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Dead Drop in Lily Rock: An Avery Denning Lily Rock Mystery
Avery Denning just wanted a bed, a bath, and a break from the Pacific Crest Trail.
Instead, she finds a murdered woman at the foot of a Little Free Library.
Arriving in the mountain town of Lily Rock for the Fourth of July weekend, Avery plans to rent a room from Stella Rawlins—a friendly local known for her love of books and quiet acts of defiance. When Stella is killed by a sabotaged firecracker hidden inside her library, Avery becomes the discovery witness… and an immediate suspect.
With parades planned and tensions rising over which books belong on public shelves, Lily Rock’s only police officer, Janis Jets, has her hands full. Olivia Greer, a constabulary consultant with a gift for listening, offers Avery a place to stay—and a chance to explain how she ended up at the scene of the crime.
As Avery begins asking questions, she uncovers a secret network of Little Free Libraries, anonymous religious threats tucked inside children’s books, and a second shocking death that turns the case deeply personal. Along the way, she reconnects with Brad May—older, steadier, and quietly trying to make a better life—awakening feelings Avery thought she’d left behind.
Soon it’s clear this isn’t just about books.
It’s about control, belonging, and who gets to decide which stories are worth protecting.
Armed with sharp instincts, a knack for noticing what others miss, and the growing realization that her outsider status may be her greatest strength, Avery steps into a role she never amateur sleuth.
But in Lily Rock, asking the wrong questions can be deadly…
and staying might mean risking her heart as well as her life.
Dead Drop in Lily Rock launches a new mystery series set in the beloved Lily Rock universe—perfect for readers who love small-town whodunits, strong women sleuths, and cozy mysteries with heart.
Instead, she finds a murdered woman at the foot of a Little Free Library.
Arriving in the mountain town of Lily Rock for the Fourth of July weekend, Avery plans to rent a room from Stella Rawlins—a friendly local known for her love of books and quiet acts of defiance. When Stella is killed by a sabotaged firecracker hidden inside her library, Avery becomes the discovery witness… and an immediate suspect.
With parades planned and tensions rising over which books belong on public shelves, Lily Rock’s only police officer, Janis Jets, has her hands full. Olivia Greer, a constabulary consultant with a gift for listening, offers Avery a place to stay—and a chance to explain how she ended up at the scene of the crime.
As Avery begins asking questions, she uncovers a secret network of Little Free Libraries, anonymous religious threats tucked inside children’s books, and a second shocking death that turns the case deeply personal. Along the way, she reconnects with Brad May—older, steadier, and quietly trying to make a better life—awakening feelings Avery thought she’d left behind.
Soon it’s clear this isn’t just about books.
It’s about control, belonging, and who gets to decide which stories are worth protecting.
Armed with sharp instincts, a knack for noticing what others miss, and the growing realization that her outsider status may be her greatest strength, Avery steps into a role she never amateur sleuth.
But in Lily Rock, asking the wrong questions can be deadly…
and staying might mean risking her heart as well as her life.
Dead Drop in Lily Rock launches a new mystery series set in the beloved Lily Rock universe—perfect for readers who love small-town whodunits, strong women sleuths, and cozy mysteries with heart.
- GenresMysteryCozy Mystery
293 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 30, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 18, 2026
Dead Drop in Lily Rock opens with a sharp, clever premise and then settles into something warmer and more interesting than a standard cozy mystery. Avery Denning arrives in Lily Rock as a dusty, displaced Pacific Crest Trail hiker, only to find her would-be host, Stella Rawlins, dead beneath a sabotaged little free library. From there, the novel braids together a murder investigation, a small town full of old loyalties and private grudges, and a surprisingly charged argument about books, taste, censorship, and belonging. Stella’s library, with its mix of Julián Is a Mermaid, All American Boys, and the haunting reappearance of Are You My Mother?, gives the mystery its emotional center, while the Switchback Syndicate, that secretive circle of little-library caretakers, gives it a mischievous edge.
I liked that Bonnie Hardy understands that charm only works if it has a pulse beneath it. Avery could easily have been written as a stock snarky amateur sleuth, but she isn’t. She’s vain, funny, brittle, lonely, proud, and more wounded than she wants anyone to see. The book gives her room to be messy. I loved the early stretch where she goes from finding a body to being folded into Olivia’s home, standing under a hot shower, eating Sierra Snowcaps, and trying not to cry into her tea. That sequence tells you almost everything about the novel’s emotional register. It knows how to make comfort feel earned. I also found the recurring animal comedy genuinely delightful. Mayor Maguire and Tater Tot add texture and rhythm, the kind of oddball local life that makes Lily Rock feel inhabited.
The argument over what belongs in a library, who gets to decide what children read, and how quickly principle curdles into self-righteousness gives the mystery more bite than I expected. The midnight hot-tub meeting, the burner phones, the bruising fights over “classic” books, and Avery’s half-mocking, half-brilliant fake book-burning proposal all give the novel a sly satirical streak. The dialogue leans into explaining the book’s positions. Still, I’d rather read a mystery that reaches openly for something real than one that stays tidily bloodless. Hardy’s prose is brisk and conversational, but every so often she lands on an image or tonal turn that lingers, especially when she writes about Avery’s shame, hunger, or sudden flashes of tenderness. The result is a book that feels light on its feet.
By the end, what stayed with me was the way the novel turns suspicion into a rough kind of community, finally reshaping the secretive Switchback Syndicate into something more open and humane. I finished it feeling that rare cozy-mystery satisfaction of having been entertained, amused, and unexpectedly touched. I’d recommend this to readers who want their mysteries with eccentric town energy, emotional bruises, bookish politics, and a heroine sharp enough to make trouble but vulnerable enough to matter. It’s cozy, but it has more ache in it than that word usually allows.
I liked that Bonnie Hardy understands that charm only works if it has a pulse beneath it. Avery could easily have been written as a stock snarky amateur sleuth, but she isn’t. She’s vain, funny, brittle, lonely, proud, and more wounded than she wants anyone to see. The book gives her room to be messy. I loved the early stretch where she goes from finding a body to being folded into Olivia’s home, standing under a hot shower, eating Sierra Snowcaps, and trying not to cry into her tea. That sequence tells you almost everything about the novel’s emotional register. It knows how to make comfort feel earned. I also found the recurring animal comedy genuinely delightful. Mayor Maguire and Tater Tot add texture and rhythm, the kind of oddball local life that makes Lily Rock feel inhabited.
The argument over what belongs in a library, who gets to decide what children read, and how quickly principle curdles into self-righteousness gives the mystery more bite than I expected. The midnight hot-tub meeting, the burner phones, the bruising fights over “classic” books, and Avery’s half-mocking, half-brilliant fake book-burning proposal all give the novel a sly satirical streak. The dialogue leans into explaining the book’s positions. Still, I’d rather read a mystery that reaches openly for something real than one that stays tidily bloodless. Hardy’s prose is brisk and conversational, but every so often she lands on an image or tonal turn that lingers, especially when she writes about Avery’s shame, hunger, or sudden flashes of tenderness. The result is a book that feels light on its feet.
By the end, what stayed with me was the way the novel turns suspicion into a rough kind of community, finally reshaping the secretive Switchback Syndicate into something more open and humane. I finished it feeling that rare cozy-mystery satisfaction of having been entertained, amused, and unexpectedly touched. I’d recommend this to readers who want their mysteries with eccentric town energy, emotional bruises, bookish politics, and a heroine sharp enough to make trouble but vulnerable enough to matter. It’s cozy, but it has more ache in it than that word usually allows.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Bonnie Hardy’s Dead Drop in Lily Rock drops me into town alongside Avery Denning, sunburned, scruffy, and freshly unmoored after a Palos Verdes fire burns her house down and shoves her onto the Pacific Crest Trail. She’s looking for nothing more complicated than a safe bed for the Fourth of July weekend when she collides with Stella Rawlins’s death at a bright-blue little free library: a rustle in the hedge, a flash, the sulfur bite of a firecracker, and then Stella’s terrible, sudden nothing. What starts as shock hardens into a question Avery can’t put down, especially once the town’s book-obsessed social web (including the Switchback Syndicate, devotees of “older classics” for new readers) begins to look less quaint and more… curated.
