Murder's brewing in Estes Park, where the tea is hot, the dead don't rest, and curiosity might just get you in a whole steep of trouble.
Just when Ellie thought she was getting the hang of her supernatural gift and running Spines & Steeps, construction workers discover a skeleton in the wall of the Opera House across the street, and her supposedly quiet bookstore life explodes into chaos once again. The remains belong to Mary Oliver, a young woman who vanished in 1925, and her spirit has one burning question: who killed her?
As Ellie digs into the dangerous world of 1920s Prohibition-era Estes Park complete with speakeasies, corrupt politicians, fire-and-brimstone preachers, and organized crime, she uncovers a web of secrets that powerful families have kept buried for a century. And someone in present-day Estes Park is determined to keep those secrets in the ground.
Between dodging threats, solving the utterly ridiculous mystery of who's stealing the town's garden gnomes (seriously, who does that?), and navigating the growing tension with a certain handsome detective who keeps telling her to stay out of danger, Ellie must use her ability to communicate with spirits to solve a murder before the killer silences her permanently.
With a dapper Victorian ghost offering commentary from the sidelines, an eye-rolling cat, and a determined murder victim seeking justice, Ellie discovers that some prices are worth paying. Even if they're steep.