Book excerpt: WELCOME TO COOPERS VALLEY, MR. MORROW. GOOD LUCK MAKING SENSE OF IT. Coopers Valley, Indiana. A peculiar town. Hard to pinpoint on a map. Inhabited by people who aren’t quite there. And carefully watched over by . . . someone. To this fabled “Town of a Thousand Stories” comes Matt Morrow, a reporter investigating two unsolved missing persons cases. His real purpose? To restore a ruined reputation and redeem himself for a tragic mistake. He soon finds himself in the company of beautiful Mrs. Zimmer, a police aide assigned to help his research. But even as he is powerfully drawn to this mysterious widow with the haunted eyes, he begins to suspect she’s involved in the two old cases. As the hours pass his suspicions mount. Why won’t she give him a straight answer? What is she hiding? And how does she know so much about him and his own dark past? As Morrow searches for answers, Dilly dodges his questions and offers instead entertaining stories about the townsfolk. Stories too fantastic to be true. Or are they? The conflict between them mounts until they finally uncover the truth about themselves . . . and the shocking secret at the very heart of the town itself. Coopers Valley. Where stories come alive. Cover art by Leah Diekhoff studiophantasmic.com