When Molly O’Donnell, longtime antiquarian bookseller, and Emma Clarke, new to bookselling, meet at an estate sale, they are both there for the books. But Emma hears a cry, ignores a “Do Not Enter” sign, and discovers the dead body of notorious book thief Buck Hubbell in the basement. She calls Molly, who joins her and finds a slip of paper with a warning written in Elizabethan script that hints at black magic.
Adventurous Molly and cautious Emma seek to discover who murdered Buck and to unlock the meaning of the mysterious note. Their search leads them to a hidden library full of occult books. Suspects abound among booksellers and practitioners of the black arts. Attracted to each other yet wary of involvement, Molly and Emma create an alliance to get to the bottom of the warning note, find a missing book of spells—and solve a murder.
“Lily Charles has written a charming debut mystery set in the world of antiquarian and collectible bookselling in the hub of the South in Atlanta, Georgia. Two women booksellers team up to solve the murder of a book thief, only to find themselves in the middle of a black magic cult. As in Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs Series, you’ll peek into the underbelly of the human desire for power and learn something new about bookselling along the way.”
—Lynn Hesse, author of Another Kind of Hero and Well of Rage
“Murder at the Estate Sale, a charming adventure for lovers of books and bibliomysteries, is the debut of two engaging and fresh characters, Molly O’Donnell and Emma Clarke, both book sellers. Set in Atlanta, the protagonists take us on an exciting, educational and romantic ride through the antiquarian book scene.”
—Trudy Nan Boyce, author of The Policeman’s Daughter, Old Bones, and Out of the Blues