The Book of Candlelight

In Adams’s delightful third Secret, Book, and Scone Society mystery (after 2018’s The Whispered Word), Nora Pennington, the owner of Miracle Books in Miracle Springs, N.C., spots the body of Cherokee Danny, a potter she met the day before at the local flea market, floating in the town’s river, which recent rains have swollen. Danny evidently drowned, but Nora and Sheriff Grant McCabe suspect foul play. Meanwhile, remodeling by innkeepers Louisa “Lou” Simmons and Patty Meacham turns up more than one secret hiding place in the old inn, including a diary kept by an ancestor of Lou more than a century ago. Drawings in the diary of red birds, besides suggesting a link between the past and the present, offer clues to information worth killing for. When a second body is found, Nora knows a killer is loose and lays a trap Sheriff McCabe reluctantly agrees to participate in. A guest stranded at the inn by the wet weather, the charming Sheldon Vega, provides part-time help at the bookstore and more. Adams has a knack for creating endearingly imperfect characters. Cozy fans will be well satisfied. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary. (Feb.)