When Mara Vale returns to Bellwether, Maine, to sell her late aunt’s weather-beaten house, she expects paperwork—not a lantern that remembers.

Every Halloween, the coastal town lights twelve lanterns for the stories it refuses to forget. The forbidden thirteenth flickers with a memory of the night Mara’s father vanished—and a truth no one has been willing to tell.

As the first snow falls and Christmas draws near, Mara follows a trail of salt-stained journals, old lighthouse recordings, and a childhood friend who knows more than he admits. With the lighthouse facing sale, she must decide whether some secrets are safer left in the dark—or whether the stories we keep can still bring us home.

The Thirteenth Lantern is an atmospheric seasonal mystery about grief, memory, and the courage to return—featuring a windswept Maine setting, gentle supernatural touches, and a mystery that bridges Halloween and Christmas.

Light the thirteenth lantern—and discover what the town forgot.