The Bitter Lake Letters
(2026)(The first book in the Bitter Lake Mysteries series)
A Story by Mac Worden
Forty years ago, the letters stopped. The mystery didn’t.
When twelve-year-old Ruth Church and her best friend Thomas decide Herring, Minnesota, needs a detective agency, they expect their first case to be small. Then Coke—the world’s most enthusiastic goldendoodle—digs an old metal lunchbox from the frozen ground.
Inside are seven letters written by a fourteen-year-old girl more than forty years ago. They hint at nighttime trucks, a frightened family, and a secret someone in town wanted buried. Three days after the last letter, Emily Hart disappeared.
Adults say the mystery is closed. Ruth isn’t convinced.
Armed with a notebook, a talent for research, and a stubborn need for answers, Ruth follows a trail through old newspapers, forgotten records, and the frozen history of her small town. But some secrets don’t stay buried without a reason.First introduced as Jack Church’s twelve-year-old niece in Stray Evidence: A Jack and Coke Mystery, Ruth Church now takes the lead in a mystery of her own.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
When twelve-year-old Ruth Church and her best friend Thomas decide Herring, Minnesota, needs a detective agency, they expect their first case to be small. Then Coke—the world’s most enthusiastic goldendoodle—digs an old metal lunchbox from the frozen ground.
Inside are seven letters written by a fourteen-year-old girl more than forty years ago. They hint at nighttime trucks, a frightened family, and a secret someone in town wanted buried. Three days after the last letter, Emily Hart disappeared.
Adults say the mystery is closed. Ruth isn’t convinced.
Armed with a notebook, a talent for research, and a stubborn need for answers, Ruth follows a trail through old newspapers, forgotten records, and the frozen history of her small town. But some secrets don’t stay buried without a reason.First introduced as Jack Church’s twelve-year-old niece in Stray Evidence: A Jack and Coke Mystery, Ruth Church now takes the lead in a mystery of her own.
Genre: Cozy Mystery