The Ghost Women

A South Carolina island with a history of witch burnings is rocked by the death of a 19-year-old in this strong 1970s-set mystery from Murphy (Scarlet in Blue). Lola Germany thought she’d left Waverly Island for good when she was admitted to Juilliard. Instead, she returned home after dancing for the New York City Ballet and wound up as the island’s chief detective. Her latest case involves 19-year-old Abel Montague, who was discovered hanging from the so-called “ghost tree” in Dead Witch Forest in a position that mirrors the Hanged Man tarot card found in his pocket. Legend has it that, after Waverly’s witches were burned alive from the 15th to the 17th centuries, their spirits flew to the ghost tree “to rid themselves of the cruelty of their deaths.” Lola thinks it’s no coincidence that Abel, a student at the island’s shadowy St. Luke’s Institute of the Arts, a former monastery where the witch burnings were planned, was killed at the ghost tree. Under intense pressure from Abel’s father, the chairman of the school, Lola hunts for the killer among the many people—both instructors and students—who hated Abel’s arrogance and antisocial behaviors. Murphy crafts a foreboding atmosphere from the jump and makes the occult elements at the center of the story feel entirely plausible. This is a winner. Agent: Miriam Altshuler, DeFiore & Co. (Feb.)