The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Krause, Suzy. Sorry I Missed You. Lake Union Publishing, 2020. Kindle Edition.

A third person narrator who switches between four different central characters tells the story of Maude, Mackenzie, Sunna, and Larry. The novel begins with three “Ghosting Stories.” Maude was an elderly woman who was engaged to be married to Richard. After a whole life spent alone, Maude retired from her job at a flower shop and realized she was lonely. She had met the widower at a singles speed dating event and fallen in love with him. He treated her like she was the love of his life, but on the day of their wedding he never showed up. She called him to find out what had happened, but he was drunk and told her he had cold feet, then laughed and hung up. She never heard from him again. Mackenzie was thirteen when her sister Tanya snuck out at night to meet up with friends. Mackenzie never saw her again. Sunna met her best friend, Brett, in college. The two girls were inseparable until Brett became a famous Instagram influencer. One day, they got in a giant fight about Sunna being jealous and Brett being fake. They continued to see one another once a week for coffee because neither of them wanted to be the one to have to end things, but then Brett simply stopped showing up to their coffee date.

Seven years later, Larry’s aunt, Rebecca Finley died and left her haunted house to Larry. The house came with several stipulations that had been mandated by the ghosts of the house: Larry was not allowed to sell the house, play punk music in the house, or plant flowers in the yard. Larry truly believed in the ghosts because he had heard and seen them throughout his childhood, so he did not want to disobey their orders. He did not want to put up with all of their rules, either, so he decided to divide the house into three suites and rent it out. He met a girl he thought was very cute and asked her for her number. She laughed and he ran away.

Sunna, Mackenzie, and Maude all moved into their new house. Larry had forgotten to install three separate mailboxes, so all their mail went to the same box. One day, a mysterious letter arrived. It had been torn and was halfway illegible, but it seemed that someone was trying to reach one of them and apologize for something. The letter suggested a meeting at Paper Cup in the afternoon, but the date had been destroyed. Mackenzie and Maude decided that they would go to the café every day in the hopes that their own personal ghost had been the one who had written the note.

One morning, someone called in a bomb threat to the art gallery downtown where Larry worked as a janitor. Sunna’s work was cancelled, so she decided to go to Paper Cup and see if Brett would be there. Mackenzie told the other two that she thought the note might be from her high school boyfriend, Jared, who had ghosted her after he graduated. Sunna told everyone about Brett, but Maude refused to tell the women who she was waiting for.

Someone continued to make bomb threats against the art museum. The police came to Larry’s work to question him and he was put on temporary leave because he was the main suspect in the bomb threats.

Strange things started to happen around the house. Maude’s refrigerator was emptied overnight. Mackenzie’s shoes went missing and later turned up in Sunna’s room. At Paper Cup, Maude started crying when she saw a happy older couple. She explained what had happened with Richard and Mackenzie comforted her. Back at home, strange noises seemed to be coming from the attic. Maude told them that the noise was from the ghosts in the attic.

Mackenzie’s father called and told her that the police were reopening her sister’s case. She told Sunna and Maude about the case, but then Maude looked it up and found out that twin sisters Kate and Tanya had disappeared. Tanya had died, but Kate was still missing. Maude began to suspect that Mackenzie was actually Kate and that she had killed her sister, Tanya.

Sunna and Mackenzie snuck into Maude’s room while Maude was outside smoking to investigate the strange noises. Maude caught them and was furious. The next morning, she accused them of stealing her rings, but then she found them in her purse. Mackenzie and Sunna went to Paper Cup alone and ran into Jared, who was dating a medical student. Mackenzie realized he had not written the letter. Her coworker, Grant, asked her out on a date, and she agreed. The police cleared Larry and told him that the threatening phone calls were being traced to his rental house.

Maude lost her hat and the three housemates went to Paper Cup. They opened the newspaper and saw a picture of a woman wearing Maude’s house buying a cell phone. The article said that the woman was wanted in connection with the bomb threats. Sunna convinced Maude to call Richard and get closure whether or not he wrote the letter. Maude agreed and called Richard. They set up a date to meet.

Mackenzie tried to go out with Grant, but she threw up and ran back inside because she was too afraid. Maude went to Sunna with more wild theories about Mackenzie. Sunna went to Mackenzie and asked her for the truth. Mackenzie explained that her parents had kept her name out of the newspapers to protect her when her older twin sisters disappeared. Mackenzie had known who her sisters were meeting, but she did not want to tell her parents because she was angry with them for ditching her and because Jared, who had thrown a party that night, had asked her to keep quiet. Mackenzie had never told her parents the truth. Her father called again and told her that Kate had been found dead, too.

Back home, Sunna and Mackenzie went with Maude to meet Richard. He apologized and begged for forgiveness. The housemates went home to check the attic and see if there was a secret door. They found one and called the police at the same time two officers were being dispatched to take Maude in for questioning about the bomb threats. All four officers arrived at once. They checked the attic and found Rebecca Finley, her husband, and three other elderly people who had all faked their deaths to pull off an art scam.

In the end, Maude and Richard got married. The girl that Larry thought was cute arrived and said she had written the letter to letter. She had only laughed when he asked for her number because she was nervous. Mackenzie called Grant and decided to try dating again. Sunna decided to let go of her negative feelings about Brett and be happy with herself.