What happens when a simple bookshop project to help people face their fears goes viral, and reveals that someone in your small town is achingly, desperately invisible?
Charlie Whitmore thought she’d finally figured out life in Leafwood Falls. Two years after trading her Manhattan law career for the Oak & Ink Bookshop, she’s settled into a rhythm of cozy fall mornings, community book clubs, and only occasional sabotage by Hemingway, the imperious orange bookshop cat who expresses his literary opinions through destruction and hairballs.
Then her assistant Mia has the perfect idea for Halloween.
The Fear Jar starts simply: drop in your anonymous fear, take a personalized book recommendation. A small Halloween project for the bookshop. But this is Mia, purple-haired, endlessly enthusiastic, physically incapable of doing anything halfway, and within days the jar goes viral. Confessions flood in. Social media explodes. The whole town is suddenly writing down their deepest terrors and trusting Charlie to answer with the perfect story.
Until Charlie notices something heartbreaking. Someone in Leafwood Falls is drowning in invisibility, writing their loneliness over and over, hoping someone will notice.
Charlie wants to respect anonymity. Mia wants to solve the mystery, in a dramatic reveal at the Halloween masquerade party. And Hemingway has his own, feline opinions. And as October winds toward its witching hour, the cozy bookshop mystery becomes something more complicated, because in a small town where everyone knows everyone, discovering who’s been writing those fears means unraveling secrets people have spent years keeping hidden.
Curl up with a pumpkin spice latte and let this Halloween bookshop mystery work its magic. You’ll laugh at Mia’s chaotic sleuthing, fall in love with fall in Leafwood Falls, and find yourself believing that bookshop cats know more than they’re letting on. Perfect for readers who love their mysteries cozy, their small towns quirky, and their October evenings full of twinkle lights and possibility.
Return to the beloved town of Leafwood Falls, where a viral Fear Jar, one all-knowing bookshop cat, and a purple-haired investigator with boundary issues prove that October’s best magic happens when someone finally sees you.
Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree 