Culinary Fiction

With small town New Bison’s Spring Festival just around the corner, the pressure is on Maddy to continue her late great-aunt Octavia’s legacy. That means scoring the top prize and transforming Baby Cakes into Southwest Michigan’s must-visit bakery, even though her inexperience in the kitchen brings nightmares of humiliating tagged photos and scathing reviews.

Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell doesn't know what to believe when Lydia Partridge, the put-together owner of gourmet Bar Harbor Ice Cream, suddenly reveals fears that her husband may be having an affair. There's no other way to explain why Jamie, a respected professor, was spotted in a remote part of town with a much younger woman. But instead of learning the truth about the secret meeting, Lydia opens her freezer truck to find another surprise—the dead body of a summer employee . . .

Baking. It can get a guy killed. When retired cop Albert arrives in Stilton for a festival, he has cheese on his mind, but that’s not what he gets. Arriving the morning after the factory and warehouse have been raided, all the stilton is gone, and the security guard Dave, who bravely fought to stop the thieves, needs someone’s help to save the day. With sidekick Rex Harrison, the failed police dog, at his side, our aging but sprightly hero will put his ear to the ground and his mind to work as he unravels the clues to this mystery.

The first time Daisy Ellery killed a man with a pie, it was an accident. Now, it’s her calling. Daisy bakes sweet vengeance into her pastries, which she and her dog, Zoe, deliver to the men who’ve done dirty deeds to the town’s women. But if she can’t solve the one crime that’s not of her own baking, she’ll be out of the pie pan and into the oven. Parking her mobile bakery van outside the local diner, Daisy is informed that someone’s been prowling around the van. She finds a letter on her door, threatening to reveal her unsavory secret sideline of pie à la murder.

Back in Balsam Dell to heal after the death of her husband, Carly Hale is finally pursuing her lifelong dream — opening Carly's Grilled Cheese Eatery. After only five months, business is booming as Vermont vacationers and townspeople alike flock to lunch on her Party Havartis and other grilled-cheese concoctions. That is, everyone is but Lyle Bagley, her one-time high-school boyfriend who’s now the town bully — and he just bought the building that houses her eatery and wants her out.

Antonia Bingham, a renowned chef and the new owner of East Hampton's Windmill Inn, escaped to the Hamptons to get away from a harrowing past. Yet she finds herself in more danger than ever when she learns about a curse that haunts the inn - all previous owners have died suspiciously. When she's not cooking sumptuous meals for her guests, Antonia digs into the investigation to uncover who's behind the curse. But the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she gets to being the next victim - will she solve the case in time to save herself?

Lately, Kate has a lot on her dessert plate. She's launching a cookie-of-the-day challenge in the heart of Coral Cay, providing sweet treats for the reception of the town's handsome new veterinarian - not to mention dealing with tourists in town for a pirate festival and the surprise arrival of her former fiance, Evan, who seems determined to win her back. And if that's not enough, a skeleton has been found - in the backyard behind her best friend Maxi's floral shop. Kate knows Maxi could never hurt a fly.

Auf einer Cocktailparty belauscht die Tearoom-Besitzerin Gemma Rose zufällig eine ominöse Unterhaltung - kurz darauf wird eine Studentin vergiftet. Gemma hegt den Verdacht, dass beides zusammenhängt und der neue Freund ihrer besten Freundin Cassie in den Mord verstrickt ist.Mit der Unterstützung von vier neugierigen alten Damen aus ihrem Dorf in Oxfordshire stellt Gemma ihre eigenen Ermittlungen an, sehr zum Ärger ihrer alten Collegeflamme, CID Detective Devlin O'Connor.

Hollywood has come to town—and Faith Fairchild has to feed it! Hired to cater meals for the movie crew that is filming a modern-day version of The Scarlet Letter in the tiny New England village of Aleford, Faith is eager to treat the talented tantrum-throwers to the best of her culinary delights. But an accusation that her famous Black Bean Soup is poison has left a bad taste in Faith’s mouth. Her exploration into the source of the nasty slander leads the amateur investigator behind the scenes to a shocking off-camera murder. And suddenly more than Faith’s reputation is at stake.

Olivia Glass turns her back on her life as a high-powered executive in Chicago and relocates to Tuscany, determined to start a new, simpler life - and to start her own vineyard. Olivia is thrilled to take her first trip to Florence, and that her love life is heating up. She is even more ecstatic when her small vineyard produces its first bottle of wine. Yet when a famous wine critic trashes her wine - and then ends up dead - Olivia finds herself in the crosshairs of a murder that she is pinned on - and one that she must urgently solve herself.

In the small Bedfordshire town of Biggleswade, retired detective Albert, and former police dog, Rex, are enjoying a peaceful break from the murder and mayhem of the last week. Until the waitress serving him is arrested for murder....

Nora Newberry has been working to make her dreams come true and finally, after 10 years, it's time! She's moved back to her hometown of Milburn, Wyoming, and, together with her lifelong best friend, Raquel Madden, is opening the diner they've been planning since high school. Life couldn't be better...and it's time to celebrate!

When Sadie Hoffmiller receives a threatening, anonymous text message just days before her wedding, she's determined not to let it interfere with the celebration she has carefully planned for months. But when the threat changes from a distant fear to a frightening reality, Sadie realizes just how much she's underestimated the situation. Desperate to put an end to the game she's been forced to play, Sadie, her fiancé, Pete, and her children pull out all the stops.

Hayley Powell, food and cocktails columnist for Bar Harbor's Island Times, is...well, kind of broke. So when she's selected for that extreme coupon-clipping reality game show coming to town...she's thrilled, especially when her competition is nasty nurse Candace Culpepper. But when Haley stumbles across a face-down-in-the-snow Candace - scissors gleaming between her shoulders - she knows the next thing she'll be selected for will probably be a police line-up.

As a single mom, Hayley Powell already has a full plate - she's got deadlines to make and a teenage daughter with eyes for an aspiring singer-songwriter. But when country music superstar Wade Springer rolls into town, Hayley spies an irresistible side gig: personal chef to her all-American idol. After he tries her home cooking, Wade's so impressed that he hires her on the spot - and invites her to dine with him alone.

When Yale Yee discovers her cousin Celine is visiting from Hong Kong, she is obliged to play tour guide to a relative she hasn’t seen in twenty years. Not only that, but her father thinks it’s a wonderful idea for them to bond by running a food stall together at the Eastwood Village Night Market. Yale and Celine serve small dishes and refreshing drinks, and while business is slow, it eventually picks up thanks to Celine’s surprisingly useful marketing ideas. They’re quite shocked that their bubble tea is a hit—literally—when one of their customers turns up dead.

After a cupcake-flinging fiasco at a photo shoot for a local magazine, Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura agree to make amends by hosting a week-long corporate boot camp at Fairy Tale Cupcakes. The idea is the brainchild of billionaire Ian Hannigan, new owner of SWS, a lifestyle magazine that chronicles the lives of Scottsdale's rich and famous. He's assigned his staff to a team-building week of making cupcakes for charity. It's clear that the staff would rather be doing just about anything other than frosting baked goods.

On a culinary tour of the British Isles, a retired detective and a failed police dog intend to taste the kippers that made the town famous...But when the first person they meet turns up dead a few hours later in an apparent suicide neither one of them believes, both man and dog must accept they’ve stumbled into another mystery. All too soon, they wish they hadn’t poked their noses in because what they have uncovered could be truly sinister. Hidden in the past, a crime few know about yearns to be revealed.

Yarrow Glen’s favorite cheese shop, Curds & Whey, gets to be a part of the social event of the season: Summer Harrington’s wedding. Cheesemonger Willa Bauer is going all out for the wedding shower’s cheese bar. But the eagle-eyed Harrington family is proving to be a pain in her asiago. A last-minute tasting ends in disaster when one of Willa’s potential beaus, Roman, gets in a fight with the groom. Then the shower arrives, and while there’s anything but love in the air, there is plenty of cheese. Oh, and Roman… again. The day officially ends in disaster.

On the trail of a master criminal, a retired detective and his former police dog expect a quiet time in the Cumbrian village of Keswick. However, when Rex picks up a scent upon arriving at their B&B...the discovery of a body in a shallow grave draws them into a mystery someone does not want solved.