I enjoyed the book’s comfort-layering: the setting is cozy, like a mug you can wrap both hands around. Hardy lets the town charm do real work, Mayor Maguire isn’t just “a dog,” he’s a small-time celebrity labradoodle politician on Stella’s bookmarks, a detail so specific it feels lived-in rather than staged. And the dialogue has bite. Officer Janis “Jets” Jets is the kind of cop who’d rather arrest you, eat lunch, and get back to crowd control than listen to anyone emote, and her sarcasm becomes its own local weather system. I was smiling at the brusque tenderness underneath it all: people in Lily Rock needle each other the way families do, affection disguised as a shove.
The second thing that hooked me was how the book treats “a book” not as decoration but as evidence. The recurring children’s title Are You My Mother? isn’t a cute motif. It’s a bruise Stella keeps being forced to touch, tied to adoption and a past she thought she’d settled. When Avery starts finding multiple copies scattered through Stella’s house, it lands as genuinely eerie, like someone has been trying to speak in a language made of paper and repetition. The late-stage revelations snap satisfyingly into place: surveillance footage, a sabotaged “shower deck,” and, finally, an unambiguous face in the after-flash, Cordelia Pratt, firecracker in hand. It’s a clean kind of catharsis, made sharper because the motive lives in obsession and secrecy rather than moustache-twirling villainy.
If you like your mysteries with warmth in the margins, and you don’t mind a little darkness under the bunting, this one’s for you: cozy mystery, small-town mystery, amateur sleuth, bookish mystery, murder mystery. The series framing is right up front (Avery Denning, Lily Rock, Book 1), so it reads like an invitation as much as a standalone case. In spirit, it sits closer to an Agatha Christie village puzzle than a gritty procedural. Dead Drop in Lily Rock shows that a murder mystery can be comforting when the clues feel human, and the town feels real.
I enjoyed the book’s comfort-layering: the setting is cozy, like a mug you can wrap both hands around. Hardy lets the town charm do real work, Mayor Maguire isn’t just “a dog,” he’s a small-time celebrity labradoodle politician on Stella’s bookmarks, a detail so specific it feels lived-in rather than staged. And the dialogue has bite. Officer Janis “Jets” Jets is the kind of cop who’d rather arrest you, eat lunch, and get back to crowd control than listen to anyone emote, and her sarcasm becomes its own local weather system. I was smiling at the brusque tenderness underneath it all: people in Lily Rock needle each other the way families do, affection disguised as a shove.
The second thing that hooked me was how the book treats “a book” not as decoration but as evidence. The recurring children’s title Are You My Mother? isn’t a cute motif. It’s a bruise Stella keeps being forced to touch, tied to adoption and a past she thought she’d settled. When Avery starts finding multiple copies scattered through Stella’s house, it lands as genuinely eerie, like someone has been trying to speak in a language made of paper and repetition. The late-stage revelations snap satisfyingly into place: surveillance footage, a sabotaged “shower deck,” and, finally, an unambiguous face in the after-flash, Cordelia Pratt, firecracker in hand. It’s a clean kind of catharsis, made sharper because the motive lives in obsession and secrecy rather than moustache-twirling villainy.
If you like your mysteries with warmth in the margins, and you don’t mind a little darkness under the bunting, this one’s for you: cozy mystery, small-town mystery, amateur sleuth, bookish mystery, murder mystery. The series framing is right up front (Avery Denning, Lily Rock, Book 1), so it reads like an invitation as much as a standalone case. In spirit, it sits closer to an Agatha Christie village puzzle than a gritty procedural. Dead Drop in Lily Rock shows that a murder mystery can be comforting when the clues feel human, and the town feels real.
May 24, 2026
Are the little free libraries being targeted?
