Culinary Fiction

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.

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.

The faculty of Willow Creek High School are having a get-together after the spring concert with refreshments provided, courtesy of Daisy's Tea Garden. Oolong tea and chocolate biscuits are just what the staff needs to help them unwind from Althea Higgins's demanding curriculum. Her lessons on such controversial subjects as school uniforms and under qualified substitute teachers are earning her an F from her colleagues. But a failing grade was preferable to Althea falling victim to foul play.

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

A murder staged to look like a suicide fools everyone except Albert Smith. He knows better. In Lyme Regis with his faithful dog, the victim invited him to visit the seaside resort. Now he’s dead, and Albert wants to know why.

Many residents of South Lick, Indiana, claim the Outhouse Race, in which competitors push old-timey outhouse replicas on wheels at the annual Abe Martin Festival on Memorial Day, is the best thing since indoor plumbing. Just because country store and restaurant owner Robbie Jordan has too much to do managing her new deep fryer as well as an old lover reappearing, she's not going to miss out on the fun. Plus, it's good for business. But when a dead body and a cast-iron skillet tumble out of the Pans 'N Pancakes outhouse entry on the race route, it seems someone is trying to frame Robbie.

Lily Pine recently moved to a cozy peninsula town in the Pacific Northwest. Her plans to open a bayside restaurant and start a new life are hindered when she is unexpectedly swept into a murder mystery. Can Lily make new friends in this picturesque village, solve a murder, and fulfill her husband’s lifelong dream?

Identical twins Goldie Silver, an over-the-hill flower child from Juneau, Alaska and her identical twin Godiva Olivia DuBois, a wealthy widow who writes a syndicated advice to lovelorn column from her Beverly Hills estate, don't go looking for trouble—it finds them.

After losing her mother to cancer, Sally Solari quits her job as an attorney to help her dad run his old-style Italian eatery in Santa Cruz, California. But managing the front of the house is far from her dream job. Then, in a sudden twist, her Aunt Letta is found murdered in her own restaurant, and Sally is the only one who can keep the place running.

Things are eerily quiet at Gemma's quaint English tearoom, and she can't understand why - until she learns about the trendy new "tea bar" that's opened on the other side of the village. To her horror, she soon finds her customers being stolen. But Gemma has bigger problems when the rival owner is savagely murdered and she is considered the key suspect! And with her detective boyfriend accused of nepotism, Gemma is forced to tackle the case on her own. Luckily, she can still count on the help of the nosy Old Biddies, while the naughty antics of her tabby cat uncover clues, too!

While struggling to find a romantic (and affordable) destination for her upcoming honeymoon, coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi whips up a honey of a drink made from honey-processed coffee. Clare plans to serve her outstanding new Honey-Cinnamon Latte at her spring wedding to her longtime honey, NYPD detective Mike Quinn. The culinary world is also abuzz about the amazing honey that Clare was lucky enough to source for her shop's new latte.

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.

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.

Bird Nichols is ready to make a fresh start in a familiar place. Last year, her parents died together in a car crash and her beloved grandmother is presumed dead from an ocean drowning. Bird is now moving onto her grandmother's California coastal property, and finally living out her dream. Bird loves cheese like nothing else. It's her autistic special interest, and she designs her boards along her sensory needs, and other people love them, too. But just when everything seems to be going right, the local troublemaker ends up dead on her rural road.

Brilliant baker Rosie Hart is busier than ever as she prepares for Airlie Falls’s famed Valentine’s Day Farmers and Craft Market. The last thing she needs as she races to frost her cashew-nut cakes is the mysterious appearance of a dead body on her new fiancé’s property. To add icing to the cupcake, another long-dead body is found buried underneath it. For goodness bakes!

A treasure hunter finds a priceless coin on the beach in front of Allison’s bakery at sunrise, and she is stunned at the treasure. But she is more stunned to find him murdered. Allison, left standing at the scene of the crime, dog by her side, treasure in hand, couldn’t have picked a worse place and a worse time. She hardly looks innocent. And if she doesn’t solve this crime soon, things, she realize, are about to get a whole lot worse.

Fleeing some unsavory doings in her hometown of Charlotte, Jenna accepts her uncle's gracious invitation to stay with him in small-town Hokes Folly, North Carolina. In exchange, she'll help him out in his antiquarian bookstore. But soon after she arrives, Jenna finds her uncle's body crumpled at the base of the staircase between his apartment and the bookstore. Before the tragedy even sinks in, Jenna learns that she's inherited almost everything her uncle owned...which adds up to more than a million dollars.

Lucy is terrified and puzzled by this latest murder in her small town. It seems a dark cloud has settled over her town as rumors abound about why the killer did it and when they did it. Eventually, the prime suspect is identified as the former classmate Lucy hired at her bakery. Many people witnessed an altercation this person had with the deceased and they’ve been judged guilty in the court of public opinion. But Lucy knows there’s more to this murder mystery than meets the eye.

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 the chef tipped to win this year’s annual Eton Mess competition falls to his death in mysterious circumstances, Albert races to investigate—surely this is the work of the Gastrothief again.