge her to "Help him!" But who is Calla supposed to help, and why does someone desperately want the diary? Keeping track of the many characters can be hard, and the updates on these characters don't leave much room for plot development. This one's for established fans.
