A Lesson in Secrets
(2026)(The first book in the Ridge Mystery series)
A novel by C J Bellvue and Sarah Rae Drake
Brooke McKenzie came home to start over—not to solve a decades-old murder.
After leaving her career behind, Brooke returns to Darcy Ridge to follow in her late mother’s footsteps as a substitute teacher. She’s hoping for a fresh start… not a haunted house, a ghostly gramophone, and a twelve-year-old conspiracy theorist who insists her missing sister is still around.
But when strange things begin happening in the school’s long-abandoned Home Ec room—flickering lights, phantom recipes, and a ghost desperate to be heard—Brooke finds herself pulled into a mystery no one else wants to touch.
Then a PTA potluck turns dangerous.
When a beloved staff member is poisoned—and Brooke’s dish is to blame—she becomes the prime suspect in a crime she didn’t commit. With her reputation on the line and whispers of the past growing louder, Brooke must untangle a decades-old cover-up buried deep within the school’s history… before she loses everything she came back to rebuild.
Because some secrets were never meant to stay buried.
And someone is willing to kill to keep them that way.
Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries with a paranormal twist, A Lesson in Secrets is the first book in a charming new series featuring small-town secrets, slow-burn romance, and a heroine who can’t ignore the dead.
If you love Ellery Adams, Amanda M. Lee, or The Ghost and Mrs. McClure, you’ll be hooked from the very first clue.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
After leaving her career behind, Brooke returns to Darcy Ridge to follow in her late mother’s footsteps as a substitute teacher. She’s hoping for a fresh start… not a haunted house, a ghostly gramophone, and a twelve-year-old conspiracy theorist who insists her missing sister is still around.
But when strange things begin happening in the school’s long-abandoned Home Ec room—flickering lights, phantom recipes, and a ghost desperate to be heard—Brooke finds herself pulled into a mystery no one else wants to touch.
Then a PTA potluck turns dangerous.
When a beloved staff member is poisoned—and Brooke’s dish is to blame—she becomes the prime suspect in a crime she didn’t commit. With her reputation on the line and whispers of the past growing louder, Brooke must untangle a decades-old cover-up buried deep within the school’s history… before she loses everything she came back to rebuild.
Because some secrets were never meant to stay buried.
And someone is willing to kill to keep them that way.
Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries with a paranormal twist, A Lesson in Secrets is the first book in a charming new series featuring small-town secrets, slow-burn romance, and a heroine who can’t ignore the dead.
If you love Ellery Adams, Amanda M. Lee, or The Ghost and Mrs. McClure, you’ll be hooked from the very first clue.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Sarah Rae Drake's A Lesson in Secrets