"Is there a secret code hidden in the books?"

Penelope Thornton-McClure and her aunt Sadie own the Buy The Book bookstore. They head out on a stormy night to look at some old books of Peter Chesley, an old friend of Sadie's. Turns out to be an extremely rare collection of Edgar Allan Poe's complete works.

There is a rumor that there is a secret code hidden within the books' leather-bound pages, and that it leads to buried treasure. Bad thing is that as Pen sells off various valuable volumes, everyone who has bought one is murdered.

PI Jack Shepard, the resident ghost of the bookstore that only Pen can hear helps her work on solving the case. The police believe most of the deaths were accidents, but Pen and Jack are certain that isn't the case. Can they discover the identity of the killer without putting Pen in harm's way? Plus what about the secret code and buried treasure. Is there anything to the rumor?

I love this series. Pen and Jack are such likeable characters. Usually I have trouble with mysteries with a ghost, but this series is so well written that it doesn't bother me in the least. The bookstore setting is so natural and so is the fact that Pen gets involved in unraveling the mystery. The additional people in the story are well written and add to the story.

I highly recommend this book and the complete series.

Please check out my website: www.mysteryloverscorner.com

Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle
Posted February 21, 2007

Summary

Sleuth, Nevermore...?

Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure has just received an extremely rare collection of Edgar Allan Poe's complete works. Rumor has it a secret code, trapped within the books' leather-bound pages, leads to buried treasure. Well, it looks like they got the buried part right, because as Pen sells off the valuable volumes, everyone who buys...dies.

Once these books go missing from their owners' cold hands, Pen will need resident ghost and hard-boiled PI Jack Shepard to help crack the case. The police are skeptical that the deaths involved foul play—so it's up to Pen and Jack to unravel these shocking endings...