© 2026 Jonathan Cook
Novels, prequel stories, and bonus content
Handler’s Inventory — Book 1
Some inheritances come with instructions. Some come with warnings.
When Tom Salk inherits his uncle’s estate sale business in a small Illinois river town, he expects dusty furniture and old paperwork. Instead, he finds a coded ledger, a warehouse full of objects that shouldn’t exist, and a community that knows more about his uncle’s work than they’re willing to say. The first full-length novel in the Handler’s Inventory series.
Free companion stories available to newsletter subscribers.
A Handler’s Inventory Prequel · ~9,000 words
Summer, 1984. Twelve-year-old Tom Salk spends a week with his Uncle Harlan in a small Illinois river town, sorting inventory in a warehouse full of other people’s things. One brass candlestick feels different from the rest — warmer, heavier, present in a way he can’t explain. Harlan notices. He doesn’t explain it either.
“It sat in my hand with a seriousness that the other candlesticks hadn’t had, as if it had opinions about being held and was concentrating on them.”
A Handler’s Inventory Bonus Story · ~6,000 words
You’ve read the dampening scene through Tom’s eyes. Now hear it through Mo’s — the expert on the other end of the phone, listening to a man she trained attempt the most dangerous procedure she’s ever witnessed, with three weeks of practice where her mentor had forty years. A story about skilled hands with nothing to do, fear managed through discipline, and the cost of staying on the line.
“The specific restlessness of skilled hands denied their function.”
Available to newsletter subscribers who’ve finished Book 1. Contains spoilers.
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