A literary cozy mystery with death in the footnotes and a killer in the wings.

Virginia Varnell has spent the last year locking down her journals, dodging nosy townsfolk, and trying not to fall for the detective who keeps showing up at her crime scenes. But when an infamous local actress is found dead on stage—posed like a scene from one of V’s old entries—the past she thought she buried comes roaring back under the spotlight.

The performance is disturbingly precise. The lines are hers… almost. But someone has rewritten the ending—and this killer prefers edits in blood.

With a suspicious theater director hiding more than rehearsal notes, a costume designer who knows everyone’s secrets, and a ghost who may or may not be trying to warn her, V must navigate the drama both on and off stage. As copycat clues appear and old pages resurface, she’s forced to reckon with a disturbing possibility: someone’s not just reading her work—they’re scripting their next move.

And if she can’t outwrite them in time, the next act might be her last.

Perfect for fans of sardonic sleuths, literary clues, and slow-burn detective tension with theatrical flair.