beginning of a Cozy mystery combined with historical fiction. let me know what you think…

Title: The Ashes of Palm Coast

Chapter One: Secrets Beneath the Soil

In the humid stillness of a Palm Coast evening, Winsome Ellison closed her bookstore, Stories Unbound. The shop, filled with historical novels and rare Florida manuscripts, was her pride — and her refuge. At 52, Winsome had settled into her quiet life of selling books, sipping hibiscus tea, and occasionally solving a local mystery.

She never imagined she’d uncover a murder tied to a centuries-old secret.

It began with a discovery. A local historian, Dr. Amelia Hawthorne, had contacted Winsome about an artifact she’d uncovered on the grounds of the old plantation ruins — charred remnants of the Coquina House, burned during the Seminole Wars. Winsome, always intrigued by history, agreed to meet her there the following morning.

Dr. Hawthorne didn’t show up.

Instead, Winsome found her lifeless body sprawled beneath a centuries-old live oak, a small shovel in one hand and a leather-bound journal in the other.

“Not again,” Winsome whispered, her chest tightening. The last time she’d stumbled upon a body, it had taken her weeks to sleep soundly. But Winsome’s inquisitive mind…