Sarah Lotz

After the untimely death of her bestselling crime novelist mother, a young woman teams up with the fictional "ghost" of the heroine from her mother's series in order to solve her mother's murder. After the tragic death of bestselling crime writer Annie Morrisey, her daughter, Niamh, moves into her mother's country cottage to take care of her mother's estate. Shut away from the world, Niamh doesn't actually have to deal with the grief of her mother's untimely passing.
Until the day that two things happen: the advance copy of her mother's final book lands on the doorstep and Leah Rebecca Overton appears in the kitchen. Having a stranger show up in your house would be concerning at the best of times, but Leah isn't a stranger-she's the ultra-competent sleuth heroine from Annie's novels. The antithesis of Niamh in every way, she's lived in the fictitious character's shadow for years.
But why (and how) has Leah turned up now? And why can only Niamh see her? Leah is the last thing Niamh wants in her house or in her head, but she can't ignore the sleuth...especially when Leah suspects there may have been more to Annie's death than first suspected.