A woman is given a second chance after death, but at what cost?

Amidst the dark and scary stories of this coming season, Jenn Chapman’s debut psychological thriller, "Dying for a Second Chance," stands out for its acute portrayal of the human spirit — and its determination to keep on living.

One dark and stormy night, a horrible car accident takes the life of young Marie Harper, leaving her 6-month-old daughter, Heather, orphaned. But Marie isn’t actually dead; after begging God to let her live and be with her baby girl, Marie wakes up in the body of Jessica Wilson, the passenger in the other car.

Jessica is married to the one man Marie never wanted to see again: James. The man who raped her. Heather’s biological father. Now her sole living relative, James (known as Jimmy) takes custody of Heather. And if Marie wants to be with her little girl, she must pretend to be Jessica.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Rodney Kills On Top, the lead investigator on the car wreck, begins putting pieces together and thinks Marie is linked to a serial killer case going back years. He quickly begins to suspect Jimmy as the killer, but something’s off.

Enlisting the aid of an old friend, Rod researches Jimmy’s past and uncovers a gruesome secret.

Jimmy claims to love Jessica — but a monster lurks underneath, and proves she may be in more trouble than she realizes.

Part of what gives Dying for a Second Chance such real depth is its inclusion of various spiritual beliefs and practices, particularly that of North American native tribes and the Baha’i faith. Chapman drew on her own personal experiences to flush out these characters, including her own Baha’i beliefs and her time spent with Indigenous populations in Washington State and North Dakota.

But Chapman pulled even more inspiration from her real life in the creation of Jimmy/James. According to her bio,...