📱📖 Read on Kindle | 📃 288 pages
⏱ Duration: 4 hours | Genre: Cozy Mystery
🏷️ Publisher name: Kensington Cozies
📅 Published: November 3, 2026
ARC by NetGalley
Book Blurb:
It’s the night of Jess’s wedding in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, and a storm is closing in. Nora and the guests wait in the church, but the groom, Ravi, never arrives. When the Miracle River floods, the town is cut off, and by morning a body in a tuxedo has been pulled from the water. Jess’s house is spared by the flood, yet it has been ransacked and a valuable folio from an illuminated manuscript is gone. With Miracle Books serving as the community hub, Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone Society hunt for a killer and a thief. Then a second body surfaces.
Let’s talk … murder!!!
I have always loved this series. Nora has had an amazing journey since she started Miracle Books in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, and her relationship with the Sheriff has been a mature and beautiful one.
All the books so far had been focused on the people in Miracle Springs and the relationships between them. But in this one, there is one major player in the game that has been hidden in all the previous books: the water of Miracle Springs. When Ellery Adams must have written this story, she might have used the floods as an excuse to build a grand mystery because the clues were so difficult to find once the scene of the crime is swept by water.
However, for me, in this particular one, the crime took a backseat and the destruction that the floods caused remained in the forefront. Yes, Jess’s was a tragic situation and yes, the killer and the intruder need to be found. But there were so many families without food, shelter, or even water. Babies in need of basic essentials and parents just trying to find a place with shelter. It was heartbreaking to read about the aftermath of the disaster in our beloved small town, and the impact it might continue to have in the future books as well.
The mystery itself was well written and well solved, no complaints there. But the characters stood out really well in this book, with the feeling of community and kinship in the midst of an intense difficult situation. The town came together to help not only their own but also the neighboring towns affected as well.
This was one very well written and heart wrenching book.
Would I Recommend It?
The Liars’ Book Club, the ninth Secret, Book, and Scone Society mystery by Ellery Adams, hands most of its pages to the flood rather than the murder. The mystery is well solved, sure, but what stuck with me was a town short on food and shelter, some families without even water, and neighbours who showed up anyway for their own and the towns next door. If you have followed Nora from the start, this one is for you. Newcomers should begin at book one. Add it to your TBR, because it releases November 3, 2026.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Keep the Small-Town Feeling Going
- The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams
Where Nora’s story begins, and where you meet the women who become her found family.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | OpenLibrary | Litsy
- Murder Is Binding by Lorna Barrett
A whole town of bookshops, a bookstore owner turned sleuth, and a tight-knit community, for readers who love the Miracle Books setting.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
- Still Life by Louise Penny
If the community was your favourite part of Miracle Springs, Three Pines is a village worth getting to know.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
- Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly
A small town, a library, and two cats with minds of their own for a gentler, funnier read.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
- A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert
A mountain-town mystery with a library at its centre, for readers who love the Appalachian setting.
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
Your Turn: When the Water Rises
Have you been with Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone Society from the beginning? Tell me in the comments which book hooked you, and whether you think Miracle Springs can ever feel the same after this one. And if you have a favourite fictional small town that pulls together in a crisis, I want to hear about it.
Where to Buy
Want to purchase this or any of your favorite books while supporting a local bookstore? Consider purchasing using the sites below. These sites work with independent local bookstore owners to fulfill your book orders. #SupportLocal
Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary
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