In a quiet town, a forgotten evil is about to wake.

Three years after the death of her husband, seventy-three-year-old Mabel Rose has found a measure of peace in the rhythms of small-town life in Harmony Creek. A dedicated knitter and the granddaughter of the town's legendary amateur detective, she prefers logic, facts, and a good pot of potato soup to anything resembling superstition. But when her relentlessly curious friend Clara Mae begins investigating a series of strange occurrences?vanishing pets, mysterious stone circles, and smoke from the chimney of an abandoned farmhouse?Mabel's practical world is about to be shattered.

The farmhouse belongs to the Crowder family, whose name has been a dark whisper in the town's history for a century. Since 1925, a pattern of disappearances has haunted the hollow, all connected to the property and the sole surviving son, Elias, who returned from the Great War... changed. Clara Mae, armed with her great-grandmother's journals on Appalachian folk magic, believes something ancient and hungry is stirring again. Mabel, armed with her grandmother's notebook and a healthy skepticism, insists there must be a rational explanation.

But as they dig deeper with the help of Tom Chen, a local librarian whose own grandfather vanished while investigating the Crowders, they uncover a horrifying truth. Elias Crowder didn't just survive the war; he made a terrible bargain in a desperate bid to live, becoming a monster sustained by trapping the souls of his victims. The binding that keeps him alive is strengthening, the cycle of death is accelerating, and the town sheriff has just become its latest target.

Now, these three unlikely investigators?a pragmatic widow, a folk-magic practitioner, and a grieving grandson?must pool their knowledge and courage to confront a century-old evil. To save a life and free seven trapped souls, they must venture into the heart of the darkness, into the cellar of the Crowder farmhouse, where a hungry presence waits. They will need more than logic to survive; they will need magic, love, and the unbreakable bonds of friendship to break a curse that has fed on Harmony Creek for generations.

Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman's Magic Lessons and Charlaine Harris's Midnight, Texas series, Whispers In The Hollow is a chilling and heartwarming tale of small-town secrets, late-life courage, and the darkness that lurks just beyond the familiar.

Clara Mae grew up in Harmony Creek, a small town with deep roots and deeper secrets. The daughter of a pastor and a homemaker, she learned early to live within the quiet rhythms of community life while observing the subtle tensions most overlooked. To many, she appeared gentle and reserved, but beneath her calm exterior stirred a sharp mind and an unshakable curiosity.

Drawn to history and folklore, Clara became a teacher's aide and part-time town historian, spending hours in archives, libraries, and the woods that seemed to whisper stories of their own. Yet, her life was never untouched by the strange. From recurring dreams to unexplained visions, Clara felt the shadows of Harmony Creek pressing closer, hinting at truths her neighbors refused to see.

While Mabel Rose?the beloved Knitting Detective?relied on logic, intuition, and community ties, Clara found herself called down a darker path. Her instincts led her to the abandoned paper mill, a place avoided by most, where the boundary between the natural and the supernatural seemed perilously thin.

Now in her early thirties, Clara stands at the edge of two worlds: the familiar, where she is the dutiful daughter and quiet townsfolk, and the hidden, where danger and darkness weave themselves into the fabric of Harmony Creek. Compassion anchors her to those she loves, but courage drives her forward into mysteries that demand to be faced.

Clara Mae is more than an observer of secrets?she is a seeker of them, even when the cost is steep. Her story threads through the shadows of Harmony Creek, where betrayal, mystery, and the supernatural converge. For Clara, every answer brings not only clarity but also a reminder that some truths were never meant to remain buried.