Culinary Mystery

Pirate Week is sweeping through Crystal Cove and keeping Jenna Hart and her bookstore, the Cookbook Nook, plenty busy. But she’s not too swamped to also host the local Chocolate Cookbook Club’s meeting—especially because the guest of honor is her friend, candy maker and cookbook author Coco Chastain. Jenna whips up a delicious event amidst the rowdy festivities, but the mood is soon broken by robberies, simmering tempers, and a dead body—Coco’s editor, Alison.

Allison Sweet, 34, a sous chef in Los Angeles, has had it up to here with demeaning customers, her demanding boss, and her failed love life. After a shocking incident, she realizes the time has come to start life fresh and follow her lifelong dream of moving to a small town and opening a bakery of her own.

Pastry chef Kate McGuire is loving life on the laid-back island of Coral Cay, Florida. As junior partner in a bakery renowned for luscious desserts - especially her cookies - life is pretty sweet. So when an old friend arrives and announces a spur-of-the-moment beach wedding, that's just the icing on the wedding cake. But the groom vanishes right as a television crew descends on the town to film a hot-new realty show.

Nell Valenti is settling into her role of transforming the Villa Orlandini into a superb farm-to-table cooking school, and the time has finally come for a full taste test run. But when Chef Orlandini prepares to reveal his top secret marinara recipe for the first time to a group of American gastro-tourists, Nell realizes she might have bitten off more than she can chew.

Shiloh Bellamy cashed in her big-city job and 401K to return home to Michigan to save the family farm, but turning Bellamy Farms into a sustainable, organic operation is no small feat. And that’s especially the case once her new investor is found dead at the farmers’ market not long after signing the contract, a contract the whole town knows her father was wholeheartedly against. Now Shiloh must clear her family's name and track down the real killer before her farm dreams wilt before her very eyes.

There’s a new dog groomer in Cottonwood Springs, and Brigid’s delighted! No more taking her dogs, Jett and Lucky, to an out-of-town groomer. But there are a few problems, like broken statues, dug-up plants, and a very bad word written on a window. Brigid becomes concerned, not only for the safety of the groomer, but also for the neighbors. Because, the more she and Sheriff Davis discover, the more certain they are that someone intends to seriously harm the groomer. They uncover family feuds, revenge for a dog being too friendly, and a person seriously depressed!

Welcome to Spellbound, where paranormal is the new normal. Emma Hart has a lot on her paranormal plate - a wedding to plan, a trespasser to defend, and a longstanding curse to break. When a pixie dies under mysterious circumstances, her endless list of Things to Do grows even longer. Will she manage to uncover the truth behind the pixie's death before she becomes the next victim?

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.

As the manager of Vino y Vida Wine Bar in Colinas, Cecelia "Cece" Barton's first Alexander Valley harvest is a whirlwind of activity. Her twin sister, Allie Halstead, who owns a nearby Victorian bed & breakfast, is accustomed to the hustle and bustle of peak tourist season. Just when it seems things can't grow any more intense, Colinas is rocked by a murder within the wine community . . . and Cece is identified as a possible suspect! With her reputation and her livelihood on the line—and the deputy sheriff breathing down her neck—Cece has no choice but to open up her own murder investigation.

The country's hottest TV cooking show is coming to Cape Cod. Lily Roberts is entering America Bakes! with her charming tearoom, Tea by the Sea! Filming is already proving disruptive, closing the tearoom during Lily's busiest season. But tensions really bubble over when infamous bad-boy chef and celebrity judge, Tommy Greene, loses his temper with Lily's staff, resulting in an on-camera blowout with Cheryl Wainwright. Just as Lily thinks the competition can't get more bitter, Tommy is found dead in Tea by the Sea's kitchen . . . murdered with Cheryl's rolling pin.

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.

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.

To top off her coffee business, Sage is now helping out with her boyfriend Bax's gaming company. Conveniently for Sage, it's located next door to her Ground Rules Roastery. That makes it easy for her to pitch in with Bax's employee team-building event. The plan is to boost morale with a scavenger hunt. And it seems to be going well—until Robbie, a programmer known for being a prankster, turns up dead in Sage's roastery.

On the southeast coast of England, three wines growers have just gone missing and a fourth was found dead at the scene. Could this be the work of the master criminal Albert Smith has been chasing all over the country? You'd better believe it. Rushing back to his home county, Albert hopes to pick up the trail once more. With trusted former police dog, Rex Harrison, at his side, the duo begins to snoop.…

Emily Cherry may be retired, but she’s not about to roll over and die! Defying the doubts of her three adult children this plucky computer-shy grandma embarks on a unique path by launching her very own food blog. The only problem is that during her inaugural restaurant review, she stumbles upon a lifeless body.

When famous TV chef Matteo McLeish turns up at the Old Forge Café and offers chef Charlie Hunter a place in his kitchen for the duration of Hampden Green's local opera festival, she thinks it's because he rates her cooking skills. In fact it's because he's heard she's good in a crisis. The wholesome star of Nonna's Kitchen is being blackmailed by one of his team.

The small town of Gold Leaf Valley is aflutter with a food critic's arrival. His online column has made him famous in this part of Northern California, but not everyone is pleased he's in town. When cafe owners Lauren Crenshaw and Annie, her silver-gray tabby, stumble across his body, what should they do? Investigate the crime themselves? Or...leave it to the police? Is Lauren under suspicion for delivering pastries to the dead man's motel room? Or did his intern bump him off in order to gain a promotion?

London's gourmet detective is contemplating an empty bank account and, worse, an empty stomach, when a phone call solves both problems at once. Over lunch, Desmond Lansdown, world-renowned actor and burgeoning restaurateur, hires the detective for a chef-hunt, sending him to Italy to eat until he can decide which cook Lansdown should hire. It's a demanding gig, but this detective is never one to shy away from hard work. However, it doesn't take long for this plush assignment to turn prickly.

When Charlie accepts an invitation for a potluck Thanksgiving feast, she immediately decides to bring dessert. Homemade pies, of course. And they look so delicious that two of the guests decide to sneak a few bites before the meal. Which wouldn’t be an issue, except they both end up dead! Obviously, Charlie didn’t poison the pies, but that’s not how it appears. Can she solve the case in time to save the day?

When Hayley is invited to do a cooking demo on one of daytime's most popular talk shows, it's a welcome distraction from her empty nest blues. And the newfound fame certainly has its perks - especially when Olivia Redmond, the posh bacon heiress of Redmond Meats, offers Hayley a writing gig with a juicy paycheck.