The Circle and The Crow: A Cozy Small Town Murder Mystery Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe | A Gripping Novel Full of Twists, Turns and Romance

by Holly Hertzel, Mike Prittie

When literature professor Danni Solo lands in Oak Hollow for its vibrant Edgar Allan Poe festival, she expects clever lectures and costumed revelers, not a corpse in the town square. The murder rips the mask off Oak Hollow’s community of misfits and eccentrics, where grudges run deeper than the catacombs of Poe’s tales. Partnering — uneasily — with enigmatic Sheriff Darwin Lavery, Danni digs into secrets that the festival’s velvet cloaks can’t hide. With danger lurking in every shadow, she must unravel the truth before the killer turns the page on her.

Genres: Mystery, Ebooks

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 26, 2025

Reviews

[Pamela A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒖𝒏 𝒂𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝑬𝒅𝒈𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝑷𝒐𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒂𝒌 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕. ☺️☺️☺️😘

𝑺𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒖𝒔!!! 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈!!! 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒊 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒊 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 . 🥰🥰🥰

[James Thomas Lynde · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read, small town flair

The Circle and the Crow is a must read. I love small town mysteries and I’m a huge Edgar Allen Poe fan so this being set during an Edgar Allen Poe festival had me wanting to drive right in. Also enjoyed that Danni was a literature professor: I recommend this one!

[Vanessa Sauls · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.

It was a good read, I liked the main protagonist and also some of the other characters. I would recommend this book to those who like mysteries.

[Wayne Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Had my attention the whole time, it was the perfect build to an unexpected twist !