The Case of the Empty Till

Nell Page didn’t set out to investigate crimes. She owns a bookstore, drinks too much coffee, and knows the rhythms of her small-town business community well enough to spot when something is off.

So when a fellow shop owner abruptly closes their doors—without warning, without explanation, and goes into seclusion—Nell is baffled. This is someone she knows. Someone careful. Successful. Healthy. Not the kind of person whose business simply collapses overnight.

Everyone else seems ready to accept a vague explanation and move on. Nell isn’t.

As she starts pulling at loose threads, she uncovers a situation far more complicated than a bad month or a poor decision. The answers don’t come easily, and the deeper she digs, the clearer it becomes that what happened wasn’t an accident—it was engineered.

Because someone didn’t just close a shop. They dismantled a reputation and a livelihood. And Nell Page can’t stop until she understands how it happened—and figures out whether it can be undone.