Paper Tiger

A paper tiger. A body hidden inside. A past someone is desperate to rewrite.

Traditional papermaker Lauren Fuller is settling into the life she has made in Thornwood when she and her friend Anja are hired to help restore a spectacular illuminated paper tiger at Aurelia Gardens, a conservatory attraction in Niagara Falls.

The tiger was once Aurelia's signature creation. Now its paper is failing, its lighting is ageing, and the artists who made it no longer agree on whose work it really was.

Then Lauren finds Aurelia's magnetic co-founder, Celia Marconi, concealed inside the tiger's hollow body.

The murder leaves behind no simple trail. Nearly everyone at Aurelia was keeping something from Celia: money moved without permission, plants hidden from inspection, an unauthorised project, stolen records, old resentment over lost credit. And beneath those present-day secrets lies an accident from the tiger's original construction that someone has spent years trying to explain away.

To uncover what happened, Lauren must read the physical history of the tiger itself: torn tissue, disturbed layers, old patterns, changing labels, and the difference between how something was meant to be built and what was actually done.

With blunt, practical Anja beside her, librarian Vera Kwan following the paper trail, and Detective Constable Hailey Roberts testing every conclusion, Lauren is drawn into a mystery of shared work, buried responsibility, and the dangerous consequences of letting one person decide how the past will be remembered.

Paper Tiger is the second book in the Thornwood Mysteries Folio, a warm, fair-play cozy mystery of papermaking, practical crafts, hidden histories, and the complicated people behind beautiful things. This mystery is complete and can be read on its own. Perfect for fans of Kate Carlisle, Ellery Adams, and Sheila Connolly.