Publishers Weekly
03/14/2022
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)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Secret, Book & Scone Society series by New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams
"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.” —Publishers Weekly on The Vanishing Type
“Ellery Adams’s cozy mystery novel The Vanishing Type is a testament to women’s friendship—with sides of murder, romance, coffee, and baked goods.” —Foreword Reviews
“A well-presented cozy mystery that any lover of the genre will enjoy reading.” —New York Journal of Books on The Vanishing Type
"A love letter to reading, with sharp characterizations and a smart central mystery." —Entertainment Weekly on The Whispered Word
"Adams launches an intriguing new mystery series, headed by four spirited amateur sleuths and touched with a hint of magical realism, which celebrates the power of books and women's friendships. Adams' many fans, readers of Sarah Addison Allen, and anyone who loves novels that revolve around books will savor this tasty treat." —Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW, Pick of the Month on The Secret, Book, & Scone Society
“Ink and Shadows is a big hug of a book for bookstore lovers who have been pining to visit their favorite emporiums for the past year.” —Criminal Element on Ink & Shadows
“An appetizing dish for mystery lovers who enjoy books about bookstores, small towns, and female friends.” —Booklist on The Book of Candlelight
"Adams kicks off a new series featuring strong women, a touch of romance and mysticism, and both the cunning present-day mystery and the slowly revealed secrets of the intriguing heroines' pasts." —Kirkus Reviews on The Secret, Book, & Scone Society
"This affecting series launch from Adams provides all the best elements of a traditional Mystery...Well-drawn characters complement a plot with an intriguing twist or two.” —Publishers Weekly on The Secret, Book, & Scone Society
"A perfect read...four women whose divergent lives intermingle due to their shared passion for books, good food, and ultimately, friendship, become unwittingly embroiled in a murder investigation. The deep, dark secrets each of them carries provide the suspense in this admixture of cozy small-town life and perplexing mystery with the right amount of pathos to garner the reader's sympathy." —The Cape Cod Chronicle on The Secret, Book, & Scone Society
"Lovers of reading and strong women will be impressed by this entertaining cozy packed with mystery, romance, and sisterhood." —Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
2022-01-26
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.
