A Landmark in the Lake - A Mapmaker's Magic Cozy Paranormal Mystery

Vanda C. Blackmer

Publisher: BookRix

Summary

Some secrets sink to the bottom. Some refuse to stay buried.Maren Cole has weathered storms both literal and magical. She's solved murders, rescued the lost, exposed a founding family massacre, and discovered her own dual heritage as both Cole mapmaker and sea-witch descendant. With Thistle Harbor finally healing from its dark past, Maren is ready for something simpler—maybe even a vacation.Then Jasper Holloway walks into her shop, trembling and desperate.For generations, Jasper's family has guarded Mirrorlake, a remote body of water in the hills above Thistle Harbor. The Holloways don't talk about what lies beneath the surface—they just ensure it stays there. But something has changed. The water is warming. Strange lights glow at night. And last week, Jasper's grandmother walked into the lake at midnight and hasn't been seen since. The Holloways have kept their secret for two hundred years. Now it's waking up, and Jasper doesn't know how to stop it.Maren's maps reveal what Jasper's family has hidden: a landmark at the bottom of Mirrorlake that shouldn't exist.An entire village rests beneath the waters—deliberately flooded, magically preserved, waiting. The village of Thornhaven was drowned in 1824 to contain something dangerous: a doorway to a realm of hungry, formless entities that feed on memory and identity. The Holloways were tasked with guarding the waters, maintaining the seal. But the seal is breaking. The entities are seeping through. And they've already taken Jasper's grandmother.Now Maren must dive into waters darker than the ocean, face creatures that consume the self, and solve a mystery that predates Thistle Harbor itself.With Silas, Cordelia, and an unlikely team of allies, Maren will discover that some landmarks aren't meant to be found—they're meant to be forgotten for good reason. But forgetting isn't the same as destroying. And if Maren can't find a way to repair the seal, everything she loves—every memory, every identity, every person she's fought to protect—will be swallowed by the hungry dark beneath the lake.The water is rising. The seal is breaking. And something very old is very, very hungry.A Landmark in the Lake is the fourth book in The Mapmaker's Magic series—perfect for fans of cozy paranormal mysteries that venture into darker waters while keeping the warmth of found family, loyal companions, and love that anchors us when everything else is lost.

Available since: 02/18/2026.

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