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 second meeting when local author Reginald Blakely accuses young Bethany of plagiarizing his novel. The next morning, Reginald turns up dead in the bookstore, a letter opener plunged into his chest and the store's antique inkwell smashed. When police learn that Reginald threatened Bethany just the night before, 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. And the murder in the bookstore is eerily similar to an unsolved murder that happened almost 100 years ago.
Can Max clear her assistant's name in time? Or will she—and Seaside Cottage Books—be the killer's next victim?