The Tattered Cover

It was a dark, rainy night at Nora Pennington's Miracle Books when a mysterious death brings the Secret, Book, and Scone Society into the Halloween season on the trail of a murderer . . .

As the residents of Miracle Springs, North Carolina, select their costumes, plan parties, and get excited for a night of tricks or treats, Nora joins in on the festivities by hosting medium memoirist Lara Luz at the bookstore. Charismatic and compelling, Lara mesmerizes the audience with her life story. Struck by a bolt of lightning as a child, she was pronounced dead only to be resurrected with the ability to connect with those on the other side.

Lara performs a reading for a select group of bookstore patrons when the encroaching storm knocks out the power. In the sudden darkness, howling cold winds intensify, and Lara clutches her heart, collapsing dead without warning. But Nora doesn't believe she died of natural causes. Not one member of the psychic's reading group--which includes the town's widower pharmacist, an urgent care nurse, a mystery author, and even truculent Deputy Hollowell--were admirers of Lara.

Nora confirms this when she stumbles upon Lara's journal in the aftermath of her death. For within its leathery bound pages are the medium and her clients' deepest and darkest secrets, written in code. Now, Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone Society must sift through the suspects and their motives to uncover which one of them is a killer before he or she is tempted to strike again . . .

Author: Ellery Adams
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Published: 10/28/2025
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.83lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.84w x 1.08d
ISBN: 9781496743824


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2025
Booklist 10/01/2025

About the Author
Ellery Adams is the USA Today & New York Times bestselling author of over forty mystery novels. Ellery grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound but now writes from her home in central North Carolina. She considers herself "baked in the North and buttered in the South." She loves rescue animals, jigsaw puzzles, coffee, black licorice, college football, reading on rainy days, wood-burning fires, and porch swings. To see her complete bibliography, as well as reading guides and bibliotherapy lists, please visit ElleryAdamsMysteries.com or find Ellery on Instagram @elleryadams.