Verses and Venom
(2026)(The second book in the Pages to Die For Mystery series)
A novel by Hailey Hartley
When Juliet Crane decides to conduct midnight inventory at The Turning Page bookstore, she expects a quiet evening with her tabby cat Poe and a stack of poetry collections to organize. What she doesn't expect is to find Poe refusing to leave the poetry aisle and celebrated poet Warren Blackwood lying dead among the shelves. Within hours of hosting Warren's standing-room-only reading event, Juliet's cozy sanctuary has become a crime scene, and she's caught in the middle of a thirty-year-old literary scandal involving plagiarism, betrayal, and a brilliant poet whose work was stolen after his tragic death. When the detective investigating the case reveals that Warren's killer knew the bookstore intimately and struck during a narrow window of opportunity, Juliet realizes the murderer was likely someone who attended the reading—and that means nearly everyone she knows is a suspect.
Armed with her knowledge of poetry and aided by Poe's uncanny ability to find crucial evidence, Juliet uncovers a web of bitter rivalries, guilty secrets, and literary theft that spans three decades. From the creative writing instructor who publicly threatened Warren hours before his death, to the guilt-ridden literary agent who'd been receiving anonymous letters, to Juliet's own employee whose mother spent her life trying to prove Warren was a fraud—everyone had motive and opportunity. As Juliet discovers hidden manuscripts, analyzes handwriting samples, and pieces together the truth about what really happened to a young poet named Calvin Reed, she realizes that in the cutthroat world of literary ambition, some people will do anything to protect their reputations. But when threatening text messages suggest someone is watching her investigation, Juliet must solve the murder before the killer decides she knows too much.
Curl up with the second book in the Pages to Die For series, where literary mystery meets clever sleuthing in a page-turning tale that proves the most dangerous verses aren't always found in poetry collections. Perfect for fans of bookish settings, perceptive cats, and amateur detectives who solve murders one clue at a time, Verses and Venom delivers all the warmth and wit of classic cozy mysteries while exploring the dark side of artistic ambition and the lengths people will go to protect their secrets.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Armed with her knowledge of poetry and aided by Poe's uncanny ability to find crucial evidence, Juliet uncovers a web of bitter rivalries, guilty secrets, and literary theft that spans three decades. From the creative writing instructor who publicly threatened Warren hours before his death, to the guilt-ridden literary agent who'd been receiving anonymous letters, to Juliet's own employee whose mother spent her life trying to prove Warren was a fraud—everyone had motive and opportunity. As Juliet discovers hidden manuscripts, analyzes handwriting samples, and pieces together the truth about what really happened to a young poet named Calvin Reed, she realizes that in the cutthroat world of literary ambition, some people will do anything to protect their reputations. But when threatening text messages suggest someone is watching her investigation, Juliet must solve the murder before the killer decides she knows too much.
Curl up with the second book in the Pages to Die For series, where literary mystery meets clever sleuthing in a page-turning tale that proves the most dangerous verses aren't always found in poetry collections. Perfect for fans of bookish settings, perceptive cats, and amateur detectives who solve murders one clue at a time, Verses and Venom delivers all the warmth and wit of classic cozy mysteries while exploring the dark side of artistic ambition and the lengths people will go to protect their secrets.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Hailey Hartley's Verses and Venom