Paste & Promises : The Price of Truth: A Petra Woods Mystery: 7

PASTE & PROMISES: THE COST OF TRUTH When her RV overheats on the climb toward Colorado's Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel - the highest point on the entire Interstate System - gemstone authenticator Petra Woods finds herself stranded for a week in Georgetown, a small, postcard-perfect Victorian mining town she never meant to visit. With her cat Sedona, her dogs Rocky and Mica, and nothing but time on her hands, Petra wanders into a downtown antique shop and picks up an heirloom brooch consigned from a local estate - a lovely old piece, set with what should be a fine amethyst. It isn't. The stone is a well-made fake, swapped in for the real thing decades ago and never once questioned. For Petra, that's reason enough to look closer. For Elara Vance, the woman selling her late grandmother's estate, it's the first thread in a knot she's spent her whole life sensing but never been able to name - an absent father, a story that never quite held together, and a grandmother who guarded her privacy like a fortress. What Petra and Elara uncover reaches back nearly fifty years, to a small town that offered little mercy to a frightened sixteen-year-old, a lawyer who has kept one secret his entire career, and a lie so carefully built it became indistinguishable from the truth. There's no crime left to prosecute. What's at stake now is only the truth - and whether Elara is ready for what it costs. Cozy, character-driven, and grounded in real Colorado history, Paste & Promises is the seventh installment in the Petra Woods Mystery series - perfect for readers who love a gentle mystery with real heart, real stakes, and a little bit of gemstone magic.