Avery Denning, better known as Elf 2, returns to Lily Rock only to find the body of Stella Rawlins, the lady she is renting a room from, next to her little free library in front of the house. The little free library has been demolished in what looks like an explosion. A firecracker is found under the library. Was Stella just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Avery starts looking into her death and gets pulled into all kinds of trouble. Mayor Maguire, the town’s labradoodle mayor, stays at her side and helps her. Like the other Lily Rock books, this can easily be read as a standalone. It kept my interest from the first page and was a fun read, getting acquainted with Avery and her friends, trying to solve not one but two murders – or were they accidents? And wondering if Avery, a confirmed loner, is going to stay in Lily Rock with all of her new found friends. I am sure you will enjoy this, and all of the Lily Rock books!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Avery Denning, better known as Elf 2, returns to Lily Rock only to find the body of Stella Rawlins, the lady she is renting a room from, next to her little free library in front of the house. The little free library has been demolished in what looks like an explosion. A firecracker is found under the library. Was Stella just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Avery starts looking into her death and gets pulled into all kinds of trouble. Mayor Maguire, the town’s labradoodle mayor, stays at her side and helps her. Like the other Lily Rock books, this can easily be read as a standalone. It kept my interest from the first page and was a fun read, getting acquainted with Avery and her friends, trying to solve not one but two murders – or were they accidents? And wondering if Avery, a confirmed loner, is going to stay in Lily Rock with all of her new found friends. I am sure you will enjoy this, and all of the Lily Rock books!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
August 2, 2026
Great series opener - The victim of a housefire, Avery decided to walk the Pacific Coast Trail to plan her next steps. There's a stop in Lily Rock, her old stomping grounds when she was in school. Stumbling upon the corpse of her would-be hostess on day one was an unwelcome surprise. Being the local sheriff's number one suspect was distressing. Armed with keen powers of observation and the mayoral dog, Avery wandered around town gathering suspects and clues to Stella's demise. When a person of interest also takes his final breath, the stakes ratchet up even higher. The common thread between the two victims - an underground book club. Surely none of the members are so dedicated to their personal reading choices that they'd commit murder. A wonderful cozy that kept in its clutches until the end, the twists and turns making it engrossing and unputdownable. My first trip to Lily Rock, definitely not my last.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
May 8, 2026
a bittersweet return to Lily Rock.
I really enjoy the quirky characters, the Mayor and his fluffy pup affection and presence.
though I am a fan of cozy mysteries, and really enjoy Hardy's Lily Rock adventures, it makes me sad when folks die, or when things get crazy political.
I grew up in a small town, so I know first hand the garden wars, the scandal when the state ag office declared a favored flower a non indigenous species - decades of growth, production, and arrangements, and these crazy outsiders wanted to call their flower basically a weed! literally, calls to supervisors, senators, extended family of the governor went out - total drama.
Lily Rock reflects the community, and the drama, so for me bittersweet.
looking forward to a new addition to the murder magnet and sleuthing gang. ironic, since the losses from the murders make me sad.
a great place to visit, and miss - more unique Lily Rock complexity and simplicity.
I really enjoy the quirky characters, the Mayor and his fluffy pup affection and presence.
though I am a fan of cozy mysteries, and really enjoy Hardy's Lily Rock adventures, it makes me sad when folks die, or when things get crazy political.
I grew up in a small town, so I know first hand the garden wars, the scandal when the state ag office declared a favored flower a non indigenous species - decades of growth, production, and arrangements, and these crazy outsiders wanted to call their flower basically a weed! literally, calls to supervisors, senators, extended family of the governor went out - total drama.
Lily Rock reflects the community, and the drama, so for me bittersweet.
looking forward to a new addition to the murder magnet and sleuthing gang. ironic, since the losses from the murders make me sad.
a great place to visit, and miss - more unique Lily Rock complexity and simplicity.
July 16, 2026
Dead Drop in Lily Rock is a great start to the series. Avery Denning’s house burned down in Palos Verdes, so she went to revisit Lily Rock over the Independence Day weekend since she remembered it as a peaceful mountain town on the Pacific Crest Trail. On her first day back, she found B&B owner Stella dead on the trail by her little tree library. Officer Janis Jets arrived to investigate. The other characters are great; Janis, Olivia, Brad, Meadow the Librarian, Mayor Maguire the Labradoodle, Tater the French bulldog. The recipe at the end of the book was a bonus & everyone liked the Snowcap Cookies when I made them. This is the first book I’ve read by this author, but it won’t be the last since I got a book in another series from Amazon because I like Bonnie Hardy’s writing style. I got this book as an ARC from Book Sprout & am leaving an honest review.
