THE VANISHING TYPE
by Ellery Adams
The members of The Secret, Book, and Scone Society tangle with a killer who strikes close to home.
Though all the members have survived troubling times in their lives only to become stronger in their sisterhood, one of them is still hiding a secret that stirs up a killer. Miracle Springs, North Carolina, bookstore owner Nora Pennington strives to pick the perfect reading material for her customers while dispensing delicious drinks and bakery products created by her friend Hester Winthrop. Hester is soon to be engaged to Deputy Jasper Andrews, and Nora herself has fallen for Sheriff Grant McCabe. As she's busy planning special events for Valentine’s Day, Nora is upset to discover copies of The Scarlet Letter with the name Hester scraped off, and Hester is puzzled to find an odd book left in her bakeshop. When a man is found dead with a similar book in his pocket, it proves to be one of a series about successful women written in an era slow to approve of working women. The murdered man isn’t identified until Hester confesses a long-buried connection. Soon, more volumes turn up, and research into them by Nora's librarian friend, Bobbie, provides clues to the mystery that put the sleuths on the road to a ruthless killer.
The winding path to the truth showcases both the strengths and the weaknesses of the loving sisterhood.