Culinary Fiction

When Kat Holloway is blamed when a guest mysteriously takes ill after eating one of her meals, she sets out to prove she had nothing to do with the gentleman’s sickness. She discovers a whole host of people who might wish to do away with the man, and she and her friends begin to hunt for the would-be killer. Simultaneously tasked with crafting the perfect Christmas feast, including the pièce de résistance, the Christmas plum pudding, Kat frantically works to finish all, fearing she’ll have to choose between stopping a murderer and cherishing her precious Christmas moments with her daughter.

Pamela has been in merry spirits since her artsy daughter Penny returned home from college for the holidays. But their mother-daughter bonding time gets cut short when a terrified Penny stumbles upon the dumped body of Millicent Farthingale, a wealthy craft shop owner who was popular for all the wrong reasons. From a scheming business partner to a seedy husband several years her junior, Millicent attracted scammers so in love with her assets, they'd toss her down a chimney to get their paws on them.

When Hope's elderly neighbor perishes in a home fire, she can't help but feel somewhat responsible. Only the day before, Peggy Olson had called her over, having burned a pot on the stove while she was sleeping and filling the house with smoke. In fact, she couldn't even remember cooking. Clearly, it was dangerous for the woman to live alone. But it turns out she wasn't alone. When a second body is discovered in the basement of the burned house, suddenly what appeared to be a tragic accident is beginning to look like premeditated murder.

Halloween is coming to Raven Creek, Washington, and in addition to the town going wild for themed decor, there is also brewing enthusiasm about a famed improv group coming to help stage an Agatha Christie play for the locals. When mega-Hollywood star Naomi Novak shows up, the whole town is star-struck. But local teashop owner and witch Phoebe Winchester is shocked for a different reason: the fiancé Naomi has in tow is none other than Phoebe's cheating ex-husband, Blaine.

This bundle includes books seven, eight, and nine of the Cupcake Bakery Mystery series.

Life is sweet and business is booming at the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery - and the fact that Mel and Joe are getting married is the icing on the cake. Their reception will be held at the swanky resort where Oz works as the pastry chef. The wedding planning is all fun-fetti and games until Mel and Joe meet the head chef at the resort who has been making Oz's life miserable. When the eccentric chef insults Mel's bakery, Oz gets into a blowout argument with the culinary prima donna.

1929: Miss Clara Vale is a woman ahead of her time. Rather than attending Oxford to bag an eligible Duke (as her mother, Lady Vale, so desperately hoped), she threw herself into a degree in chemistry, with aspirations to become a scientist in her own right. But the world isn't ready for Clara. Unable to land a job in science because she's a woman, she is stuck behind the desk at a dingy London library. Until her estranged Uncle dies suddenly, leaving her his private detective agency, and laboratory, in his will.

Karen Rose Smith presents Book 10 in the Daisy's Tea Garden Mystery series.

From clam chowdahs to oysters on the half-shell, Tulia Peters' Lobstah Shack offers locals and tourists in Westham, Massachusetts, some of Cape Cod's most amazing cuisine. But when the body of Annette DiCicero is discovered in the kitchen's walk-in freezer - with a custom-made claw-handled lobster pick lodged in her neck - spoiled appetites are the least of Tulia's worries.

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. After a popular food critic trashes Allison’s bakery, he ends up dead - and suspicion falls on her. With business failing, Allison’s only hope is to solve the crime and clear her name.

Thanks to her recent adventures in Dying for Chocolate, Goldy Bear, the premier caterer of Aspen Meadow, Colorado, is no stranger to violence—or sudden death. But when she agrees to cater the first College Advisory Dinner for Seniors and Parents at the exclusive Elk Park Preparatory School, the last thing she expects to find at the end of the evening is the battered body of the school valedictorian.

