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, Audiobook, Cozy Mystery, Christmas, Fiction, Halloween, Cozy

252 pages, Kindle Edition

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

[Deborah Almada · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy Emmeline Duncan's books. They always have a little bit of a different take, and the characters always feel so real. Bailey Brigg is a perfect example, she has taken over her grandparents' bookstore, the Lazy Bones Bookstore, still manages her daily running, taking care of her Great Pyrenees, Jack, works on her illustration art and keeps up her business connections through town. With the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays coming up, business is crazy, as are business and family connections. With two historical societies in town, Bailey feels she must be fair and attend holiday get-together at both. At the Elyan Hollow Historical Society party, there is much contention between the members of both Societies and one of the officers of the other society must even leave without his coat as it can't be found at the coat check! When Bailey attends a trial for a locked vault mystery at the business of one of her friends Finn, she is not thrilled when she notices that besides her dad the other people she is sharing the vault with are historical society members. Turns out she is right to trust her gut when one of the folks in the vault ends up dead! While Bailey absolutely has no time to get involved in a murder investigation with the shop hopping, holidays happening, and her Dad, the author dealing with a stalker she does manage to come up with some interesting information for her officer friends. You will definitely want to share the holidays, parties, and mysteries with Bailey and her friends and family while they get answers. #HysteriaattheHistoricalSociety #AHalloweenBookshopMystery #EmmelineDuncan #bookreview #bookideas #retiredreader

[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

[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.*

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! This is such a fun series - I am a sucker for a quirky town and this one fits the bill. It sounds so fun to live in a year-round Halloween themed town with adorable sounding local businesses. I would absolutely love to visit Bailey's shop and the Booritos always make me hungry. Well this town ALSO has 2 rival historical societies, adding to the quirky factor. I always enjoy a town fictional town feud and trying to unravel the legends about how it started. The mystery had me stumped and I enjoyed following along with all the sleuthing in additional to the holiday atmosphere. I also really love getting to know Bailey, her father and the rest of her friends even more. I already look forward to more of this series!

Thanks to the publisher for a free copy; my thoughts and review 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.

[Tracy Condie · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

Welcome back to the hauntingly cozy town of Elyan Hollow, Oregon as it celebrates the winter holidays in a very “Nightmare Before Christmas” way. But what else would you expect from a town that voted to theme the city center with year-round Halloween. There is even a Santa Paws scavenger hunt, which Bailey Briggs, proprietor of the Lazy Bones bookshop helped to organize. I bet you are imagining puppy paws, and you would be wrong because in Elyan Hollow there are a variety of Santa Sasquatch to be found in various stores and locations.

The true nightmare in this cozy mystery seems to stem from the rivaling historical societies. What was once one had become two after a disagreement over coffee, but that was years ago and doesn’t have a bearing on this story. This story is book three of the Halloween Bookshop Mysteries and it does a very good job as a stand-alone cozy mystery. This story starts with a verbal altercation including imputed honor and ends up with a locked vault murder in the town’s new escape room. Bailey might have been able to step back from investigating, if only it hadn’t happened at her friend (with potential) Finn’s new escape room, during the test run and if she and her dad, best-selling horror author Rex Abbot had not been at the scene. So how does a man get murdered in a locked bank vault in such a small group of people? Sounds like an easy one to figure out, right? Wrong. There is more than meets the eye to this location and the participants. First off, the victim, Walter, who was a member of the Historical Society of Elyan Hollow, was a man of unplumbed depths. His best friend Graham Clark, the director of the same society had been seen in an animated discussion with Walter just earlier that day. There are other witnessed confrontations with Karolyn Robertson, the Society’s treasurer, ex-wife Emma and grown sons Daniel and Ant. Last but not least is Jude Collins, the director of Elyan Hollow Historical Society. Jade and Walter had words and Graham made accusations.

