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Jane Barrow thought she'd left the mysteries behind. She was wrong.
Between planning her wedding to Mike, running her cleaning business, and keeping up with her two kids, Jane has her hands full. The last thing she needs is another cold case pulling her back into the shadows of Alma's forgotten past. But when a stranger named Hazel calls late one night, desperate for answers about her brother who vanished forty years ago, Jane can't turn away.
The trail leads back to the Wheeler house—the same eerie Victorian where Jane discovered disturbing Polaroids of missing children hidden behind the walls. Now, new evidence surfaces: a box of forgotten toys in the basement, a well-worn Bible belonging to the mysterious Pearl Wheeler, and mounting questions about what really happened during that terrible summer of 1978.
Multiple children disappeared without a trace. The town moved on. But someone remembers.
As Jane digs deeper, she uncovers a web of secrets the town of Alma has kept buried for decades. Pearl Wheeler, the reclusive woman who once lived in that house, may hold the key—but she's long gone, and those who knew her refuse to talk. Library workers dodge her questions. Former residents hang up the phone. And the few who will speak only do so in whispers, as if afraid the past might hear them.
With the help of contractor Brent and her own relentless curiosity, Jane pieces together fragments of a disturbing puzzle: vanished children, hushed-up scandals, and a community that chose silence over truth. But the closer she gets to the answers, the more she realizes that some people will do anything to keep the past buried.
Because what if those children were never really lost?
What if they were taken?
And what if someone in town knew all along?
As Jane races to uncover the truth before Hazel leaves town—possibly forever—she must balance her investigation with the life she's building. Wedding preparations. Kids' school activities. A future with Mike. But Jane has never been good at leaving mysteries unsolved, even when solving them means confronting the darkest corners of her small town's history.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Between planning her wedding to Mike, running her cleaning business, and keeping up with her two kids, Jane has her hands full. The last thing she needs is another cold case pulling her back into the shadows of Alma's forgotten past. But when a stranger named Hazel calls late one night, desperate for answers about her brother who vanished forty years ago, Jane can't turn away.
The trail leads back to the Wheeler house—the same eerie Victorian where Jane discovered disturbing Polaroids of missing children hidden behind the walls. Now, new evidence surfaces: a box of forgotten toys in the basement, a well-worn Bible belonging to the mysterious Pearl Wheeler, and mounting questions about what really happened during that terrible summer of 1978.
Multiple children disappeared without a trace. The town moved on. But someone remembers.
As Jane digs deeper, she uncovers a web of secrets the town of Alma has kept buried for decades. Pearl Wheeler, the reclusive woman who once lived in that house, may hold the key—but she's long gone, and those who knew her refuse to talk. Library workers dodge her questions. Former residents hang up the phone. And the few who will speak only do so in whispers, as if afraid the past might hear them.
With the help of contractor Brent and her own relentless curiosity, Jane pieces together fragments of a disturbing puzzle: vanished children, hushed-up scandals, and a community that chose silence over truth. But the closer she gets to the answers, the more she realizes that some people will do anything to keep the past buried.
Because what if those children were never really lost?
What if they were taken?
And what if someone in town knew all along?
As Jane races to uncover the truth before Hazel leaves town—possibly forever—she must balance her investigation with the life she's building. Wedding preparations. Kids' school activities. A future with Mike. But Jane has never been good at leaving mysteries unsolved, even when solving them means confronting the darkest corners of her small town's history.
Genre: Cozy Mystery