Bury the Lead: A Quill & Packet Mystery

A big-city journalist joins the staff of a small-town paper in cottage country and finds a community full of secrets ... and murder.

Cat Conway has recently returned to Port Ellis to work as a reporter at the Quill & Packet. She's fled the tattered remains of her high-profile career and bad divorce for the holiday town of her childhood, famous for its butter tarts, theatre, and a century-old feud.

One of Cat's first assignments is to interview legendary actor Eliot Fraser, the lead in the theatre's season opener of Inherit the Wind. When Eliot ends up dead onstage on opening night, the curtain rises on the sleepy town's secrets. The suspects include the actor whose career Eliot ruined, the ex-wife he betrayed, the women he abused, and even the baker he wronged. With the attention of the world on Port Ellis, this story could be Cat's chance to restore her reputation. But the police think she's a suspect, and the murderer wants to kill the story--and her too. Can Cat solve the mystery before she loses her job or becomes the next victim of a killer with a theatrical bent for vengeance?

ELIZABETH RENZETTI is a bestselling Canadian author and journalist. She has worked for the Globe and Mail as a reporter, editor, and columnist. In 2020, she won the Landsberg Award for her reporting on gender equality. She is the author of the essay collection Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls and the novel Based on a True Story. Her book What She Said: Conversations about Equality will be published in 2024. She lives in Toronto with her family.

KATE HILTON is a bestselling Canadian writer. She is the co-author of the Quill & Packet mystery series; the most recent title, Widows and Orphans, was published in 2025. Her fiction includes the forthcoming City of the Muse (2026), as well as The Hole in the Middle, Just Like Family, and Better Luck Next Time. When not writing, Kate maintains an active psychotherapy practice, with a particular focus on personal reinvention and life transitions. She lives with her family in Toronto.