Culinary Fiction

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.

I can remember a time when I baked for fun. I loved dreaming up new recipes, trying different combinations of flavors. Sharing my creations with friends and family. Now? I have nightmares where the TV cameras are on me and I’m baking naked. Or I open my oven and my cake pans are empty. You don’t need to be Freud to figure out I’m freaking out. This week on The Great British Baking Contest could be my last. I am one bad bake away from being waved good-bye.

Sadie is looking forward to an entire week cruising the Alaskan wilderness with her two grown children, Shawn and Breanna, and her boyfriend, Pete. They board the ship and except for the mysterious woman on the ship that Shawn seems to know but will not discuss, and the fact that Breanna's future mother-in-law has already hijacked the wedding plans, and the unexpected death of a passenger in the middle of the buffet line, Sadie's vacation would have been perfect.

In the small town of Normalton, Illinois, there aren't a lot of opportunities for small business owner Dani Sloan to cater big-ticket events. But that's about to change - a client named Yvette Joubert is marrying Franklin Whittaker, the richest guy around, and they want Dani to cater their engagement party! The swanky event is the perfect opportunity to put Dani on the map for wealthier clients.

It’s the big finale of the Great British Baking Contest. Who will fall flatter than an eggless soufflé? And will amateur baker and witch Poppy survive to find out? Dark forces are at work in the picture-perfect village of Broomewode, Somerset. Poppy’s getting closer to solving the mystery of her beginnings, but so many questions remain. Will she finally meet her birth mother? Is the local coven helping or hindering her search? Will she and sexy Viscount Benedict finally have their first date? There are old and new mysteries to solve in this final installment of the series!

It's the role of a lifetime for Jules. The Shakespeare Festival has returned to Ashland, Oregon, for the season and Torte has been cast as the supplier of Elizabethan-era treats for the main event. But on the eve of opening night, a brawl between Jules's friend Lance, the artistic director, and a strapping young thespian named Anthony almost brings down the house...and the next morning, Anthony is dead.

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.

Hired to cater a hockey party, Goldy comes up with a winning menu featuring zesty South of the Border Appetizers, succulent Goalies' Grilled Tuna and iced Stanley Cupcakes. Yet Patricia McCracken, her client and long-suffering friend, won't be satisfied until Goldy adds a hefty side order of revenge...Patricia is convinced that her obstetrician and her Health Maintenance Organization - penny-pinching ACHMO - are to blame for the recent loss of her baby.

Follow the aroma of shamrock sugar cookies to the Beacon Bakeshop, a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Michigan where amateur sleuth Lindsey Bakewell is busy preparing for Beacon Harbor's St. Patrick's Day festivities—with a little help from her adorable Newfoundland, Wellington, of course!

Ashland is known for its Elizabethan charm and touches of Shakespeare around every corner, but the surrounding Rogue Valley draws adventure enthusiasts to its outdoor wonderland of high alpine lakes, mountain ranges, and pristine rivers. Jules Capshaw and the team at Torte have been hired to cater a weekend getaway on the mighty Rogue River. Jules is going to have to put her culinary skills to the test while baking gooey chocolate chip skillet cookies over an open flame and preparing extravagant feasts under a canopy of stars.

As the autumnal hues of November fall over the Shakespearean hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, Jules and her team at Torte are working on their biggest event ever. They’ve been invited to create chocolate showpieces for the gala opening of a new exhibit, Shakespeare’s Lost Pages at SOMA. The museum, located on the campus of Southern Oregon University, is getting ready to unveil the Bard’s lost manuscript, Double Falsehood, which is being touted as the greatest artistic discovery of modern times.

Winifred Page’s twin brothers-in-law are finally ready to open their invention shop right next to the Cozy Corgi Bookshop and Bakery. But the noise level is keeping customers away from the bookshop and driving Fred and her corgi sidekick, Watson, out of their minds. Adding to her stress, family and friends are gearing up to celebrate Fred’s fortieth birthday—not that she’s overly concerned about her age … Mere hours after entering her new decade of life, resentments reach an explosive level as downtown Estes Park is rocked by a fearsome calamity.

Shortly before turning the big five-oh, Cooking with Gusto! TV personality Augusta "Gus" Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she’d rather ignore - her own. To make things worse, the network wants to boost her ratings by teaming Gus with the beautiful, ambitious, and younger Carmen Vega - the former Miss Spain, no less. But Gus isn’t going without a fight - whether it’s off set with her two demanding daughters, on camera with the vicious beauty queen herself, or after hours with Oliver, the new culinary producer.

Tainted by a recent murder, the Cherry Orchard Inn is struggling to attract guests—until celebrated portrait painter Silvia Lumiere books a room for the summer. Whitney Bloom, the inn's new manager, can't believe her good luck. Between her scrumptious scones and the painter's remarkable talent, the inn swiftly becomes the center of the Cherry Cove art scene. However, all is not the bowl of cherries it appears. There's a rotten core in the portrait painter that only Whitney and her friends can see.

Cherry enthusiast Whitney Bloom is furiously baking her way into the heart of Chicago with her fabulous cherry pies when she receives a desperate call from her mother. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival has just kicked off at the Cherry Orchard Inn in Door County, Wisconsin, and the manager of the Bloom family orchard had been found dead beneath the cherry blossoms. Worse yet, all evidence points to Whitney's father as the killer.

Leona's spirits are flying as high as the flags over Honeytree's Fourth of July Festival. Her fledgling egg business is booming, her new relationship is flourishing, and it's finally warm enough to put the top down on her convertible. Everything is sunny-side up. But her good mood disappears faster than a speeding pullet when the local beauty queen is shot during the fireworks finale - and the murder is pinned on one of her close friends.

Caitlyn's world changes when she learns that she was found as an abandoned baby and adopted by her American family. Now, her search for answers takes her to a tiny English village where a man has been murdered - and where a mysterious shop selling enchanted chocolates is home to the "local witch".... Soon Caitlyn finds herself fending off a toothless old vampire, rescuing an adorable kitten and meeting handsome aristocrat Lord James Fitzroy...not to mention discovering that she herself might have magical blood in her veins!

Ellie Wasserman’s life is neat and tidy, and that’s exactly how she wants it. Really. A top ghostwriter for celebrity cookbooks, she was widowed three years ago and has no interest in taking chances—certainly not on dating. Kieran O’Neill isn’t known for being organized. An up-and-coming chef who scored big on a reality television competition, he’s been the guy who cracks jokes and makes messes. But as Ellie and Kieran are forced to work closely together in a hot kitchen for weeks on end, their sharp edges and harsh judgments slowly soften and sweeten into a wildly delicious attraction.

Amateur sleuth Isabelle "Izzy" James thinks life in Sunshine Springs has finally settled down. Her boozy pie cafe is running smoothly, and she has a whole new circle of friends. But nothing stirs up a quiet week like a man being pushed from a rooftop to his death. The unlucky man had been participating in a scavenger hunt when he met his demise, and Izzy goes on a scavenger hunt of her own-looking for clues about who the murderer might be. But even with her trusty Dalmatian, Sprinkles, by her side, Izzy struggles to solve the case.

The deep freeze has thawed in Ashland, Oregon, and Torte is gearing up for a busy spring. When a surprise opportunity to launch a pop-up ice cream shop comes her way, Jules jumps at the chance to showcase Torte's signature iced drinks and cold custards. But selling the desserts of her dreams comes at a price...and, before she knows it, Jules's life swirls into a nightmare.