Lazarus Manor

A darkly funny gothic romantic thriller about false identities, buried records, second-chance love, and the dangerous difference between protection and control.

The records say they are dead. The kitchen says otherwise.

Nora has always trusted numbers more than people. Then she loses her accounting job for refusing to approve a lie—and inherits a mountain estate built on thousands of them.

Hidden in Andorra, Lazarus Manor operates publicly as an exclusive residential club. Privately, it shelters people who have been declared legally dead.

Their accounts remain active.

Their rooms remain occupied.

Their old identities must never be found.

Nora arrives intending to audit the inheritance and leave. Instead, she discovers concealed tunnels, impossible financial records, obsolete technology designed to avoid surveillance, a criminal pigeon, a dangerously theatrical chef, and Nick Anderson—the first man she ever loved.

Except Nick Anderson is now called Declan Anders.

He has been alive for seven years.

And he knows why the Manor has been waiting for her.

As Nora begins separating the house’s protective lies from its dangerous ones, a discrepancy appears in the prison record of Wade Tolland, the abusive former partner she helped convict. His status says unchanged. The supporting data says something else.

Then a frightened woman arrives through the Manor’s mercy network carrying a legitimate identity surrounded by corrupted records.

Someone has found the road to Lazarus Manor.

To protect its hidden residents, Nora must trust the evidence, confront the man who once controlled her, and decide whether Declan can stand beside her without taking away her choices.

Because some lies create cages.

Others create bridges.

And at Lazarus Manor, death is only the door.

Perfect for readers who enjoy:

• Gothic estates filled with secrets

• Investigation-driven mysteries

• Intelligent, competent heroines

• Slow-burn second-chance romance

• Found families of damaged, dangerous, deeply funny people

• Institutional conspiracies and identity manipulation

• Dark humor beside genuine emotional stakes

• Trauma-aware romance built on consent and accountability