If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be spending my mornings arguing with a dead influencer, I’d have laughed and gone back to my desk. I had a good job then—editor at Faros Publishing, in Athens, where nobody crossed themselves when I walked past. For the past week, I’ve opened a ledger that tells me the same thing in red ink: Agistri, my father’s taverna, is drowning. And my father, recovering from hip surgery, has entrusted me with keeping it afloat.
I’m Anastasia Livanitis. I run Agistri on Lifnos, a small island in the Cyclades. I never wanted to return and have everyone up in my business again. I certainly never wanted to run the place. But Dad can’t, so here I am, wrangling the staff and working a room the way he did—table to table, heading off complaints before they turn into problems.
Some days I even manage it. Other days a ferry pulls out of the bay and I stand on the balcony and beg it to come back for me.
The locals have decided I’m trouble. They smile to my face and call me a Turkish witch behind my back, which would sting less if it was completely unfounded. You see, my grandmother’s family has a reputation. There are whispers about the Andrianou women and what they can supposedly do. I’ve never believed a word of it. Real life doesn’t come with foreshadowing, I used to say.
That was before the seagulls, and the cloud that shouldn’t be there, and the woman on the beach.
Her name is Frieda Baron. In life, she was a difficult customer with an infamous father and a talent for making a room feel small. In death, she is worse, because now only I can see her, and she has decided her murder is my problem to solve. She follows me. She grades everything—from the decor to my love life. She threatens to make the car crash if I don’t talk to her. I would very much like to explain to Sergeant Botsaris why I keep talking to the air, but “the victim isn’t all the way dead and won’t be quiet” is not a statement he’d write down.
So that’s my day. Frappé with Nikos, ledgers I can’t fix, an island that doesn’t trust me, and a ghost who refuses to leave until I give her justice. I keep waiting to wake up back in Athens. I’m starting to think I won’t.
SPIRITS AND WHINE
Series: A Lifnos Cozy Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Release: July 2026
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
Anastasia Livanitis doesn’t believe in ghosts. Then she meets one who believes in her.
Two months on Lifnos. That was the plan. Run Agistri, the family taverna, while her dad recovers from hip surgery, serve the grilled feta, and get back to her real life in Athens.
That lasted about a week…
A billionaire’s daughter turns up dead after a very public argument with Anastasia—and worse, Anastasia can still see her. Frieda Baron in death is what she was in life: loud, opinionated, and famous for it—except she can’t remember who killed her. A dream sidekick, obviously.
Most locals already think her family dabbles in the dark arts. The charming new sergeant thinks she’s hiding something. And icing on the cake? Frieda’s ruthless father wants an arrest, not the truth—and he’s rich enough to get one.
The deeper Anastasia digs, the clearer it gets: someone here would rather she end up like Frieda.
Can she crack the case under the hot Greek sun? Or will she continue the family tradition of being blamed for everything that goes wrong on Lifnos?
Meet the author
Lisa Troy (www.seaembersbooks.com) is a Greek author based in Greece, where she spent fifteen years working in banking before giving writing her full attention. She has been dabbling in storytelling since elementary school—though it took a while to admit that dabbling wasn’t enough.
She writes paranormal cozy mysteries set on a fictional Greek island, where the food is good, the gossip travels fast, and the dead occasionally have something to say. When she isn’t writing, she is probably drinking coffee and arguing with a plot hole.