Life in Mill Creek is finally settling into the cozy rhythm Bridget Rowan hoped for. With no recent emergencies, two new employees helping keep Nightsmith Novelties afloat, and the charm of small-town living growing on her, things are, dare she say it, peaceful.

The calm shatters, however, when an old friend from her college days shows up without warning, shaken and claiming to have witnessed a murder.

Still processing the sudden reappearance of someone she never expected to see again, Bridget finds herself pulled into another investigation before she can talk herself out of it. At first, the case seems straightforward; a mugging gone wrong. But as Bridget digs deeper into the victim’s past, unsettling truths emerge. This wasn’t a random crime, and money had nothing to do with it.

With secrets unraveling, familiar faces hiding uncomfortable truths, and a killer who knew their victim all too well, Bridget must sort through lies, loyalties, and long-buried motives to uncover the truth. Because in a town as quaint as Mill Creek, danger doesn’t always come from strangers, it sometimes wears a friendly smile.