The Meridian of Murder

Every ending is also a beginning. Every map eventually leads home.Maren Cole has faced curses, rescued the lost from impossible realms, exposed century-old massacres, and sealed doorways to hungry darkness. She's found love, built a family of choice, and become the mapmaker Thistle Harbor never knew it needed. Now, with her wedding to Silas Thorne just weeks away, she's ready for something she's never truly had: peace.Then the murders begin.Three bodies in three days, each bearing identical symbols carved into their skin. The victims have nothing in common—a fisherman, a tourist, a reclusive artist—except for one thing: they all visited Cole's Cartography in the week before their deaths. Someone is killing Maren's clients, and the symbols match an ancient magical language she's never seen before. The sheriff's investigation points in one direction: toward Maren herself.For the first time, she's not just solving a mystery. She's the prime suspect.The killer knows things no one should know. Details about the founding families' secrets. Information about the In-Between, the Salthollow massacre, the Threshold beneath Mirrorlake. Someone has been watching Thistle Harbor's magical community for years, documenting everything, preparing for something. And at the center of their obsession is Meridian—Maren's mysterious cat companion whose origins have never been explained.The truth about Meridian will change everything Maren thinks she knows.As the body count rises and suspicion tightens around her, Maren must unravel a conspiracy that predates her birth. The killer isn't just targeting her clients—they're trying to complete a ritual that will tear open every sealed doorway, every protected boundary, every carefully maintained ward in Thistle Harbor. They want to let everything in. And they need Meridian's blood to do it.To save her home, her family, and the companion who has been with her since the beginning, Maren will have to become more than a mapmaker. She'll have to map the killer's mind—and face the possibility that some of what they believe might be true.The final mystery. The ultimate truth. And a wedding that will happen—if anyone survives.The Meridian of Murder is the thrilling conclusion to The Mapmaker's Magic series—bringing together every thread, every character, and every secret for a finale that celebrates found family, hard-won love, and the magic of knowing exactly where you belong.