Ink and Shadows
A Witty & Page-Turning Southern Cozy Mystery
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4.3 • 203 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Controversy erupts in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, when the owner of the local bookstore tries to play peacekeeper—but winds up playing detective instead . . .
Known for her window displays, Nora Pennington decides to showcase fictional heroines like Roald Dahl’s Matilda and Madeline Miller’s Circe for Halloween. But a family-values group disapproves of the magical themes and wastes no time launching a modern-day witch hunt. Suddenly, former friends and customers are targeting not only Nora and Miracle Books, but a new shopkeeper, Celeste, who’s been selling CBD oil products.
Nora and her friends in the Secret, Book, and Scone Society are doing their best to put an end to the strife—but then someone puts an end to a life. Declared an accident, the ruling can’t explain the old book page covered with strange symbols and disturbing drawings left under Nora’s doormat. It’s up to Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone Society to sort out the clues before more bodies turn up and the secrets from Celeste’s past come back to haunt them all . . .
“Entertaining . . . packed with mystery, romance, and sisterhood.”
—Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's fall festival season in Miracle Springs, N.C., in bestseller Adams's subpar fourth Secret, Book, and Scone Society mystery (after 2020's The Book of Candlelight), and good-hearted Nora Pennington, the owner of Miracle Books, and her friend and employee, Sheldon Vega, choose powerful women as the theme for the shop's front window. Following an evening at the Farm to Table festival, Nora returns home to find an old book page covered in strange symbols on her deck and a dead body on her lawn. In between shared moments with her circle of friends, Nora investigates and becomes a target for both a murderer and the strident Women of Lasting Values Society. Nora's constant need to suggest books to everyone she meets makes her bibliophilia seem like a clinical disorder and mostly serves to pad the slim plot. Inveterate readers looking for new authors to try may welcome Nora's nonstop recommendations. Others will hope for a meatier plot next time.
Customer Reviews
Plot Twists
I LOVED this book it definitely kept me coming back for more and there were multiple times my jaw actually dropped because I wasn’t expecting what was happening next. 10/10 a great read.
Wonderful
Mrs. Adams is a gifted storyteller; she can evoke all the emotions with her words. This book is the fourth in the series, but you can definitely enjoy it as a stand-alone. Nora and the other ladies of the Secret, Book, and Scone Society are all strong women, although they are all flawed and imperfect in their own rights. This makes the ladies realistic and relatable to almost anyone. I'd really love to visit Nora's bookstore and see the window displays. This book is well written with several well-placed red herring to keep the reader engaged in the mystery. I recommend this book to fans of cozy mystery or strong female protagonists.
All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.
Fantastic read
Absolutely fabulous addition to the series. Author does a great job recapping some of the important things in the characters background so you do not feel lost, but I do highly recommend reading the others. The characters in this series are well rounded, and ones you take into your heart, and feel like they are old friends. You care about them, and what happens to them. The mystery is woven well, and you keep turning the page to find out what happens, but for this author, the characters are what makes you want to read more.