A Candle for the Dean
A dying man's final wish. A death that came too soon. And a secret someone is desperate to keep buried.
Winter has settled over the cathedral city of Cadminster, where the Crooked Cat Caf offers a welcome refuge from the cold, with hot tea, homemade cakes, and a collection of rescued cats.
For owner Eden Metcalfe, life has finally found a measure of peace after the painful events that drove her from hospital chaplaincy six years ago.
Then a dying stranger arrives with an extraordinary gift.
Sebastian Kerr-Lowell, a wealthy collector, has brought two precious medieval pages stolen from the cathedral's treasured choirbook decades earlier. He intends to return them in person at Candlemas.
But he has one condition.
He wants Eden to sit with him as his chaplain during his final days.
Reluctantly, she agrees.
Sebastian is witty, fiercely independent, and determined to remain conscious long enough to see the missing pages restored to their rightful home.
On the eve of Candlemas, Eden lights his hour candle, promises to wake him at seven, and leaves him in the care of his devoted son.
By morning, Sebastian is dead.
Everyone calls it a merciful end to a long illness.
But Sebastian had been determined to live until morning. Eden suspects someone decided otherwise.
To challenge the circumstances of his death, she may have to reveal what he told her in confidence. Yet the truth about his final hours could destroy a family-and expose secrets surrounding the stolen choirbook pages.
Meanwhile, the cathedral is preparing to clear the name of a man falsely accused twenty-four years ago, someone Eden once failed to defend.
And at the Crooked Cat Caf , a familiar woman who has spent years watching quietly from her corner chair is finally ready to speak.
As Candlemas approaches, Eden must confront the past she fled, the promises she has kept, and the terrible possibility that silence has protected the wrong people.
The Candlemas Confession is an atmospheric British cat cozy mystery featuring a compassionate former hospital chaplain turned amateur sleuth, beloved rescue cats, memorable cathedral-town characters, and a cleverly constructed investigation into secrets, loyalty, and forgiveness.
Perfect for readers who love traditional British whodunits, cat caf mysteries, intelligent female amateur sleuths, English cathedral settings, and stories filled with heart and gentle humour.
A clean cozy mystery with no graphic violence or profanity, a satisfying, fairly clued solution, and a heartwarming conclusion in which old wrongs are finally addressed and every cat finds the home it deserves.
For years, Eden Metcalfe has carried the weight of things left unsaid. This Candlemas, telling the truth may be the only way to put them right.
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