The Prodigal's Return
(2026)(The third book in the Spine and Spell Mysteries series)
A novel by Lisa Bouchard
Fiona Flanagan has solved two murders, stabilized an ancient anchor stone, and earned her place in Pinecrest's magical community. She's even gotten used to the grimoire's moods. What she's not prepared for is the woman walking up Main Street with thirty years of silence and a suitcase full of answers.
Colleen Flanagan has finally come home.
She brings with her Dr. Liam Hargrove, an Irish researcher who helped her trace the corruption eating Pinecrest to its source. He brings charts, theories, and a discovery that changes everything: the binding spell was never meant to last forever. The rot isn't a disease. It's the spell dying of old age.
Before Colleen can share what she knows, Hargrove is found dead in Fiona's workshop — slumped over his journals as though he simply fell asleep. The coroner says cardiac arrest. Colleen says murder. And somewhere in Pinecrest, a quiet, overlooked man is wondering why the anger he's carried for years suddenly felt like permission.
As Fiona investigates a killing that blurs the line between guilt and victimhood, she must navigate the hardest case of her life alongside a mother she barely knows — and confront the devastating truth hidden beneath the Blackwood family's ancestral home. A truth that has been costing Asher more than he ever realized.
Her mother came home with the knowledge to save the town. Someone killed to keep it secret. And the rot is learning to fight back.
Genre: Mystery
Colleen Flanagan has finally come home.
She brings with her Dr. Liam Hargrove, an Irish researcher who helped her trace the corruption eating Pinecrest to its source. He brings charts, theories, and a discovery that changes everything: the binding spell was never meant to last forever. The rot isn't a disease. It's the spell dying of old age.
Before Colleen can share what she knows, Hargrove is found dead in Fiona's workshop — slumped over his journals as though he simply fell asleep. The coroner says cardiac arrest. Colleen says murder. And somewhere in Pinecrest, a quiet, overlooked man is wondering why the anger he's carried for years suddenly felt like permission.
As Fiona investigates a killing that blurs the line between guilt and victimhood, she must navigate the hardest case of her life alongside a mother she barely knows — and confront the devastating truth hidden beneath the Blackwood family's ancestral home. A truth that has been costing Asher more than he ever realized.
Her mother came home with the knowledge to save the town. Someone killed to keep it secret. And the rot is learning to fight back.
Genre: Mystery
Used availability for Lisa Bouchard's The Prodigal's Return