Culinary Mystery

In a quiet small town in New Brunswick, old Agatha Treadway makes one last cranky complaint to her niece before dying on her kitchen floor. The cause seems to be a jar of contaminated string beans, which sat on Agatha's basement shelf for years before becoming her final meal. The town doctor calls it a tragic accident - and a warning to all who can their own vegetables - but Agatha's neighbor, the intrepid Janet Wadman, knows better. Agatha was an expert canner, which means the beans must have been placed there by someone else. This was murder.

When a vineyard accident during harvest season leaves Lucie Montgomery without a valuable employee, it's her worst nightmare. But before she can search for a replacement, there's more bad news: Paul Merchant, her winery manager's husband, is found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool. Police rule Paul's death an accident, but his wife insists he was murdered because of his leadership of Don't Pave Paradise, a conservationist group lobbying to keep the region's beautiful country roads unpaved. And six weeks ago, Paul's predecessor also died under mysterious circumstances.

Amateur sleuth and proud owner of Dogwood Donuts Maggie Sharpe was gearing up for the holidays and having just another normal day in charming southern Missouri, when an unfortunate accident occurred in front of her shop in the wee hours of the morning. When a bus full of elderly potential witnesses on their way to a Christmas event puts out a distress call, Maggie feels obligated to find some answers. She discovers that what she thought was an accident was actually a murder, which makes things anything but jolly in Dogwood Mountain.

What begins as a holiday trip for Sadie Hoffmiller and her daughter, Breanna, turns into a bizarre mystery. First comes the discovery of a dead body in the sitting room of an English manor belonging to the family of Breanna’s boyfriend, who is also heir to the family title. When the body comes up missing, Sadie and Breanna are stranded at the estate until the police can clear them to leave. Armed with a jogging whistle, her personal recipe collection, and an unfailing sense of American justice, Sadie begins her own investigation to find the killer.

Sadie Hoffmiller has always liked things to be just so. A place for everything and everything in its place. Order over chaos. And of all things Sadie should be able to control, her own wedding is at the top of the list. With the big day just three weeks away, Sadie is busily adding the final touches to her wedding plans, but the arrival of a mysterious letter from San Francisco changes everything.

Sadie Hoffmiller has relocated from Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is starting a new job as an informant for the Bureau of Land Management on an archeological site. Being in the middle of nowhere and digging up artifacts from hundreds of years ago is supposed to keep Sadie out of trouble - until recent burials are found on the ancient site. Before Sadie knows it, she's arrested for starting a bar fight, a new friend is missing, and she's worn out her welcome in Santa Fe in more ways than one.

The word is out about Sadie Hoffmiller's amateur detective work, but it's not the kind of publicity Sadie wants. When Jane's article threatens Sadie's reputation in the community, she accepts her first investigation-for-hire and travels to Portland, Oregon - if only to give herself some space from her whispering neighbors. And from Pete, who is sending her mixed signals about their budding relationship. Sadie hopes the Portland air will clear her head, and she is eager to get to work for May Sanderson, who has suspicions about her father's untimely death.

Sadie Hoffmiller has survived eighteen months of nonstop adventures filled with murder, deceit, and danger. She could really use some rest - and maybe even some time to heal - relaxing in the tropical paradise of Kaua'i. However, palm trees and sunshine are not as effective a medication as Sadie had hoped. And when she finds herself entangled - literally - with a dead body, she is forced to face the compounding fears and anxieties that are making her life so difficult to live.

It was supposed to be a girls' weekend in scenic St. George, Utah, that would include shopping, trying out the local cuisine, and participating in a breast cancer fund-raiser. The fact that one of the organizers of the fund-raising event, a local doctor, had disappeared two months before was not supposed to be Sadie Hoffmiller's problem. When Sadie learns that her friend Caro and Caro's cousin, Tess, have started a grassroots investigation into Dr. Hendrick's disappearance, Sadie graciously refuses to be a part of it.

Excitement and anxiety envelop Winifred and Leo as they prepare for their first trip together—New Year's Eve in New York City. For Fred, figuring out what clothes to pack is a challenge, but nothing compared to the emotional knot and turmoil of leaving her cherished corgi sidekick, Watson. It is more than Fred's nerves, however, or Watson's grumpy mood, that threaten the trip. When Fred receives a text from Leo about a meeting at Madame Delilah's Old Tyme Photography, a quick errand leads to an unexpected mystery. And soon more than travel plans are in danger.

