When fledgling bookseller Max Sayers agrees to host Snug Harbor, Maine's new mystery writers' group, she envisions filling Seaside Cottage Books with literary conversation, warm, fresh-baked cookies, and a community to support her assistant Bethany's mystery writing dream. But the group has barely begun its inaugural meeting when local author Martha Crabtree accuses young Bethany of plagiarizing her novel. The next morning, Martha turns up a half mile from the bookstore, a letter opener plunged into her bony chest and her face covered in black ink. When police learn that an almost identical murder happened just last week--in Bethany's unfinished murder mystery—Max's beloved assistant rockets to the top of the suspect list.
As Max struggles to clear Bethany's name, she discovers that some old roots in Snug Harbor run deeper--and are more twisted--than she ever dreamed possible. She soon uncovers a network of deceit that sprouted from a bad seed planted in the bookstore itself, almost a century earlier. But someone doesn't like her digging. A rash of threatening anonymous phone calls--and a heavy inkwell hurled through the shop window, barely missing Max's head--send a clear and deadly message. Back off... or else.