The Crescent Motel

After surviving bartering chaos, storm-shut murder investigations, and a revenge plot served colder than canned beans, Darrell Riley thinks he finally has a handle on running the Crescent Motel. The power still flickers, supplies still run thin, but the survivors who’ve stuck around are beginning to feel like a mismatched family. Even Bruno—formerly retired police dog, currently the motel’s anxious head of security—has started sleeping through some nights.

But peace never lasts long at the end of the world. A new guest arrives under mysterious circumstances, carrying information about a group moving west— a group that’s been quietly taking over isolated safe havens like the Crescent Motel. Their message is simple: join them, or be erased.

When a second stranger appears with a different story—and a warning that turns Bruno downright frantic— Darrell finds himself caught between two versions of the truth. And somewhere in the middle is a secret about the Crescent Motel itself… one his Aunt Betty never had time to tell him before the world fell apart.

The past has come knocking—and it wants the whole motel.

As tensions rise, loyalties fracture, and old rooms reveal new dangers, Darrell must protect his home, his people, and the found family he never expected to have. With Nance at his side, Bruno on high alert, and a storm building on the horizon, the Crescent Motel becomes the battleground for what remains of their world.

A cozy apocalypse mystery with escalating stakes

A new threat tied to the motel’s forgotten history

Bruno’s instincts sharper—and more desperate—than ever

A final twist that redefines what the Crescent Motel really is

The Crescent Motel is the gripping third installment of the Motel at the End of the World series—a warm, witty, neon-lit mystery where every guest brings a new complication, and every door conceals a story waiting to light up the night.