Hysteria at the Historical Society

Halloween Bookshop Mystery #3

by Emmeline Duncan

Celebrating spookiness is a year-round affair in the Halloween-themed town of Elyan Hollow, Oregon, but Christmas is a close second, and for Bailey Briggs’ Lazy Bones Bookshop, it’s extra hectic—especially when holiday festivities turn fatal . . .

When it comes to adding a touch of Halloween to Christmas, Elyan Hollow is in peak form. Downtown sports Nightmare Before Christmas decorations, and activities include a “Santa Claws” sasquatch game. And this year, there’s something else to The Elyan Hollow Historical Society has just received a Historical Preservation grant to map out the town’s tunnel systems. Jude, their director, is thrilled. But Graham, the leader of the competing historical society, not so much . . .

At the Society’s winter holiday reception, Jude argues loudly with Graham and Graham’s second in command, Walter, a local attorney. As the pair is “escorted” out, Walter threatens ruinous revenge. Their arguing continues a few days later at a party in an escape room. But this time, there’s no escape for Walter, who collapses . . . dead.

Jude is the obvious suspect, but Bailey soon realizes that despite his lawyerly good deeds, there were others on the outs with Walter—and there are other targets as well. Fortunately, Bailey can use several upcoming Christmas parties as fact-finding missions. Because she’ll have to map a trail to a killer—before she’s history . . .

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy

224 pages, Paperback

Published August 25, 2026

About the author

Emmeline Duncan is a mystery writer based out of Portland, Oregon. Her novels include the Ground Rules series, including Fresh Brewed Murder, Double Shot Death, Flat White Fatality, and Death Unfiltered, which comes out in the spring of 2024. She's also the author of Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop, a Halloween-themed mystery that will come out in August 2024.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Kensington Books for this gifted physical ARC!

Another cute cozy mystery to break up my big fantasy reads. This one was interesting, the setting was great, I loved the escape room aspect and the characters were really cool. I think it's such a great thing to have such a short book (this is only a little over 200 pages) and still really enjoy the characters in the short time frame. I'm giving this 3.5 stars but rounding up to 4 because of Goodreads.

This is a 3rd in a mystery series, Kensington Books sent me this for review and I have not read the first two books and I wish I had. I think that's why it didn't fully hit for me, I feel like it would have been much more enjoyable with the full backstory of all the characters. The mystery is separate from the first two books, but the characters carry over. If the first two books are like this one I would totally recommend it, I'm going to have to grab the first two and get the full picture!

*This ARC was given by Kensington Books, all opinions are my own.*

[Kelly Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best book in the series to date! Plus an ending that I did not expect.

[Short, Sweet and Cozy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hysteria at The Historical Society is the 3rd wonderful book in Emmaline Duncan's Halloween Bookshop Mystery series. The characters are what make this such an enjoyable cozy mystery! It is Halloween all year around in Elyan Hollow, OR and when it is Christmas we get two fun holidays mixed together! Bailey Briggs owns Lazy Bones Bookshop and they are busy with holiday shoppers and events. Bailey is invited to the opening of her good friend (and potential boyfriend) Finn's new Escape Room. Finn is a much better match for Bailey than her previous boyfriend. Rex, Bailey's biological father, is also at the Escape Room. Rex is another wonderful character. One of the participants, Walter ends up dead in the Escape Room so there appear to only be a few suspects. There is a tunnel system that runs under some of the businesses and the Elyan Hollow Historical Society receives a grant to study it. This causes some tension between the two historical societies in town. The deceased man Walter is seen arguing with several people. I liked how Bailey goes about getting information. It keeps the story moving at a good pace. The cozy mystery kept me guessing. The audiobook is well done. I enjoyed this book and series and I look forward to the next book! I got the audiobook from my library.
#HysteriaAtTheHistoricalSociety #HalloweenBookshopMystery
#KensingtonCozies #KensingtonCreatorHQ

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to be annoyed by Bailey's asides (explaining what Zelda is or in the middle of a convo, saying she doesn't like when people refer to their pets as children). I think they break the cadence and are awkward.

However, I still enjoy this cozy mystery series and hope there are more books to come.

[Angela Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read all 3 of these books back to back. These are such cute little fall season/Halloween cozy little mysteries. I flew through them. I really enjoyed this one. What more perfect location for a who done it than an escape room. 6 people locked in one room, one doesn’t make it out alive, and of course Bailey is caught in the middle of it again. This one had me guessing. It was probably the most entertaining of the 3 for me. Thank you to Kensington for the ARC of this cute book.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was awesome 👍