The vanishing type / A Charming Bookish Cozy Mystery Ellery Adams.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Entertainment Weekly hails the Secret, Book, and Scone Society series by the beloved New York Times bestselling author as "a love letter to reading." In this entrancing new story, bookshop owner, bibliotherapist, and occasional sleuth Nora Pennington must enlist the help of her brilliant, brassy librarian friend to unravel the connection between The Scarlet Letter, an obscure 19th century writer, and a dead hiker...

While January snow falls outside in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, Nora Pennington is encouraging customers to cozy up indoors with a good book. Even though the shop and her bibliotherapy sessions keep Nora busy during the day, her nights are a little too quiet-until Deputy Andrews pulls Nora into the sci-fi section and asks her to help him plan a wedding proposal.

His bride-to-be, Hester, loves Little Women , and Nora sets to work arranging a special screening at the town's new movie theater. But right before the deputy pops the question, Nora makes an unsettling discovery-someone has mutilated all her store's copies of The Scarlet Letter , slicing angrily into the pages wherever Hester Prynne's name is mentioned.

The coincidence disturbs Nora, who's one of the few in Miracle Springs who knows that Hester gave up a baby for adoption many years ago. Her family heaped shame on her, and Hester still feels so guilty that she hasn't even told her future husband. But when a dead man is found on a hiking trail just outside town, carrying a rare book, the members of the Secret, Book, and Scone Society unearth a connection to Hester's past. Someone is intent on bringing the past to light, and it's not just Hester's relationship at stake, but her life. . .

"Captivating...Bibliophilic cozy fans will be in heaven." - Publishers Weekly

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Bestseller Adams's captivating fifth Secret, Book, and Scone Society novel (after 2021's Ink and Shadows) finds Nora Pennington, the owner of Miracle Books in Miracle Springs, N.C., helping Deputy Jasper Andrews with a plan to propose marriage to bakery owner Hester Winthrop, whose favorite book is Little Women, during a showing of a film version of the Louisa May Alcott novel. On the big evening at the town movie theater, Nora ensures that the film is paused to allow Jasper to get down on his knee and cite a passage from Little Women to support his proposal, which Hester joyfully accepts. The next day, on a hiking trail outside Miracle Springs, an unidentified dead man is found with a copy of The Scarlet Letter in his pocket. The name Hester has been cut out in places. Another similarly mutilated copy of Hawthorne's masterpiece turns up in Hester's bakery. Is someone playing a bad joke on Hester or seriously threatening her? Readers will cheer as Nora, an endearingly imperfect protagonist, and her group of dedicated literary friends, each with their own complicated backstories, search for answers. Bibliophilic cozy fans will be in heaven. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary. (May)

Kirkus Book Review

The members of The Secret, Book, and Scone Society tangle with a killer who strikes close to home. Though all the members have survived troubling times in their lives only to become stronger in their sisterhood, one of them is still hiding a secret that stirs up a killer. Miracle Springs, North Carolina, bookstore owner Nora Pennington strives to pick the perfect reading material for her customers while dispensing delicious drinks and bakery products created by her friend Hester Winthrop. Hester is soon to be engaged to Deputy Jasper Andrews, and Nora herself has fallen for Sheriff Grant McCabe. As she's busy planning special events for Valentine's Day, Nora is upset to discover copies of The Scarlet Letter with the name Hester scraped off, and Hester is puzzled to find an odd book left in her bakeshop. When a man is found dead with a similar book in his pocket, it proves to be one of a series about successful women written in an era slow to approve of working women. The murdered man isn't identified until Hester confesses a long-buried connection. Soon, more volumes turn up, and research into them by Nora's librarian friend, Bobbie, provides clues to the mystery that put the sleuths on the road to a ruthless killer. The winding path to the truth showcases both the strengths and the weaknesses of the loving sisterhood. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.