Books by Jill Brown
The Ellen Douglas Mystery Series
Small-town Indiana. A quiet retiree with an investigator’s instincts. Secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Book One. Available now
Murder in Cascade
An Ellen Douglas Mystery
All Ellen Douglas wanted was a quiet autumn walk through Cascade Park with her dog Louisa. What she found there is something she never wanted to see.
Recently retired from a long career as an investigator, Ellen thought small-town Indiana would be the gentle next chapter she’d been hoping for. Long mornings on the trail. Coffee at the corner diner. Quiet afternoons in the home she shares with the memory of her late husband.
But beneath the rust-colored leaves and the friendly waves of Cascade’s tight-knit residents, something is hidden. Something that someone, somewhere, would rather stay buried.
Ellen has spent her whole career listening to her instincts, and her instincts are humming. The closer she looks, the more questions she finds. A name that doesn’t quite fit. A story that doesn’t quite hold. And the quiet certainty that someone in Cascade is hiding something.
Some secrets won’t stay buried. And some retirees aren’t quite ready to retire.
Welcome to Cascade. The first Ellen Douglas Mystery is just beginning.
Where to buy
- Get the book
- Buy the Kindle ebook
- Audiobook coming
Order a signed paperback, plus retailer links and local bookstore ordering, on the order page.
Reading it already? Add it to your shelf or leave a review on Goodreads. Early reviews help new readers find Cascade.
Book Two. Coming October 20, 2026
An Accidental Murder
An Ellen Douglas Mystery
The Cascade Christmas Festival is days away, and Ellen Douglas has her hands full dressing the window at Someone Else’s Closet. Then a car comes roaring through the intersection, misses her old friend Kay Price by inches, and speeds off into the December afternoon.
Kay is shaken but alive. That’s the good news. The bad news is that this isn’t her first close call. A friend killed in an accident. A house fire. A car whose steering failed at the worst possible moment. Taken one at a time, every one of them could be bad luck. Taken together, Ellen has stopped believing in luck.
With Louisa at her side, Tom finally settling into life in Cascade, and Chief Andrews reluctantly admitting she was right the last time, Ellen starts asking questions. Who wants Kay out of the way, and what are they looking for? The answers reach back to a death nobody called murder, and forward to a festival where the whole town will be gathered in one place.
Some accidents aren’t. And this retiree has learned to trust her gut.
Set in a small Indiana town in the weeks before Christmas, An Accidental Murder is a cozy mystery for readers who like their sleuths sensible, their dogs loyal, and their villains hiding in plain sight among the holiday lights. Expect old friends, new neighbors, a consignment shop full of secondhand secrets, and a puzzle that Ellen solves with instinct and stubbornness rather than a badge.
An Accidental Murder is Book 2 in the Ellen Douglas Mysteries. Each book stands on its own, but readers who start with Murder in Cascade will know why the Chief listens now.
Where to buy
Signed paperbacks are $14.99 plus shipping, with free local pickup or hand delivery. Signed copies ship on or after October 20, 2026; Kindle preorders deliver the same day.
A promise
More mysteries on the way.
The Ellen Douglas series is just getting started. Cascade keeps a lot of secrets.