Murder in Turtlehead Gap
(2026)(The first book in the Pip & Nora Paranormal Cozy Mystery series)
A Story by Caroline Ashby
She came to sort the estate. The shop had other plans.
After a divorce she's mostly done grieving and a bankruptcy she isn't, Nora Callahan drives into Turtlehead Gap, Virginia with four boxes, two suitcases, and a plan to sell her great-aunt Pearl's antique shop and move on with whatever's left of her life.
She lasts about four minutes before a ferret named Pip launches off a high shelf, steals her car keys, and takes up residence in the center of her pillow.
Pearl's shop, it turns out, is full of things with opinions. An oval mirror that goes blurry when someone is concealing genuine harm. A music box that plays for the wrong kind of visitor. A brass compass that points away from north when something has been lost. And Nora — who has read emotions from objects since she was seven and spent thirty years pretending she hadn't — is exactly who Pearl left it all to.
When retired postmaster Wallace Briggs is found dead at the old mill the morning after entrusting Nora with a mysterious key, the official ruling is heart attack. Nora knows better. So does Pip. So does the music box.
With a watchful police chief, a town full of long memories, and a ferret who treats every suspect like a peer review, Nora is going to have to trust the gift, the shop, and herself — before whoever silenced Wallace decides she knows too much.
Perfect for readers who love the enchanted family magic of Garden Spells, the atmospheric charm of Practical Magic, and the cozy mystery warmth of Secondhand Spirits. Turtlehead Gap is full of hidden histories, peculiar antiques, quirky townsfolk, and one ferret who always seems to know more than he should.
Book 1 of the Pip & Nora Paranormal Cozy Mystery series.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
After a divorce she's mostly done grieving and a bankruptcy she isn't, Nora Callahan drives into Turtlehead Gap, Virginia with four boxes, two suitcases, and a plan to sell her great-aunt Pearl's antique shop and move on with whatever's left of her life.
She lasts about four minutes before a ferret named Pip launches off a high shelf, steals her car keys, and takes up residence in the center of her pillow.
Pearl's shop, it turns out, is full of things with opinions. An oval mirror that goes blurry when someone is concealing genuine harm. A music box that plays for the wrong kind of visitor. A brass compass that points away from north when something has been lost. And Nora — who has read emotions from objects since she was seven and spent thirty years pretending she hadn't — is exactly who Pearl left it all to.
When retired postmaster Wallace Briggs is found dead at the old mill the morning after entrusting Nora with a mysterious key, the official ruling is heart attack. Nora knows better. So does Pip. So does the music box.
With a watchful police chief, a town full of long memories, and a ferret who treats every suspect like a peer review, Nora is going to have to trust the gift, the shop, and herself — before whoever silenced Wallace decides she knows too much.
Perfect for readers who love the enchanted family magic of Garden Spells, the atmospheric charm of Practical Magic, and the cozy mystery warmth of Secondhand Spirits. Turtlehead Gap is full of hidden histories, peculiar antiques, quirky townsfolk, and one ferret who always seems to know more than he should.
Book 1 of the Pip & Nora Paranormal Cozy Mystery series.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Caroline Ashby's Murder in Turtlehead Gap