Detective Whitlock definitely has his work cut out for him. His wife, Bianca who works part time for Bailey, would really like for Bailey to do that thing that she does so well and help solve this mystery so that Detective Whitlock can spend time with his kids this Christmas. Bailey has her sleuthing cap on and is ready to ask questions regardless of how pointed they may seem with Jack as her wingman or wing dog that looks like a big white abominable snow dog aka a Great Pyrenees, he is truly a gentle giant. That is unless he can sense a bad vibe coming off of someone.

This was a very entertaining holiday locked room who-done-it and while I thought I had figured it out, I was way off. The plot moves the overall storyline ahead at a great pace and there is even a sly little cliffhanger at the end. The only thing that it is missing are some pie recipes to tie in the amazing twenty-four-hour pie vending machine. I went in search for a pie cookie recipe and settled on a pecan pie cookie that is so good!

Thank you to the authors, publishers, and/or NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The recipe review and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing.

[Mamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the opportunity to learn about Hysteria at the Historical Society, and it immediately stood out as a fun and distinctive addition to the Halloween Bookshop Mystery series. The combination of Elyan Hollow’s Halloween-meets-Christmas atmosphere, a historical society dispute, a fatal escape-room party, and Bailey Briggs using holiday gatherings to investigate gives the book a strong cozy-mystery identity. As Book 3 in the series, it also has the advantage of an established series concept that can appeal to readers who enjoy recurring characters, seasonal settings, amateur sleuthing, and lighter mysteries with a playful edge. With 3.89 stars from 71 ratings and 10 reviews on Goodreads, the book already has an active reader foundation that can be developed further through focused visibility and engagement.

[Luis Nuñez · Rating 4.75 out of 5]

I was expecting this third book in the Halloween Bookshop Mysteries to immerse me and surround my imagination with Halloween as the two previous books had.

I like to read or listen to Holiday themed mysteries, and I had saved this one until October to get into the spooky season. I was disappointed that this book takes place at Christmastime, though there was not that much of a a Christmassy atmosphere, so it was fine.

It was nice to reconnect again with Bailey Briggs, who is the owner of the Lazy Bones Bookshop in the Halloween-themed town of Elyan Hollow, Oregon. Some of the familiar characters are back, and there are some new ones to love...or hate...

The plot was complex, and I kept guessing who the culprit of the murder might be, but I was wrong. The ending was satisfying, and I am glad to have listened to it.

The narrator, Ms. Emily Durante is superb, as usual.

[Jaci Kulish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this and in general I did but the ebook from the library could have used another run or two at editing. There were missing punctuation, typos, and sentences that weren't put together well or correctly, all adding up to a discombobulated feel to the whole novel. I'm very sad for this because I generally love Emmeline Duncan's style. Sometimes I feel like I'm reading my brains train of thought, with the details that she includes.

[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 👍

[KayDee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like this series but, either I missed some parts, or things were left hanging. Like what’s with the bagles and the creepy stalker never got resolved?

[Brenda]

I love the setting, but the characters are the best. I also feel like I'm coming into the middle of a story and it takes a while to make sense of it.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third in this cozy mystery series did not engage me as the first two did. I found the mystery dragged out and a lot of fluff in between. I still enjoyed it and the concept.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 3 in the series. It wasn’t as good as the first two, but wanted to see where it went. Total recommend reading the first two in the series.

[Jennifer Baier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every year I save the newest book in this series to listen to on my way to a specific XC meet about 2 hours away. There and back it gets me about half way through the book and is my own little ritual to welcome fall. This year was just as magical as the last 2 years and was worth the wait.

[Queen B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Kensington Publishing for the gifted ARC.

I love a closed door mystery, à la Agatha Christie.

Bailey, the bookstore owner, is our main character (and sleuth!), and she’s testing out a new escape room when one of the people with her tragically dies. But how, they were all locked together, WHO DUN IT?

What follows is some powers of deduction, plenty of small town gossip, and secrets being revealed. Despite there being a murder, this story still felt pretty cozy, and the whole town is fall-themed.

This is the third in the series, and I think it might have helped me understand some of the side characters better had I read the other two books first. But I was able to jump into this one as a standalone and enjoy it. I’ve been loving these cozy mysteries as palate cleansers in between fantasy and romance!