Culinary Fiction

As December sweeps through South Lick, Indiana, Robbie's life seems merry and bright like the string lights glistening around town. But strange happenings signal a bumpy ride into the holidays. First a man raises eyebrows at Pans 'N Pancakes when he claiming to be the long-lost half-brother of Robbie's assistant. Then a fire destroys the home of a controversial anesthesiologist, exposing skeletal remains in his attic. Helplessly intrigued, all Robbie wants for Christmas is to stop her winter wonderland from becoming a real nightmare.

It’s almost spring in Ashland, Oregon, and the town is preparing for the Shakespeare and the annual Chocolate Festival. Business is cookin’ at Torte, and the store is expanding as Jules’ team whips up crèpes filled with mascarpone cheese and dark chocolate. Torte stands a chance of being this year’s confectionery belle of the ball! Life couldn’t be sweeter...unless murder taints the batter.

Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell doesn't know what to believe when Lydia Partridge, the put-together owner of gourmet Bar Harbor Ice Cream, suddenly reveals fears that her husband may be having an affair. There's no other way to explain why Jamie, a respected professor, was spotted in a remote part of town with a much younger woman. But instead of learning the truth about the secret meeting, Lydia opens her freezer truck to find another surprise—the dead body of a summer employee . . .

Jules Capshaw has too much on her plate - and she's feeling the pinch: The whole town of Ashland, Oregon, is in on the surprise Elizabethan-themed wedding she's planning for her mom and soon-to-be stepdad. But is her secret scheme half-baked? She's hiding racks overflowing with sweet treats while Torte is topsy-turvy with a major remodel and the return of Jules' estranged husband, Carlos. And until now, Jules had no clue about the bitter family feud that has her friend Lance frazzled and suspicious.

Amateur sleuth Sloan Krause returns in The Pint of No Return, another delightful cozy by Ellie Alexander - this time investigating a movie star who's murdered not long after arriving in Leavenworth, Wash., to film his latest project. No other festival compares to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, Washington. The whole town is buzzing with excitement over this year’s activities and eagerly awaiting Nitro’s latest offering, Cherrywizen, made with locally sourced cherries. But local brewmaster Sloan Krause is tapped out.

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.

Anxious the Jack Russell Terrier has a poorly paw. Burned-out chef and van life convert Max Effort will do anything for his best friend, even if that means a visit to the vets and the inevitable whining. Stopping in Harlech on the Welsh coast means they can get the little guy sorted out and take in the sights, too, even if Anxious is less than keen on visiting the doctor!

Amateur sleuth and proud owner of Dogwood Donuts Maggie Sharpe was gearing up for the holidays and having just another normal day in charming southern Missouri, when an unfortunate accident occurred in front of her shop in the wee hours of the morning. When a bus full of elderly potential witnesses on their way to a Christmas event puts out a distress call, Maggie feels obligated to find some answers. She discovers that what she thought was an accident was actually a murder, which makes things anything but jolly in Dogwood Mountain.

When Maddy Montgomery’s groom is a no-show to their livestream wedding, it’s a disaster that no amount of filtering can fix. But a surprise inheritance offers a chance to regroup and rebrand—as long as Maddy is willing to live in her late, great-aunt Octavia’s house in New Bison, Michigan, for a year, running her bakery and caring for a 250-pound English mastiff named Baby. Maddy feels ready to tackle any challenge, including Octavia’s award-winning cake recipes. That is, until New Bison’s mayor is fatally stabbed, and Maddy’s fingerprints are found on the knife.…

Everything seems to be going wrong for Goldy. The health inspector has shut down her catering business in Aspen Meadow, Colorado, due to non-standard plumbing. When she hosts a live cooking show for PBS, she drops eggshells into the cookie dough. On the way home from that humiliating experience, she finds the chairman of the State Parole Board - dead with hundred dollar bills drifting in the snow around him. Goldy’s troubles really begin, however, when the police launch a murder investigation....

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.

The Earl of Frome gets a shock when a gaggle of nosy bird watchers gang up on him. When one of them winds up dead, it doesn't look good for the Earl. Amateur baker Poppy Wilkinson gets embroiled in yet another murder mystery. It's a good thing she's got witchy powers as she has to solve a murder, try and learn more about her own mysterious beginnings, and turn out a winning cake, because it's cake week in the competition tent.

Follow the aroma of shamrock sugar cookies to the Beacon Bakeshop, a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Michigan where amateur sleuth Lindsey Bakewell is busy preparing for Beacon Harbor's St. Patrick's Day festivities—with a little help from her adorable Newfoundland, Wellington, of course!

It's a brutally hot day in Pine Hills, and Krissy Hancock would love to be sitting in a shady spot and sipping her favorite iced coffee. Instead, she's lacing up her sneakers for a marathon—and swiftly regretting it. Especially when she finds one of the other runners lying motionless. At first Krissy suspects heatstroke, but the red marks around the man's throat tell a more sinister story.

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.

The Chipmunk Chronicles, the local newspaper, has a new gossip column—and gossip is great for the Cozy Corgi Bookshop and Bakery. Though infuriated by the way people are treated by the column’s author, Winifred Page can’t help wondering about the outrageous revelations. Fred’s grumpy corgi, Watson, however, is more concerned with an endless search for treats than the rumors flying around town. When Gerald Jackson, a less-than-brilliant local lawyer, is featured in the column, people begin to suspect he’s working the town over in a quest for wealth rather than fighting for justice.

Lana and Anna May can’t imagine things getting any better until they learn their aunt has yet another surprise in store for them―a swanky cocktail party hosted for the freelancers of Southern California. But on the night of the party, things go south when a close journalist friend of Grace’s mysteriously plunges from the roof top of the hotel. Even more suspicious is the fact that Aunt Grace’s friend is the same journalist Lana saw getting into a screaming match with the fortune cookie vendor at the convention.

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

When Lana Lee’s best friend, Megan Riley, asks her to help host a speed dating contest at Ho-Lee Noodle House, she doesn’t see the harm in lending a hand. The night goes better than anticipated, and both Lana and Megan are beyond thrilled with the results. But before they can break out the champagne, Rina Su, fellow Asia Village shop owner and speed dating participant, calls to inform Lana that the date she’s just matched with has been murdered. Under suspicion of foul play, Rina enlists Lana’s help in finding out what really happened that night.

When coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi awakens on a bench in Washington Square Park, she has no idea she’s been missing for the past week, or that her friends and family have been frantic with worry. Now that she’s back, everyone is overjoyed, including a handsome NYPD detective who claims to be her fiancé. But to Mike Quinn’s crushing distress, Clare doesn’t remember him, or much of anything about the last decade of her life.