The Return of Annora Blackbriar
3 parts Ongoing MatureA love letter to the supernatural category and Scooby-Doo, The Return of Annora Blackbriar is the first in an eight-book series.
On Halloween night in the coastal town of Saltmere, four teenagers summon something they cannot control. By morning, three are dead, one has vanished, and suspicion falls on Rick Mercer-the sheriff's son, already drowning under the town's whispers.
Into this chaos steps Detective Silas Rousseau, a haunted outsider brought in to investigate a string of impossible murders. His arrival collides with Rick's search for answers, and with Zelda Grimsley, the sharp-tongued daughter of the local museum curator who knows more about Saltmere's secrets than she lets on. Together, they uncover a trail leading back to the legend of Annora Blackbriar, a witch whose name was never meant to be spoken again.
As bodies rise and ghosts return, Rick begins to change. Symbols burn across his skin. His dreams fill with drowned cities and voices from the deep. Whispers suggest he carries the first of seven soul-shards-keys to awakening something buried beneath the sea. And Silas, against every instinct, feels the pull of a bond he is destined to protect, even as the town brands Rick a killer.
But Saltmere has long memories, and its shadows hunger. To survive Annora's return, Rick, Silas, and Zelda must unravel a prophecy written in blood, confront the truth of Rick's birthright, and face the possibility that the greatest danger isn't the witch who came back-but what waits to be awakened.