Culinary Fiction

Lana Lee is a dutiful daughter, waiting tables at her family’s Chinese restaurant even though she’d rather be doing just about anything else. Then, just when she has a chance for a “real” job, her parents take off to Taiwan, leaving Lana in charge. Unfortunately, the newlyweds who just opened the souvenir store next door to Ho-Lee have turned up dead...and soon Lana finds herself in the midst of an Asia Village mystery.

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.

When your mother is an astrologist and your dad is a minister, you learn to keep an open mind. Which is just what Mac loves to do - exercise her mind by puzzling out fictional clues in the mystery novels she reads and discusses with her Cozy Capers Book Group. But now Mac's friend Gin has found herself in a sticky situation. After wealthy genealogist Beverly Ruchart is found dead outside Gin's taffy shop, the candy maker becomes a person of interest.

It's Valentine's Day in Winterspell, but not everyone appears to be feeling the love. And no, I'm not talking about my dateless self. Instead of being wooed by candlelight, I'm working in a candle shop. Cora Hearth, Winterspell's magical chandler, has teamed up with Sugar Shack to create party favors for the lucky couples, and they're counting on us to spark some magic for their special night. So, when a thief breaks into my delivery van and swipes the goodies, Cora and I-and her persnickety talking cat-have to join forces to track down the culprit in time to save Valentine's Day.

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?

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.

Everly will have to go against the tide to crack this case! It all seems to be smooth sailing for Everly Swan. The island of Charm, North Carolina, is hosting tons of fun summer events, her iced tea shop is a hit, and best of all, she’s finally dating the handsome Detective Grady Hays. But their romantic bubble bursts when tragedy strikes: a surf pro is found murdered on the beach, killed with a theater prop.

After a career on Wall Street, Lindsey is making a different kind of dough in a pretty lakeside village, and the upcoming blueberry festival—including the pie-eating contest her bakery is hosting—is the highlight of the summer. But soon Beacon Harbor runs into a patch of trouble. A local real estate agent gets pranked. A parade float gets pelted with water balloons. It's all laughed off until the stunts start escalating—and looking more like sabotage.

It's a quiet, snowy morning at The Cracked Spine bookshop when book seller Delaney Nichols receives a mysterious visitor, a messenger. He presents her with a perplexing note: an invitation to a meeting with eccentric socialite Shelagh O'Conner, who requests Delaney's participation in an exclusive treasure hunt.

This cozy collection includes three delightful full-length mystery novels in the Haunted Tearoom Cozy Mystery Series featuring April May and the town of Serenity Cove.

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.

With the spirit of the holidays wafting through the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey thinks she has the recipe for the sweetest Christmas ever - winning the town-wide cookie bake-off. Low on staff and bombarded by visits from family, Lindsey can barely meet demands at work, let alone summon the confidence to face fierce competition.... Self-appointed Christmas know-it-all Felicity Stewart is determined to take the top spot in the bake-off, and she's not afraid to dump a little coal in everyone's stocking to do it.

Nasty weather has put Goldy's catering schedule on the skids for weeks. Now, happy to be working again, she looks forward to whipping up a sumptuous dinner for two wealthy clients who are celebrating their new venture - the reopening of the Eurydice Gold Mine. But when one of the men disappears, and her best friend is accused of murder, Goldy must find out who has turned the feast into a fiasco.

After a long hot summer in Balsam Dell, Carly Hale is ready for crisp Vermont weather and gourmet grilled cheeses at her Grilled Cheese Eatery. And the upcoming Halloween food competition is the perfect way to impress the locals. But Ferris Menard, the owner of Sub-a-Dub-Sub, is nursing a serious grudge against Carly. Two days before the competition, one of Carly's employees quit his part-time gig at Menard's sub shop, sending Menard into a serious snit. In a confrontation at the Eatery, Menard accused Carly of sabotage and vowed to bring her down.

Daisy's worried one of her employees at Daisy's Tea Garden may be in a spot of trouble. Lately Karina's been loading up on soup and second-day baked goods at the end of her shift - and while the shop's scrumptious treats may be hard to resist, Daisy suspects there's more going on, especially since Karina has been seen hanging out in a rundown part of Willow Creek. Planning her own daughter's wedding is enough to keep her busy, but Daisy can't help feeling a protective maternal instinct - and an instinct to investigate.

It's autumn in Ashland, Oregon, - 'tis the season for a spiced hot apple cider with a serving (or two) of Torte's famous peach cobbler. It's also the perfect time for Jules Capshaw to promote her family's beloved bake shop by competing in The Pastry Channel's reality show, Take the Cake. The prize is $25,000. But as Jules quickly learns, some people would kill for that kind of dough. Literally.

A brand new bakery has opened in Sun Valley. Cue a frenzy of excitement among the locals as they snap up the much heralded baker’s marshmallow muffins, terrific treacle tarts and berry spectacular Bakewells. Toby, our beloved spellbound hound, is first in the queue to taste test the freshly prepared sammiches! But when a spate of fatal poisonings shakes the local community to its core, it transpires Devon splits and Dorset knobs might be deadlier on the waistline than first thought.

Jules Capshaw and her staff at Torte are busier than ever...still, even the town's most in-demand bakers need to take a break. So Jules invites everyone to celebrate at the local Winchester Inn's Dickens Feast, a six-course extravaganza with Yorkshire Pudding, Christmas goose, and all the trimmings. But as the weather outside becomes frightful, things inside turn less delightful when one of the guests ends up as dead as Scrooge's doornail.

Charlotte Bessette—owner of Fromagerie Bessette, known by locals as The Cheese Shop—has a lot on her plate: setting a date with her fiancé, feeding the actors in her grandmother’s production of Hamlet, and planning the menu for her best friend and cousin’s upcoming wedding. At least her new creation—sinfully delicious Brie blueberry ice cream—has turned out perfectly. Just days before the wedding, a stranger turns up dead in the Igloo Ice Cream Parlor's freezer, his head bashed with a container of Charlotte's signature ice cream. But this stranger turns out to be more than he seems.

With the August heat strong enough to melt solid chocolate into syrup, Jake and Ellie crave a break from the bakery ovens, despite tourist season promising a sweet payday. But they never envisioned spending the last weeks of summer drifting around Passamaquoddy Bay searching for pirate’s treasure—and a dead body. Sally Coates believes her husband was murdered off the coast, and begs Ellie, a trusted childhood friend, to locate his remains. It’s unusual that a skilled fisherman would vanish along with the gold doubloon he inherited from his grandfather.