1. Why does Isabella choose Kate as the target for her apparitions? Is it conscious on Isabella’s part, or is the apparition there for everyone, but only visible to Kate? Who else might Isabella have tried to communicate with?

2. Victims of abuse often re-create the patterns of abusive relationships with new partners, even after they break ties with their primary abusers. Does Kate do this with Caleb? If so, how? What parallels do you see between Kate’s relationship with Caleb and Mary-Katie’s with Miles? What are the major differences?

3. At what point does Sheriff Delaney realize or decide that Kate is telling the truth? How does the attraction he feels for her interfere with his ability to take Kate seriously?

4. Isabella Moon is about secrets kept and secrets revealed. What big secrets remain kept at the end of the book? Will they stay secret, or will they too inevitably be revealed in time?

5. One of the secrets that remains at the end of the book is the true nature of the relationship between Francie and Paxton. What do they really represent to each other? How does this change over the course of the book?

6. Several characters in Isabella Moon have experiences that blur the lines between the perceived and the real, between the natural and the supernatural. One of these experiences is what happens to Lillian at the moment of her death; what is this? Does her killer experience what she sees and feels?

7. At what point did you understand the relationship between Kate and Mary-Katie? If Kate had not seen Isabella, would she have been able to live a “normal” new life in Carystown? Why or why not?

8. Although one particular person kills Isabella, and one particular person kills Lillian, responsibility for those deaths ripples throughout Carystown. Who else bears responsibility for these deaths, and why?

9. At the end of the book, is justice served? If not, what should have happened? Why does Bill Delaney retire? Does Janet really change? Is redemption possible without retribution, or are some punishments more appropriate than legal ones?

10. And last but not least, where does Kate go?