Hidden Archives

A Cozy Mystery

Eliza Hamilton, professor of literature, drops in on her father at his beloved bookshop early one morning . . . the very morning that he has fallen victim to thugs with a fatal blow to the head, in a random break-in. Or was it random?

The bookshop, nestled in a row of colonial buildings in historic Old Town Alexandria, has stood immutable to Alexandria's changing fortunes since Eliza's forefathers built it before the Civil War. Within its venerable old brick walls, it houses an eclectic selection of new and used books, historic documents, and archives, many from the slave plantations of the Old South.

Patrons come from all walks of life, old and young and every age in between, local residents Black and White, who have been visiting the shop since they were tykes and the many tourists that crowd the streets of the colonial town. Is one of them the murderer?

Eliza is determined to find her father's killers even as she grapples with the fate of the shop that has been in her family for so many years. Break-ins, attempted arson, and missives from her family ghosts and the spirits of long dead slaves convince her that buried in the bookshop are secrets that someone doesn't want uncovered . . .