Some trails lead home. Others lead to the gallows.

When Roux Duval is asked by her best friend, Juniper, to accompany her to Merryhall for the funeral of her college friends’ stepmother, Roux expects little more than an uncomfortable few days among the Hollow’s wealthy elite.

Then the autopsy results arrive.

Morganna Sawyer didn’t die of natural causes. She was murdered—and reduced to golden ash by a rare and terrifying spell.

Worse, the evidence points straight to Hansel and Gretel Sawyer.

With the constable preparing to arrest the twins, Roux can’t stand by and watch two people she knows are innocent take the fall. But uncovering the truth means navigating a family where money buys silence, appearances matter more than honesty, and everyone seems to have something to hide.

As Roux follows a trail of dangerous magic, financial secrets, and long-buried grudges, she discovers that Morganna’s death is only the beginning. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more complicated the question of justice becomes.

With her unpredictable magic awakening, a dangerously charming bounty hunter complicating matters, and a telepathic Doberman at her side, Roux must uncover the real killer before the Sawyer twins pay the price for a crime they didn’t commit.

Because in Merryhall, the dead keep secrets—and sometimes the living have the most to lose.

The Brothers Grimm meets Only Murders in the Building—the second installment in this cozy fantasy mystery series filled with enchanted villages, fairy-tale secrets, and one unforgettable telepathic Doberman.

Fairy tales. Murder. Magic. Welcome to Cheshire Hollow.