December 2nd 2025
The Gallagher Place
Pre-order Now
A layered exploration of family secrets, sibling misconceptions, and an unsolved murder in this chilling debut set in New York's Dutchess County.
When Marlowe Fisher, an illustrator living in New York City, returns to her family's bewitching Hudson Valley home for the holidays, she discovers a body in the woods--a murder that draws her back into the haunting case of her teenage best friend's disappearance two decades earlier. What happened to Nora?
As police descend on the sprawling Fisher property, Marlowe is pulled into an investigation that threatens to unravel the town's fragile loyalties and expose the shadowed legacy of a weekend home steeped in secrets. Marlowe must confront the fallibility of her own memory and the feeling that everyone--including her brothers--is hiding something if she's to uncover the shocking truth about her lost friend. In this gripping debut, Julie Doar delivers a chilling mystery that explores the corrosive power of silence and the tension of family secrets.
“The narrative culminates in a heartbreaking finale that will haunt readers long after the final page is turned. Doar nails it on her first time out.”
“Gothic and twisty! Don’t miss it.”
Events
December 3
Julie Doar and Zibby Owens at Bibliotheque!
5:30pm-7:30pm
Bibliotheque
New York, NY
December 4
The White Hart Speaker Series: Julie Doar, The Gallagher Place
6:30pm-7:30pm
The White Hart
Salisbury, CT
About the author
Julie Doar grew up in New York. As a child, she loved to imagine the abandoned barns and rolling countryside of the Hudson Valley were haunted. She has three brothers who have always made her life interesting. She attended Rice University for undergrad and studied English. After graduation, she spent her twenties moving from Texas to San Francisco to Chicago, and then eventually back to Brooklyn. She's worked as a cold-calling Sales Rep, a Starbucks barista, and a romance novel ghostwriter. Currently, she is a middle school English teacher.