Two things were not on Stephanie’s color-coded schedule: a murder scene and a detective who made her forget how sentences work.
She has a system for life: keys go in the bowl, shoes go in the closet, lavender goes in the diffuser, and emotional chaos is not allowed past the front door.
Then she finds her apartment manager murdered in the stairwell.
Now her spotless world has a crime scene in it, her goldendoodle may be in danger, and the detective is the sort of man no amount of lavender can make less distracting.
Detective Mark Wellborn notices everything.
The things moved in her apartment.
The white van that keeps reappearing.
The fear Stephanie tries to organize into something manageable.
And her.
The more Mark tries to protect her, the harder it is to pretend he is only part of the investigation. He is comfort when her world feels unsafe, complication when she needs control, and entirely too good at making her feel seen.
But Mark is also the detective on her case.
Until the murder is solved, every look has to stay professional. Every almost-touch has to become nothing. And every feeling Stephanie cannot file away becomes one more thing she is absolutely not allowed to want.
Someone is invading the safest corners of her life, and the murder in the stairwell was only the beginning.
The Lavender Thief is a clean, romantic comedy suspense with cozy mystery twists, essential oils, murder, mishaps, a lovable goldendoodle, and one detective who sees far more than Stephanie wants him to.
She has spent her whole life getting everything exactly right. The question is whether she is brave enough to let it all go wonderfully, beautifully, sideways.
