Culinary Fiction

Courtney Archer is known for hosting the show Cooking with the Farmer's Daughter...despite the fact that she's actually a pediatrician's daughter. Now she's signed on for a role on The American Baking Battle. On this reality show, she can start developing a more authentic image for herself - and as a bonus, the usual backstabbing and manufactured drama isn't part of the Baking Battle script. But genuine drama is heating up behind the scenes....

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.

The theft of a friend’s priceless, family-legacy Christmas ornaments brings amateur detective and culinary expert, Sadie Hoffmiller, back on the case in a new standalone cozy mystery.

June's annual Brown County Bluegrass Festival is always a hit for Robbie's country store and cafe, Pans 'N Pancakes. This year, Robbie is even more excited because she's launching a new bed-and-breakfast above her shop. But the celebration is cut short when a performer is found choked to death by a banjo string. Now all the banjo players are featured in a different kind of lineup. To clear their names, Robbie must pair up with an unexpected partner to pick at the clues and find the plucky killer before he can conduct an encore performance....

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.

In a triumph for Mia's catering business and cooking school, Mia's Morsels is chosen to host a fall festival event in their Idaho mountain town-which means managing a bunch of stage moms and their social-media obsessed daughters as they get ready for the big beauty contest. There's a lot riding on the results of the Harvest Moon Festival-it's where the local coven leader is chosen for the following year.

Murder on Milverton Square is the first in a wonderful new cozy mystery series set in an enchanting small town nestled amongst stunning New Zealand scenery. The Milverton Mysteries features a chaotic cast of local busybodies, delicious baked treats, a demanding and disdainful ginger cat, a very slow-burn romance with a rather appealing policeman, and of course, murder.

When a vineyard accident during harvest season leaves Lucie Montgomery without a valuable employee, it's her worst nightmare. But before she can search for a replacement, there's more bad news: Paul Merchant, her winery manager's husband, is found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool. Police rule Paul's death an accident, but his wife insists he was murdered because of his leadership of Don't Pave Paradise, a conservationist group lobbying to keep the region's beautiful country roads unpaved. And six weeks ago, Paul's predecessor also died under mysterious circumstances.

Mord? Aber bitte mit Sahne! Isabella hat genug von der Großstadt! Da erfährt sie, dass das alte Café ihrer verstorbenen Großmutter im Schwarzwald zum Verkauf steht. Ein Wink des Schicksals! Isabellas neuer Lebensplan: Omas legendäre Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte wieder unter die Leute bringen. Doch wie sich herausstellt, starb einst eine Frau nach dem Genuss ebendieser Kirschtorte - vergiftet! War Oma eine Giftmischerin? Isabella muss das Rätsel um die tödliche Torte lösen, wenn ihr Neustart im ländlichen Zapfbach gelingen soll.

Every baker has their weak spot. For Poppy, it’s bread. So, when The Great British Baking Contest hits bread week, she’s as fragile as an overbaked croissant. Just when she needs to keep all her focus on flour, water, yeast, and salt, another ingredient enters the mix. Death. Someone is not who they appear to be, and secrets from the past are bringing deadly consequences to the present.

Krissy's helping a friend clean out her late mother's house when she learns that although the deceased died peacefully at an advanced age, her brother did not. In fact, Wade was killed more than 30 years ago, and the case was never closed. What surprises Krissy even more is that she has a personal connection to the story - her friend Rita was seeing Wade at the time, scandalizing the town with the couple's large age difference.

Lacey Doyle, 39 years old and freshly divorced, has made a drastic change: She has walked away from the fast life of New York City and settled down in the quaint English seaside town of Wilfordshire. Everything’s going perfectly - until someone mysteriously dies in her friend’s new B&B. Their village turned upside down and her new friend’s livelihood now in jeopardy, it’s up to Lacey and her dog to get to the bottom of the mystery.

Summerview Secondary School is holding its annual charity auction. Margery and Clementine Butcher-Baker are on hand to prepare delicious baked goods for the big day - with the assistance of Clementine's mysterious sister, Maria. As the auction begins, chaos erupts when Eleanor Black, the owner of Dewstow Museum, is found murdered in the stage storeroom. Maria has vanished. Her fingerprints cover the crime scene. Clementine refuses to believe her sister is capable of murder and is sure they need to widen the search – Eleanor has a long list of enemies.

Cooking aficionado turned amateur detective Sadie Hoffmiller tries to solve the murder of her beautiful young neighbor - a single mother who was mysteriously lured from her home while a lemon tart was baking in her oven. At the heart of Sadie’s search is the woman’s missing two-year-old child. Whoever took the child must be the murderer, but Sadie is certain that the police are looking at all the wrong suspects - including her!

When an American tourist is murdered with a scone in Gemma Rose's quaint English tearoom, she suddenly finds herself apron-deep in a mystery involving long-buried secrets from Oxford's past. Armed with her insider knowledge of the university and with the help of four nosy old ladies from her local Cotswolds village (not to mention a cheeky little tabby cat named Muesli), Gemma sets out to solve the mystery - all while dealing with her matchmaking mother and the return of her old college love, Devlin O'Connor, now a dashing CID detective.

Wegen dem Golfclub ist Niederkaltenkirchen eh schon gespalten wie ein Holzscheit, aber jetzt liegt auch noch der Steckerlfischkönig höchstselbst und mausetot in der clubeigenen Spa-Landschaft. Der Franz ermittelt unter dubiosen Volksfestclans und golfenden Schickimickiarschlöchern, während seine Susi ganz andere Pläne hat: Sie kandidiert als Bürgermeisterin, was beim aktuellen Dorfoberhaupt hochgradig nervöse Zuckungen auslöst.

Theodosia's Honey Bee Tea was an elegant affair set in Charleston's new Petigru Park amid newly planted native grasses and a community beekeeping project. But when a phony beekeeper shows up and sprays toxic smoke at the guests, the party erupts in chaos. Worse yet, a shot rings out and Osgood Claxton III, candidate for state legislature, falls to the ground—dead.

Food critic Hayley Snow and her pal Miss Gloria are overjoyed to welcome Violet and Bettina Booth, aka the Scottish Scone Sisters, to Key West. The sisters will host The UK Bakes!—Key West Edition. But the same day they arrive, the bed-and-breakfast the sisters are staying in gets torched. The contest begins the next morning featuring three local bakers. One is the inn owner’s wife, Rayna, who is not only the most talented chef of the group but now a person of interest in the fire. The next night, a dogwalker discovers a body near the bed-and-breakfast.

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.

A is for Aronia, berry member of the apple family, clothes-stainer, super-fruit with reputed healing power. D is for Durian, endowed with a dramatic rind and a shifting odor - peaches, old garlic. M is for Medlar, name-checked by Shakespeare for its crude shape, beloved by gardeners for its flowers. In this work of unique invention, these and other difficult fruits serve as the central ingredients of 26 lyrical essays that range from deeply personal to botanical, from culinary to medical, from humorous to philosophical.