★Munier, Paula. Home at Night. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Mercy Carr, Bk. 5). Oct. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781250887894. $29. M

Mercy Carr’s recent marriage to game warden Troy Warner means she’s now trying to squeeze five people, two large dogs, and a cat into her small cabin. When she hears that the larger Grackle Tree Farm is going on the market, she’s eager to tour the property. The Victorian manor has always been considered haunted by the locals, including Mercy, who accepted a dare to spend the night there when she was in middle school and the house was owned by poet Euphemia Whitney-Jones, whose secrets have been protected by a caretaker for 50 years. When Mercy and Troy tour the property, they find a dead man in one of the rooms. Mercy returns with her dog Elvis and Troy’s mentor, but the trio is ambushed, leaving Captain Thrasher in critical condition, and Mercy on crutches. She’s still determined to find secrets, despite threats from poets and local druids, who claim an interest in the mysterious property. VERDICT The fifth Mercy Carr mystery (following The Wedding Plot) combines Halloween, a gothic house, two working dogs, and environmental issues in a superb mystery that emphasizes the search for home.