May 3, 2026
loved it !! what a great new/cross over series !! love Avery !!! this is her story... and we get to see regulars of Lily Rock like Officer Janis Jet, Olivia and Brad May... a fun fast paced action murder mystery... Avery is hiking the Pacific Crest trail and she's heading to Lily Rock for the fourth of July weekend... when, she comes across a dead body at a little free library... it's her hostess at the room she booked..! now, a suspect and nowhere to stay... Olivia offers a place to stay.. and she reunites with Brad May... she's got to clear her name and so, she investigates and finds more than she ever thought... this was so good !!!.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
April 14, 2026
Lily Rock Rocks!
I love reading about Lily Rock and all the great characters that make the quirky town come to life. Definitely the sort of town I'd love to visit and get to know everyone. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to others.
I read this book as part of an advance reader team. I am voluntarily writing this review.
I love reading about Lily Rock and all the great characters that make the quirky town come to life. Definitely the sort of town I'd love to visit and get to know everyone. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to others.
I read this book as part of an advance reader team. I am voluntarily writing this review.
May 3, 2026
A amazing series opener, wonderful characters and story setting. Interesting Mystery with great twists and clues. I highly recommend.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
June 22, 2026
In this vividly written story Avery, with the help of her friends, must untangle a twisted plot in order to find the killer. The characters are golden (Mayor Maguire!) and I loved the ending.
A review copy of this book was sent to me by the author. All of the above opinions are my own.
A review copy of this book was sent to me by the author. All of the above opinions are my own.
Did Not Finish
September 26, 2026DNF
Summer book, I'll pick up again later
Summer book, I'll pick up again later
June 21, 2026
An updated Nancy Drew with all the modern toys- cell phones, cars, computers etc. Avery plays right into the descriptive narrative of a young adult in 2026. A bit lost, no responsibility, living on a trust fund, parents too engaged with themselves to even pretend they have child. After two suspicious deaths that Avery was in the proximity of she is alternately a suspect, a witness, a detective who believes she answers to no one including the police. As you read you choice. It has a good story line with a cast of characters that could only live in the alt universe we call California. It was a fun read but it was more 14 than 53. Have read other books from this author that gave a five this one wasn't quite up to the front of the line.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
April 7, 2026
As a teenager, Avery Denning spent some time in Lily Rock, and is remembered for her dressing as an elf at Christmas. Displaced by the Palos Verdes fires, she’s hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and only plans to spend a weekend in town. Her plans are disrupted when she discovers her B&B hostess dead and Officer Janis Jets eying her as a suspect. Put under the care of Olivia Greer, Avery investigates the death and the links to the Switchback Syndicate and their little free libraries. As tensions rise over which books are appropriate, Avery finds herself pulled deeper into Lily Rock’s hidden scandals.
Lily Rock gets a new sleuth with Avery Denning. First introduced in the Welcome to Lily Rock prequel series, Avery is an emotionally damaged soul in need of a place to belong. Her keen observations prove to be an asset to the investigation earning her a literary nickname from Officer Jets. Arriving with a chip on her shoulder and more comfortable with animals than people, she starts to let her guard down as the story progresses. I really loved that her bond with Sparkles the pony remained intact despite her time away. Mayor Maguire provides emotional support as well and Tater Tot’s antics provide comic relief. As with Ms. Hardy’s other books, a societal issue is woven skillfully into the plot, this time surrounding banning books, giving the reader some food for thought. I enjoyed revisiting this complex character and am invested in seeing her growth as this series progresses.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Lily Rock gets a new sleuth with Avery Denning. First introduced in the Welcome to Lily Rock prequel series, Avery is an emotionally damaged soul in need of a place to belong. Her keen observations prove to be an asset to the investigation earning her a literary nickname from Officer Jets. Arriving with a chip on her shoulder and more comfortable with animals than people, she starts to let her guard down as the story progresses. I really loved that her bond with Sparkles the pony remained intact despite her time away. Mayor Maguire provides emotional support as well and Tater Tot’s antics provide comic relief. As with Ms. Hardy’s other books, a societal issue is woven skillfully into the plot, this time surrounding banning books, giving the reader some food for thought. I enjoyed revisiting this complex character and am invested in seeing her growth as this series progresses.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews