Culinary Fiction

Everly Swan is busier than ever with her iced tea shop and café, and the town of Charm is bustling with excitement as they prepare for a big event: the annual outdoor play! Everyone's getting involved - even Matt the EMT plays a character in the show. But when a surfer rolls into town and tries to upstage Matt, and then turns up dead, things get dicey. Everly is convinced of his innocence, but Detective Grady - who's a little jealous of Matt and Everly's past dating history - isn't so sure.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to A Noodle Shop Mystery Book 12 today.

Too many cooks spoil the stew! The Irish stew at O’Brien’s pub in Ballydehag is a Friday night favorite—until several people get sick and terrible reviews bubble to the surface on social media. Publican and chef Sean O’Grady is horrified, but when one of his customers dies after eating the stew, he realizes he has more than poisonous reviews to worry about. Was Sean the only one who added ingredients to the simmering pot—or does someone have a taste for murder?

When a distraught Scottish veteran from Afghanistan is knocked unconscious, waking up to find his beloved ex-service dog missing, Corinna and her lover, Daniel, find themselves inextricably drawn into the machinations of a notorious underworld gang of drug runners. Corinna and Daniel need to pull together all the strings to find the connections between their wandering Scottish veteran, his kidnapped dog, a student dramatic society that's moved into Corinna's building, burglaries and the threatening notes that begin to mysteriously appear in Corinna's apartment.

Sophie Winston is busy handling the first ever convention of the Association of Ghost Kitchens—restaurants that do delivery only—but she's taking a little time out for a lunch meeting organized by A Healthy Meal. The group is dedicated to providing meals for children in need, and as a bonus, it'll give Sophie the perfect opportunity to ogle the lavish Old Town home of socialite Geraldine Stansfield. Gerrie's dining room is impeccably furnished, the table laden with gleaming crystal and prized china. If it weren't for the dead man lying on the floor, everything would be perfect.

Hannah’s up to her ears with Easter orders rushing in at The Cookie Jar, plus a festive meal to prepare for a dinner party at her mother’s penthouse. But everything comes crashing to a halt when Hannah receives a panicked call from her sister Andrea - Mayor Richard Bascomb has been murdered...and Andrea is the prime suspect. Even with his reputation for being a bully, Mayor Bascomb - or “Ricky Ticky”, as Hannah’s mother likes to call him - had been unusually testy in the days leading up to his death, leaving Hannah to wonder if he knew he was in danger.

Dead bodies are expected in cemeteries, but not simply thrown into an open grave. The newspaper’s notorious food reviewer had plenty of enemies in the small town of Oak Hill, Georgia. Unfortunately, it’s Emily Buchanan’s good friend Trish who is the prime suspect, since the biscuits that killed him came from her bakery. As Emily tries to balance running Eternal Rest Bed and Breakfast and working to bring her late husband’s spirit home, she also has to help clear Trish’s name. After all, someone Emily knows and trusts could never be a killer…could she?

Thanks to Winnie's new cider shop, Smythe Orchards is out of the red and folks can get their fix of the produce and other delectable products they love all year round. The locals are even booking the shop for events, including a June wedding! Winnie couldn't be happier to see the barn filled to the rafters for the big bash - until her doting ex, Hank, is caught in a heated argument with the groom. Winnie plans to scold Hank after the party, but spots him running off instead. And when the groom turns up dead, apparently hit by the honeymoon getaway car, Hank is the main suspect.

Amidst the rocky beaches of the Oregon coast, Torte's beloved Sterling and Stephanie have been hired to take over the aging restaurant at the cliffside Whaleshead Resort. Stephanie is taking on every chef's nightmare—a fluffy chocolate soufflé—and Sterling is fast at work prepping shrimp linguini and pan-seared halibut when they suddenly hear screaming. Erik Morton, the manager of Whaleshead and their new boss, has taken a fatal fall down the steep and dangerous cliffside trail leading to the beach. Jules and her young protégés quickly realize this was no accident.

With the spirit of the holidays wafting through the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey thinks she has the recipe for the sweetest Christmas ever - winning the town-wide cookie bake-off. Low on staff and bombarded by visits from family, Lindsey can barely meet demands at work, let alone summon the confidence to face fierce competition.... Self-appointed Christmas know-it-all Felicity Stewart is determined to take the top spot in the bake-off, and she's not afraid to dump a little coal in everyone's stocking to do it.

It's been a long, rainy summer for Goldy Schulz, who is engaged in planning wedding receptions for what seems to be all of Aspen Meadow. It's bad enough that Billie Attenborough, the bride from hell, wants to move the location to the Gold Gulch Spa just a scant two days before tying the knot to her doctor fiance. Then Doc Finn, best friend of Goldy's godfather Jack, is killed when his car tumbles into a ravine. But Jack thinks Doc was murdered because of research he was doing at the spa....

Known as “the Julia Child of mystery writers,” Diane Mott Davidson cooks up gourmet culinary mysteries sure to please the most discriminating palates. Mystery connoisseurs relish her elaborate plots and fast-paced action amid scenic Colorado settings. The luscious recipes included at the end are icing on the cake. Caterer-turned sleuth Goldy Schulz has an unbelievably chaotic life, but she is uncommonly determined.

An anonymous skull, an unsolved murder, sinister rumors from the Cold War era of espionage - Bruno's investigation into a long-standing cold case finds him caught between an enigmatic winegrower and a menacing communist organization from the past.

Everyone agrees that the food at Ho-Lee Noodle House is delicious - unless it happens to be deadly. Lana Lee’s stake in her family’s Chinese restaurant is higher than ever now that she’s been made manager. So when she enters Ho-Lee into Cleveland’s Best Noodle Contest, Lana makes it her business to win - at all costs. But when a local food critic receives a threatening note in a fortune cookie and is later found dead, face-down in a bowl of lo mein, all bets are off....

Of all the essentials for survival: oxygen, water, sleep, and food, only food is a vast treasure trove of memory and of sensory experience. Food is a portal to culture, to times past, to disgust, to comfort, to love: no matter one's feelings about a particular dish, they are hardly ever neutral.

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.

To keep her cooking school and catering business, Mia's Morsels, afloat, Mia's handed off oversight to her boyfriend Trent's mother while she focuses on earning a steady paycheck. Too bad her mean-spirited boss at the lodge keeps the misery flowing as steadily as the money. At least her roommate, Christina, is still dedicated to Mia's Morsels—though she's also distracted, thanks to her clingy mother's constant demands. And the distraction only grows when Christina's old flame shows up in Magic Springs, Idaho, in his Escalade, claiming out of the blue to be her fiancé.

After a career on Wall Street, Lindsey is making a different kind of dough in a pretty lakeside village, and the upcoming blueberry festival—including the pie-eating contest her bakery is hosting—is the highlight of the summer. But soon Beacon Harbor runs into a patch of trouble. A local real estate agent gets pranked. A parade float gets pelted with water balloons. It's all laughed off until the stunts start escalating—and looking more like sabotage.

Kate Palmer is most disappointed when renovations at her sister Angie’s new tea rooms are derailed after a body is discovered in the cellar. She was looking forward to clotted cream teas with a seaside view. Instead, she has another murder mystery to solve. If the village gossip is to be believed, the unfortunate man was connected to the wealthy Hedgefield family. Kate is reluctant to get caught up in the investigation, but a curious card in the victim’s jacket pocket sparks her interest.

It's Valentine's Day in Winterspell, but not everyone appears to be feeling the love. And no, I'm not talking about my dateless self. Instead of being wooed by candlelight, I'm working in a candle shop. Cora Hearth, Winterspell's magical chandler, has teamed up with Sugar Shack to create party favors for the lucky couples, and they're counting on us to spark some magic for their special night. So, when a thief breaks into my delivery van and swipes the goodies, Cora and I-and her persnickety talking cat-have to join forces to track down the culprit in time to save Valentine's Day.