Culinary Fiction

What’s more satisfying than waffles and maple syrup? Murder...For ex-spy Charlotte Mission, life in the cozy town of Gossip, Texas, is anything but boring. With a retired spy grandmother for company, an inn to clean, kittens around every corner, and guests to keep happy, she’s living a perfectly normal life. But Charlotte has a secret. She’s Gossip’s first and only "fixer". With her particular set of skills and a secret armory at her disposal, Charlie’s the person folks around town come to when they’re in deep, seemingly irreversible trouble.

Join Jackie Norwood, a down-and-out celebrity chef, as she judges the first gig on her comeback quest—a Texas Crab Festival cooking contest. This new venture takes an unexpected twist when she discovers that her archnemesis, Heather Curtis, is her co-judge. As if that weren’t enough to stir the pot, one of the competitors is Chef Benjy Hayes, Jackie’s long-lost ex-boyfriend.

When Thwing is found sleeping with the fishes beneath a local lobsterman's boat, the police quickly finger Julia's brother-in-law Sonny as the one who cooked up the crime. Sure, everyone knows Sonny despised the Mussel King . . . but Julia believes he's innocent. Proving it won't be easy, though. It seems there's a lot more than murder on the menu, and Julia needs to act fast . . .

When Sadie Hoffmiller receives a threatening, anonymous text message just days before her wedding, she's determined not to let it interfere with the celebration she has carefully planned for months. But when the threat changes from a distant fear to a frightening reality, Sadie realizes just how much she's underestimated the situation. Desperate to put an end to the game she's been forced to play, Sadie, her fiancé, Pete, and her children pull out all the stops.

After accepting an invitation to attend the ballet in snowy Salzburg, Miss Atalanta Ashford is shocked when a convicted jewel thief is found dead in the concert hall where the theft occurred a decade ago. Did he return to the scene of the crime because he wanted to prove his innocence? Is the real culprit among the high-society guests? In her quest for the truth, Atalanta uncovers dangerous secrets about the European elite that put her own life in mortal danger…

A birthday trip to Bonn sees amateur detective Atalanta Ashford drawn into the scandalous will of a wealthy grandmother during a scenic cruise down along the Rhine. But growing tensions lead to a sudden and shocking death. Facing suspicion all around, Atalanta must unravel a deadly web of family secrets as treacherous as the river they voyage on, to find the killer.

Ja, 'zefix! Was ist denn mit den Eberhofer-Weibern los? Die Oma beschließt nach ca. 2.000 Kuchen und noch viel mehr Schweinsbraten, Semmelknödeln und Kraut, sich der häuslichen Pflichten für immer zu entledigen und nur noch zu chillen. Ausgerechnet an Weihnachten! Und die Susi verfolgt ausschließlich ihre Karriere als stellvertretende Bürgermeisterin. Und dann wird der Franz direkt nach der Christmette von der Mooshammer Liesl abgefangen. Der Steckenbiller Lenz ist verschwunden.

Satisfying her hunger for epicurean adventure in the French provinces, small-town caterer and minister’s wife Faith Fairchild decides to throw the perfect dinner party. But during cleanup, after the last guest has departed her gastronomical triumph, she encounters something neither expected nor welcome: a dead body lying in her vestibule. Unfortunately it doesn’t help la belle americaine’s credibility when the corpse vanishes before the local gendarmes arrive. But Faith realizes that, though the police refuse to take her seriously, a killer just might.

Abigail’s dream of owning a tearoom in her California beach town is about to come true. She’s got the lease, the start-up funds, and the scone recipes. But she’s out of a tearoom and into hot water when her realtor turns out to be a conman… and then turns up dead. Not even death puts an end to the conman’s mischief. He rented the same space to a tarot reader, Hyperion. Convinced his tarot room is in the cards, he’s not letting go of the building without a fight.

Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle's Pike Place Market, loves a good festival, especially one serving up tasty treats. So what could be more fun than a food walk in the city's Chinatown-International District? But when her friend Roxanne stumbles across a man's body in the Gold Rush, a long-closed residential hotel, questions leap out. Who was he? What was he doing in the dust-encrusted herbal pharmacy in the hotel's basement? Why was the pharmacy closed up—and why are the owners so reluctant to talk?

Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell usually reserves judgement for local cuisine, not the people who serve it. But staying neutral isn't so easy when caught between the biggest seafood rivals in town—her BFF Mona Barnes and the successful Leighton clan. Adding to a bitter decades-old surf-turf war between family businesses, a modern Romeo and Juliet story unfolds as Mona's son gets engaged to the daughter of her sworn enemy.

Faith is happy to have her family under the same roof and grateful for her resilient community, friends, and neighbors in Aleford. Town halls remain lively and well-attended, despite residents joining from their living rooms. It is at one of these town halls that scandal breaks out. In the midst of a Zoom meeting, damaging images suddenly flash upon everyone’s screens. Claudia, local art teacher and Faith’s dear friend, is immediately recognized as the woman who has been targeted.

This set includes the first three novels in the Cape Bay Cafe Mysteries, starring amateur sleuth Francesca Amaro—barista, baker, and owner of Antonia’s Italian Café: Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse; Tea, Tiramisu, and Tough Guys; and Margaritas, Marzipan, and Murder.

Something strange is going on in Spellford Cove. No one is acting quite as they should, and Robin is starting to think there might be some sort of dark magic involved. And with her new employee she knows to be working for her biological father, Robin puts a plan in place that will hopefully stop him from being able to find her. Will Robin be able to overcome the dark magic at work, or will she find herself a few layers short of a full cake?

When Yale Yee discovers her cousin Celine is visiting from Hong Kong, she is obliged to play tour guide to a relative she hasn’t seen in twenty years. Not only that, but her father thinks it’s a wonderful idea for them to bond by running a food stall together at the Eastwood Village Night Market. Yale and Celine serve small dishes and refreshing drinks, and while business is slow, it eventually picks up thanks to Celine’s surprisingly useful marketing ideas. They’re quite shocked that their bubble tea is a hit—literally—when one of their customers turns up dead.

Shiloh Bellamy has saved her family's farm from financial ruin - but now what? She's barely scraping by on the farm's new organic business model, and the fall festival she organized to drum up business comes to a screeching halt when the body of a prominent townswoman is discovered underneath a scarecrow in a nearby field. Worst of all, the evidence points to Shiloh's childhood best friend, Kristy, as the prime suspect.

Food anthropologist Miriam Quiñones-Smith's move from New York to Coral Shores, Miami, puts her academic career on hold to stay at home with her young son. Adding to her funk is an opinionated mother-in-law and a husband rekindling a friendship with his ex. Gracias to her best friend, Alma, she gets a short-term job as a Caribbean cooking expert on a Spanish-language morning TV show. But when the newly minted star attends a Women's Club luncheon, a socialite sitting at her table suddenly falls face-first into the chicken salad, never to nibble again.

Ruby Steele, 30, beautiful, fit, seems just like any other ex-pat hiding out in the Bahamas and playing local bartender. But unruly patrons find out the hard way: Ruby is a mixed-martial-arts pro, and not one you’d want to cross. A 40-something female tourist seeks out Ruby, desperate for her help. She was out partying all night with her friend, both of them drinking way too much and doing things they don’t want their husbands to know about. The problem is, as of 12 hours ago, her friend is missing.

Olivia Glass turns her back on her life as a high-powered executive in Chicago and relocates to Tuscany, determined to start a new, simpler life - and to start her own vineyard. Olivia is thrilled to take her first trip to Florence, and that her love life is heating up. She is even more ecstatic when her small vineyard produces its first bottle of wine. Yet when a famous wine critic trashes her wine - and then ends up dead - Olivia finds herself in the crosshairs of a murder that she is pinned on - and one that she must urgently solve herself.

Samantha Barnes was always a foodie. And when the CIA (that’s the Culinary Institute of America) came calling, she happily traded in Cape Cod for the Big Apple. But then the rising young chef’s clash with another chef (her ex!) boils over and goes viral. So when Sam inherits a house on the Cape and lands a job writing restaurant reviews, it seems like the perfect pairing. What could go wrong? Well, as it turns out, a lot.