A New York Times bestselling mystery series.


​Lila Wilkins is a 45-year-old unemployed journalist working as an intern at a Novel Idea literary agency, in the utopian town of Inspiration Valley, North Carolina.


The first three books in the series were  co-authored by Sylvia May and Ellery Adams


Book 1: Buried in a Book

Book 2: Every Trick in the Book

Book 3: Books, Cooks, and Crooks




Sometimes walking away from your life is the only way to find yourself. 


Lydia’s vacation on Hyde Island turns into a journey of self-discovery. The island so entices her that she decides to stay, forsaking her family and obligations in Toronto. Her new life on the lush green island is peopled with interesting characters: a hippy scientist, a dashing Southern gentleman, an unsavoury boss, and an undocumented Mexican hotel maid with a sad history. As Lydia makes one questionable choice after another, she soon begins to understand why she so easily succumbed to Hyde Island’s lure.


​(read an excerpt...)

The first 3 books in the series, co-authored by Sylvia May and Ellery Adams, were on the New York Times Bestselling List.

The Unraveling of Abby Settel received an Honorable Mention from  the  2011 Reader Views Literary Awards.

Breathing Space received a 4.5 star review from Long and Short Reviews

Sylvia May ​

Change can make you come undone.


Abby's well-ordered life is falling apart. Her son’s behaviour is worrying, her aging parents are deteriorating, and her husband loses his job. He finds a new position that compels them to move hundreds of miles away, where Abby is plagued by guilt and loneliness. When she discovers a group of women facing similar challenges, together they seek a way out of their unhappiness.

A story of midlife reinvention, letting go to embrace the present, and the importance of friends.


(read an excerpt...)