The Index of Lost Names

A name in an index is not a verdict. Someone in Bramblewick has decided it should be.After the fire beneath The Lantern & Quill, Charlie Vale promised the town that Wren's hidden archive would never again belong to a single private keeper. The new community archive is nearly ready to open-its rules still being argued-when a file vanishes from a sealed box and a respected resident receives an anonymous demand: resign, confess, or watch the record go public.Then another file disappears. Another name is chosen. The pattern makes no sense unless the thief holds the one thing no one has been able to find: Wren's master index, a card-by-card map of every hidden file in Bramblewick. When retired cataloger Naomi Rusk finally agrees to place the index into shared custody, she is found dead between the moving shelves of the municipal archive-and the steel drawer is gone.The missing cards lead to a civic organization that spent decades deciding which residents were respectable, employable, believable. But Wren's names are not a list of villains; they include witnesses, children, and the coerced. To solve Naomi's murder, Charlie must resist becoming the very thing Wren feared: the one who holds the map and decides, alone, how everyone else will be read.The Lantern & Quill Mysteries, Book Nine. A cozy about records, reputation, and who gets to control the story. Reads on its own.Perfect for fans of Kate Carlisle's Bibliophile Mysteries, Jenn McKinlay's Library Lover's Mysteries, and Ellery Adams's Book Retreat Mysteries..