Old Town's midsummer festivities are getting a tasty addition this year. To coincide with a public performance of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," Bobbie Sue Bodoin, the Queen of Cheesecake, has hired Sophie to organize a dinner with a dessert buffet on the waterfront. Bobbie Sue has only one menu demand: no cheesecake! But her specialty isn't the only thing missing from the evening—Tate, Bobbie Sue's husband, is too, much to her annoyance. Next morning, however, Tate's dead body is discovered.

Poppy is none too pleased when her B&B is coerced into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour during Halloween season. Though her knack for finding dead bodies has given the place a spooky reputation, the Murder House is a completely undeserved nickname. At least it used to be. While Poppy wrangles with some guests who can't stop squabbling with each other—including a paranormal researcher, a very quirky pet psychic who freaks out her portly Persian, and an undercover tabloid reporter eager to catch her staff in a lie—one of them winds up facedown in a plate of tiramisu.

When Poppy and Aunt Ginny agreed to host a Wine-and-Cheese Happy Hour for a tour group at their Butterfly House Bed and Breakfast on the Jersey Shore, they never anticipated such a sour bunch. Grumpy guest Vince Baker should be in a better mood - he's filthy rich and on his honeymoon with his much younger wife, Sunny, who seems to dote on him almost as much as her high-spirited teacup Pomeranian, Tammy Faye Baker. But the honeymoon is over when Vince drops dead the next day touring the Laughing Gull Winery.

Angie Turner's Idaho restaurant, the County Seat, is the perfect site for a picturesque country wedding, but the party planning skids to a halt when the groom-to-be is implicated in a murder investigation....

Amateur sleuth Sloan Krause returns in The Pint of No Return, another delightful cozy by Ellie Alexander - this time investigating a movie star who's murdered not long after arriving in Leavenworth, Wash., to film his latest project. No other festival compares to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, Washington. The whole town is buzzing with excitement over this year’s activities and eagerly awaiting Nitro’s latest offering, Cherrywizen, made with locally sourced cherries. But local brewmaster Sloan Krause is tapped out.

Magic Springs, Idaho, may be a small town, but Mia Malone is living an enchanted life running her own catering business and cooking school. And while she's teaching the locals culinary craft, her grandmother is teaching her witchcraft for the day she inherits the family magical spells that have been passed down for generations. Unfortunately, all that knowledge is not helping Mia or her grandmother in removing the spirit of warlock Dorian Alexander from Mia's cat, Mr. Darcy.

It’s Christmas in Penstowan, and local amateur dramatics group the Penstowan Players are putting on their annual pantomime. This year it’s ‘Aladdin’, and half the town have been drafted in to help, including Shirley Parker, who only has a small part in the chorus but will no doubt upstage everybody, and Tony Penhaligon, who’s treading the boards as the baddie, Abanazar. Ex-Metropolitan police officer turned caterer Jodie Parker has managed to get away with not appearing, but only if she agrees to cater the opening night party.

Horrible histories suggest that the new girl in town Samantha Baker has reason for revenge on the family of the poisoned lawman. Virtually alone and with no time to spare, Sammy turns a sleuth to uncover the cop-killing culprit and solve this messy small-town mystery. Sammy’s investigations will divulge dastardly deeds that require every ounce of faith and forgiveness she can muster before she can finally close the case and put the cherry on this cupcake catastrophe.

Ivy stumbles upon a clue about a murder scribbled in the back of a library book. It might be a prank, but what if it's not? Tabitha Coat's death was ruled an accidental drowning ten years ago, but could it have been something more? Ivy can't rest until she uncovers the truth, even if it means combing through every book in the town library for more clues. The closer she gets, the more perilous her search becomes. Will she uncover the truth, or will she share Tabitha's fate?

Beneath the gloss of star chefs and crystal-laden tables, the truffle supply chain is touched by theft, secrecy, sabotage, and fraud. Farmers patrol their fields with rifles and fear losing trade secrets to spies. Hunters plant poisoned meatballs to eliminate rival truffle-hunting dogs. Naive buyers and even experts are duped by liars and counterfeits. Deeply reported and elegantly written, this exposé documents the dark, sometimes deadly crimes at each level of the truffle’s path from ground to plate, making sense of an industry that traffics in scarcity, seduction, and cash.