The birds are singing, books are selling, and the Hokes Bluff Inn has begun to host weddings on its property. Antiquarian bookseller Jenna Quinn loves the romance in the air—until her ex-fiancé, Blake Emerson, walks in with his bride-to-be, Missy Plott. Blake continues to profess his love for Jenna if she’ll have him back, no matter the consequences. And the consequences are grave, indeed, when Missy turns up dead. All evidence points to Blake, who was the last one to see her alive. He begs Jenna to help him clear his name. Blake’s mother, Gwendolyn, is also bent on exonerating her son. Jenna doesn’t believe Blake could have killed Missy, and she starts digging for suspects. It could have been Missy’s ex-boyfriend, who proclaims a love for her he says only death could sever. Or might it have been Missy’s bitter little sister, who was secretly besotted with Missy’s ex. Evidence turns up that links Missy's death to embezzlement and another murder—crimes that had falsely implicated Jenna herself less than a year ago. As Gwendolyn continues to beg Jenna to help prove her son’s innocence, Jenna wonders if Blake could truly be innocent. Jenna has to choose whether to risk it all—her reputation, her growing relationship with her boyfriend, and maybe her life—or let a possibly innocent man go to prison.
The quaint warehouse district of Hokes Folly, NC, is hopping despite the drizzly November chill. The occasion? The mountain town's beloved antiquarian bookstore, Twice Upon a Time, is throwing a bash for its grand reopening. But bookseller Jenna Quinn's peace of mind is shattered when the local library's Director of Antique Books turns up dead in the parking lot-his head bashed in by a glittering pair of vintage glass bookends. As they examine the murder scene, Jenna and her police detective boyfriend happen upon the only witness-the victim's dog, who flees the scene leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind. If only dogs could speak, Jenna might be able to make quick work of the murder case and get back to stocking her bookcases. Alas, finding the killer won't be so easy, even though this is not Jenna's first murder investigation-indeed, she inherited Twice Upon a Time from her slain uncle. The suspect list is voluminous-the late librarian had not-so-friendly run-ins with numerous guests-but suspicion eventually centers on three unsavory individuals who left the party shortly before the victim did. Now Jenna must edit her inventory of suspects from three names to one before the bloodthirsty bookend-wielder becomes the author of Jenna's demise.
Fleeing some unsavory doings in her hometown of Charlotte, Jenna accepts her uncle's gracious invitation to stay with him in small-town Hokes Folly, North Carolina. In exchange, she'll help him out in his antiquarian bookstore. But soon after she arrives, Jenna finds her uncle's body crumpled at the base of the staircase between his apartment and the bookstore.Before the tragedy even sinks in, Jenna learns that she's inherited almost everything her uncle owned: the store and the apartment as well as his not-so-meager savings and the payout from a life-insurance policy...which adds up to more than a million dollars. This is all news to Jenna-bad news, once the police get wind of her windfall. And it's an ill wind indeed, as a second murder cements Jenna's status as the prime suspect in both deaths.Jenna can hit the road again, taking her chances that she can elude trouble along the way, or she can stick it out in Hokes Folly, take over the bookstore, and try to sleuth out her uncle's killer. On the one hand, she's made some wonderful new friends, and she feels she can thrive in the genial small-town environment. On the other hand, trouble knows her address-and so does the killer, who is determined to write the final page of her story.
