Empty Graves

When Margot Chen-Perrigo returns to Redmond, Washington to take over her late grandmother's beloved used bookstore, she hopes for a fresh start, a familiar place to land, and the comfort of a community she once knew well. Instead, she finds herself drawn into a local mystery after a death in town raises questions no one seems quite ready to answer.

As Margot looks more closely, she discovers that even the friendliest towns have long memories, old relationships, and stories that run deeper than they first appear. Between the bookstore, quiet conversations, and the everyday rhythms of life in Redmond, she begins to piece together a puzzle shaped by family, loyalty, and the ties that hold a community together.

The more she learns, the more Margot realizes that her grandmother may have understood this town better than anyone, and that solving the mystery will require patience, trust, and a willingness to see familiar places in a new light.

Empty Graves is the first in the Good Neighbors Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in real towns where ordinary lives, close-knit communities, and well-kept local histories lead to mysteries with more beneath the surface than first meets the eye. Warm, thoughtful, and gently surprising, these are stories about place, connection, and the neighbors who make a town what it is.