When it comes to Eastwind's annual cook-off, witch Nora Ashcroft is in it to win it. It's the perfect opportunity to introduce her delectable queso recipe to the magical town of Eastwind, and she'll do whatever it takes to keep Donovan from beating her. But after someone tampers with her appetizer, causing a whole gaggle of ghosts to blow in on the breeze, the psychic finds herself with a big, cheesy mess on her hands. Can Nora find who sabotaged her entry, or will the restaurant owner's reputation be fried to a crisp?

The autumn equinox is here, and Caitlyn Le Fey is excited by the upcoming masquerade ball to celebrate the festival of Mabon. Not only is it a chance to dress up in glamorous costumes, but - with the Widow Mags catering - the villagers might finally put their prejudices aside and appreciate the delicious treats from her grandmother's chocolate shop. But on the night of the ball, Caitlyn barely has time to sample the decadent caramel fountain, or help her old vampire uncle search for his missing fangs, before a guest is brutally murdered.

This collection includes books 4-6 of Lucy Burdette's cozy Key West Food Critic Mystery series: Book 4: Murder With Ganache, Book 5: Death With All the Trimmings, and Book 6: Fatal Reservations, featuring sleuthing food critic Hayley Snow.

Early October is "winding down" time in Busman's Harbor, Maine, but there's nothing relaxing about it for Julia Snowden. Between busloads of weekend leaf peepers at the Snowden Family Clambake and a gut renovation of the old mansion on Morrow Island, she's keeping it all together with a potentially volatile skeleton crew - until one of them turns up dead under the firewood. When the Russian demo team clearing out the mansion discovers a room that's been sealed off, Julia's baffled as to its purpose and it's secrets. When one of the workers is found murdered, things come to a boil.

When the down-on-his-luck Emory Fulton moves into the crumbling Magpie Lodge and starts running historical tours, the locals are none too pleased. He’s inventing grisly tales about their lovely little village and disturbing everyone’s peace. But then he’s found dead in his bath, and everyone is suddenly running scared. Could something strange be happening? After all, the murder mirrors one of Fulton’s stories about Saxford’s dark past.

Shiloh Bellamy can hardly believe it—for the first time in her family farm's seventy-year history, she has managed to score a highly-coveted booth at the Cherry Farm Market in Traverse City, Michigan. It's a huge win in her master plan to bring the rundown farm back to life… and the fact that her coup has sent her next-door neighbor and organic farming competitor into fits of jealousy doesn't hurt, either.

On Valentine's Day, Winifred Page-Lopez escapes the gossip and town drama to retreat into the mystery room of the Cozy Corgi Bookshop and Bakery, with a crackling fire, a favorite romance, and her corgi, Watson—one-part love, one-part curmudgeon—snuggled beside her. But how can Fred ignore past hurts and betrayals when the players from her old life are setting up shop in Estes Park, turning Elkhorn Avenue into a chessboard? Plenty of dirty chais and Katie's scrumptious pop tarts, along with Leo's love and Watson's snores, bring some comfort.

Summer is finally upon the village of Harvest, Ohio, nestled in picturesque Amish Country, and folks are abuzz over their very own Bailey King's upcoming June wedding. The Amish Candy shop owner and star of TV's Bailey's Amish Sweets is marrying Holmes County Sheriff Aiden Brody. To sweeten the occasion will be a scrumptious giant chocolate truffle wedding cake, made especially for the happy couple by Bailey's New York City mentor, Jean Pierre. Other than the risk of the ring bearer, Jethro the pig, taking a bite out of the confection, what could go wrong?

Peace and quiet are hard to find in bustling Key West, so Hayley Snow, a food critic for Key Zest magazine, is taking the afternoon off for a tranquil lunch with a friend outside of town. As they are enjoying the wild beach and the lunch, she realizes that her husband Nathan’s dog, Ziggy, has disappeared. She follows his barking and finds him furiously digging at a shallow grave with a man’s body in it. Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher, identifies him as GG Garcia, a rabble-rousing Key West local and developer.