The Godwick House Murders
(2026)(The third book in the Hartfall County Sheriff Mystery series)
A novel by Claire Bessey
Sheriff Naomi Hart has uncovered bodies, burned records, vanished children, and a county-wide pattern of secrets protected by polished language and powerful names. But the next door in Hartfall County’s hidden history leads to a place built to look untouchable: Godwick House.
For generations, the Godwick family has stood above Hartfall County with old money, public charity, and enough influence to turn suspicion into bad manners. Their grand house is supposed to be a symbol of heritage. But when Amy Godwick returns after her grandmother Beatrice’s death, the house begins to move against her.
Prayer cards appear where no one left them. Lights cross the west room at night. Objects shift. Windows open. A charm appears in Amy’s tea tray. Everyone wants to call it grief, nerves, or a haunting.
Sheriff Naomi Hart calls it staging.
As Naomi investigates, the west room becomes the center of a darker case. The room was officially listed as storage, but its child-sized hooks, narrow bed frames, hidden panels, and old markings suggest something far worse. Godwick House may have been a receiving site tied to Saint Orla’s Home, missing children, altered names, and the hidden county system Naomi’s mother was investigating before she died.
Then poison enters the case.
Beatrice Godwick’s supposed natural death begins to look less natural, and Amy herself may be in danger. With Deputy Rowan Voss, her aging search dog Atlas, and Silas Creed, Naomi follows a trail of false hauntings, old prayer cards, digitalis, family inheritance fights, court seals, hidden documents, and generational scandal.
The Godwicks built their name on control. Now someone is using that control to frighten, silence, and kill.
The Godwick House Murders is an atmospheric small-town sheriff mystery with false hauntings, poison, family lies, cold-case suspense, buried county secrets, a loyal search dog, and a strong female sheriff who knows ghosts do not move evidence. People do.
Perfect for readers who enjoy Montana crime fiction, small-town sheriff mysteries, clean murder mysteries, haunted house mystery twists, cold-case investigations, strong female detectives, search dog mysteries, and suspenseful crime series built around dark family secrets.
Genre: Mystery
For generations, the Godwick family has stood above Hartfall County with old money, public charity, and enough influence to turn suspicion into bad manners. Their grand house is supposed to be a symbol of heritage. But when Amy Godwick returns after her grandmother Beatrice’s death, the house begins to move against her.
Prayer cards appear where no one left them. Lights cross the west room at night. Objects shift. Windows open. A charm appears in Amy’s tea tray. Everyone wants to call it grief, nerves, or a haunting.
Sheriff Naomi Hart calls it staging.
As Naomi investigates, the west room becomes the center of a darker case. The room was officially listed as storage, but its child-sized hooks, narrow bed frames, hidden panels, and old markings suggest something far worse. Godwick House may have been a receiving site tied to Saint Orla’s Home, missing children, altered names, and the hidden county system Naomi’s mother was investigating before she died.
Then poison enters the case.
Beatrice Godwick’s supposed natural death begins to look less natural, and Amy herself may be in danger. With Deputy Rowan Voss, her aging search dog Atlas, and Silas Creed, Naomi follows a trail of false hauntings, old prayer cards, digitalis, family inheritance fights, court seals, hidden documents, and generational scandal.
The Godwicks built their name on control. Now someone is using that control to frighten, silence, and kill.
The Godwick House Murders is an atmospheric small-town sheriff mystery with false hauntings, poison, family lies, cold-case suspense, buried county secrets, a loyal search dog, and a strong female sheriff who knows ghosts do not move evidence. People do.
Perfect for readers who enjoy Montana crime fiction, small-town sheriff mysteries, clean murder mysteries, haunted house mystery twists, cold-case investigations, strong female detectives, search dog mysteries, and suspenseful crime series built around dark family secrets.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Claire Bessey's The Godwick House Murders