Selling real estate is hard enough, as anyone who has ever bought or sold a house can agree. Everyone is emotional and stressful, and it’s an exhausting, whirlwind experience for the buyers, sellers and agents that can go on for months. Throw a dead body and a foul-mouthed parrot into the mix and you can see why real estate agent Maddie Banks is having a tough day…

When real estate power broker Charles Madison Banks III arrives in Possum Hollow to settle her aunt’s estate, she expects it to be a quick in and out transaction. Maddie can’t wait to get back to civilization in the Big Apple, where she routinely strikes fear into the hearts of other realtors as her father’s namesake and right hand “man”. But she’s burned out and bone tired from a lifetime of only ever being as good as her last deal. In spite of the lack of basic amenities like a convenient Starbucks, the quaint town works its sleepy magic, and suddenly a few weeks in the country sounds like the perfect break.

She takes on all her aunt’s clients, plus her foul-mouthed parrot, and dodges her father’s phone calls demanding her return to New York. Bohemian Aunt Sadie was the only one in her frigid family that scrappy, scarred Maddie could ever relate to, and the memories of summers she spent in Possum Hollow as a child remind her of when life was simple and acceptance unconditional.

When one of those clients is murdered, Maddie is determined to track down the killer. Perhaps the culprit is one of the many colorful characters in Possum Hollow, or maybe the death is connected to the limited liability company that is buying up all the available land. Rumors swirl of a mall development that would destroy the character of Possum Hollow and Maddie is convinced that the mysterious Australian recluse Jack Smith is behind it.

Before she realizes what’s happening, she’s fallen in love. With a town. And when the historic River’s Bend Inn goes up for auction to make way for the access road to the mall, she jumps in with both feet in a bidding war against Jack Smith. Maddie must defy her father’s ultimatum, risk her entire life savings and perhaps put herself next on the killer’s list to save the only place she has ever felt at home. She doesn’t know if she will be able to pull off the biggest deal of her life, but she knows one thing for sure: Selling real estate can be murder.