At forty-eight, Jacqueline Finch has a nice, easy life with few responsibilities: she’s been a librarian in Chicago for twenty-five years, she doesn’t have a husband, children, or pets, and she’s just coasting along, enjoying her books and a small flower garden now that she’s over the hill. That is, until the Universe (helped by three old crones) has other ideas. All at once, Jacqueline’s staid (and boring) life is upended, and the next thing she knows, she’s heading off to Button Cove to start a new life as the owner of Three Tomes Bookshop. The bookstore is a darling place, and Jacqueline is almost ready to be excited about this new opportunity…until Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Danvers show up. Somehow, the literary characters of Sherlock Holmes’s landlady and Rebecca deWinter’s creepy and sardonic housekeeper are living persons who work at the bookshop (when they aren’t bickering with each other). Not only does Jacqueline have to contend with them—and the idea that people regularly eat pastries while reading books in her store!—but the morning after she arrives, the body of a dead man is found on her property. Things start to get even more strange after that: Jacqueline is befriended by three old women who bear a startling resemblance to the Witches Three from Macbeth, an actual witch shows up at her bookshop and accuses Jacqueline of killing her brother, and the two women who own businesses across the street seem determined to befriend Jacqueline. And then there’s the police detective with the very definite hot-Viking vibe who shows up to investigate the dead body… The next thing Jacqueline knows, her staid and simple life is no longer quiet and unassuming, and she’s got crones, curses, and crocodiles to deal with. And when a new literary character appears on the scene…things start to get even more hairy and Jacqueline is suddenly faced with a horrible life and death situation that will totally push her out of her comfort zone…if she’s brave enough to let it. After all, isn’t forty-eight too late for an old dog to learn new tricks? From the bestselling author of the Wicks Hollow series, Tomes, Scones & Crones is the first book in a new paranormal women’s fiction series about coming into one’s own when you’re over the hill, and owning one’s “croneness.”

Jacqueline Finch is a lifelong book lover, which is why it was a literal gift from the Universe when she inherited Three Tomes Bookshop at the ripe old age of forty-eight. But she's had a few adjustments to make along the way, including the fact that her bookshop seems to be a haven for literary characters to come alive...and to stick their noses into things that aren't any of their business-including Sherlock Holmes' landlady, Mrs. Hudson, who is constantly bickering with the dour housekeeper from Rebecca, Mrs. Danvers. And then there are the three old ladies down the street, whose resemblance to Macbeth's Witches Three cannot be ignored. Nevertheless, Jacqueline is happy in her new life and everything seems to be going well...even when she discovers that Dickens' the Artful Dodger has come to life at Three Tomes Bookshop. Why Dodger is here and what problem he's meant to solve for some real-life person is the question-but in the meantime, Jacqueline has to figure out how to keep the light-fingered pickpocket from dipping his hands into her customers' pockets and purses! She manages to keep Dodger under wraps until a young woman bursts into the shop claiming her husband is trying to kill her. Jacqueline springs into action, but it turns out the threatened young woman wants a specific kind of assistance that Jacqueline has no idea how to provide...the sort of assistance not found in books... Things get even worse when Cinderella shows up at the shop and the Artful Dodger falls for her...and neither of them have any intention of returning to their books in a timely manner-if ever. Jacqueline's got her hands full, but with the help of the three crones and her two best friends, she's determined to muddle through...somehow.