Culinary Fiction

Tea maven Theodosia Browning and her tea sommelier Drayton Conneley are guests at a bird hunt styled in the precise manner of an English shooting party. Which means elevenses (sloe gin fizzes), gun loaders, the drawing of pegs, fine-looking bird dogs, and shooting costumes of tweed, herringbone, and suede. But as gunshots explode like a riff of Black Cat firecrackers, another shot sounds too close for comfort to Theodosia and Drayton. Intrigued but worried, Theodosia wanders into the neighbor's lavender field where she discovers their host, Reginald Doyle, bleeding to death.

Melanie Cooper has zero interest in catering her 15-year high school reunion, but Angie insists it’s only right that they bask in the success of Fairy Tale Cupcakes - and Mel’s engagement to the delicious Joe DeLaura is the cherry on top! Everything is going better than expected until Mel’s high school nemesis picks a fight. No longer willing to put up with Cassidy Havers’s bullying, Mel is ready to tell the former homecoming queen to shut her piehole and call it a night. But as Mel and Joe prepare to depart, Cassidy is found dead in the girls’ bathroom....

The Fourth of July is coming, and for professional food lover Samantha Barnes, it’s all about the picnic. Okay, and the fireworks. And the parade. But mostly the picnic. What could be better than a DIY clambake followed by the best blueberry buckle in the world? Sam has finally found the perfect recipe in the kitchen of Clara Foster, famed cookbook author and retired restaurateur, and she’s thrilled when Clara agrees to a buckle baking lesson. But when Clara dies in a house fire blamed on carelessness in the kitchen, Sam doesn’t believe it.

It's the beginning of a new school year at Normalton University, and Dani Sloan has purchased a table for the big orientation extravaganza on the quad, determined to recruit the incoming freshmen as customers for her innovative packed-lunch business. Her food samples are a hit, but the good always seems to come with a dose of bad, and just a few days later, a man is murdered during the annual college-sponsored zombie crawl.

Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow and her groom, Police Detective Nathan Bransford, chose Scotland for their long-delayed honeymoon, hoping to sightsee and enjoy some prize-winning scones. But their romantic duo swells to a crowd when they're joined by Nathan's family as well as octogenarian Miss Gloria. Nathan's sister Vera takes the women on a whirlwind tour of some of Scotland's iconic mystic places as research for a looming book project. But the trip takes a deadly tartan turn when a dinner party guest falls ill and claims she was poisoned.

During the week between Christmas and New Year's, the year-round population of Key West, Florida, faces a tsunami of tourists and snowbirds. It doesn't help that outrageously wealthy key-lime-pie aficionado David Sloan has persuaded the city to host his pie-baking contest. Every pie purveyor on the island is out to win the coveted Key Lime Key to the City, and Key Zest food-critic Hayley Snow is on the scene to report it. Meanwhile, Hayley's home life is turning more tart than sweet.

With the Moonstone Beach Festival coming up, Jill is touching base with her fellow small business owners to make it as successful as possible. It's frustrating when Darla, the owner of South Cove Winery, is late to a big meeting, but they manage to get the discussion rolling about the kite flying event and the big Battle of the Bands—which Darla's musician boyfriend is hoping will be his big break. And Jill will be there with her food truck, hoping for a financial boost after a slow spring. But amid the fun in the California sun, someone will soon be planning a funeral instead of a festival.

Love is in the air at FairyTale Cupcakes as Angie prepares for her wedding, but, at the same time, her co-owner, Mel, is about to help with a breakup. Mel's old friend Diane has decided to dump her fiancé after discovering he's only marrying her for her money. She wants Mel to personally deliver a batch of caramel breakup cupcakes to the louse and give her a play-by-play of his reaction. But when Mel finally tracks the man down, the look on his face isn't what she expected: he's dead.

Melanie and Angie are taking a gamble by opening their first franchise of the bakery, and where better to hit the jackpot than Vegas? Holly Hartzmark is a former showgirl who's looking to bring Mel and Angie's sweet treats to Sin City, but Mel isn't so sure she's ready to hand her recipes over to a complete stranger - especially one as brash as Holly. But after the potential bakery location gets blown up, Mel begins seeing another side to Holly.

Excitement and anxiety envelop Winifred and Leo as they prepare for their first trip together—New Year's Eve in New York City. For Fred, figuring out what clothes to pack is a challenge, but nothing compared to the emotional knot and turmoil of leaving her cherished corgi sidekick, Watson. It is more than Fred's nerves, however, or Watson's grumpy mood, that threaten the trip. When Fred receives a text from Leo about a meeting at Madame Delilah's Old Tyme Photography, a quick errand leads to an unexpected mystery. And soon more than travel plans are in danger.

Work might be exhausting, but for now Cassie Brooks's satisfied making good money and enjoying New York City with James. He’s an accountant but has surprisingly eclectic taste in food. Cassie is starting to think he could be the one when her life flips upside down with one call: James has died tragically. Months into her grief, she uncovers a worn diary belonging to James and stumbles upon a remarkable revelation: James was the mastermind behind the hottest, anonymous foodie account in the city.

Jake and Ellie are taking a break from perfecting their chocolate-pizza recipe to cater a housewarming party hosted by Ingrid Merryfield. Miss Merryfield is famous for her old-Hollywood glamour. Her new home, Cliff House, has a reputation too - for being haunted. But she isn’t concerned, and some of her guests even try to summon a spirit during the party. What arrives instead is a freak autumn storm that downs an ancient tree, traps everyone on the property, and leads them to stumble upon a hidden room - where they find film critic Audrey Dalton, apparently frightened to death.

After a long cold winter, spring is beginning to bloom in the alpine village of Leavenworth, Washington, where craft brewer Sloan Krause and her partner in crime Garrett Strong are putting the finishing touches on their bright and refreshing Lemon Kiss ale. They'll be debuting their new line at the Maifest celebration, which will bring visitors from near and far to dance around the Maipole and shop at the outdoor flower markets.

Writer Catherine Davitt has returned to the Keys to research a book about Hemingway’s wives, but she’s also on the hunt for the truth about her missing friend. Hayley quickly agrees to help investigate and they hit the road to see what clues they might find. Back in the late 1970s, Catherine and her friend Veronica were part of a group of lost souls camping in the mangroves of Big Pine Key, until Veronica vanished, and the sheriff’s office cleared out the camp. Catherine and Hayley begin interviewing Big Pine Key residents who were around at the time of Veronica’s disappearance.

As the autumnal hues of November fall over the Shakespearean hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, Jules and her team at Torte are working on their biggest event ever. They’ve been invited to create chocolate showpieces for the gala opening of a new exhibit, Shakespeare’s Lost Pages at SOMA. The museum, located on the campus of Southern Oregon University, is getting ready to unveil the Bard’s lost manuscript, Double Falsehood, which is being touted as the greatest artistic discovery of modern times.

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.

Easter weekend on the Jersey Shore is hopping. Poppy's Bed and Breakfast is busier than ever, but she needs to leave things in the hopefully capable hands of Aunt Ginny - and paws of Figaro the black smoke Persian. She's selling her paleo muffins and keto cookies at the Health and Beauty Expo in Cape May's Convention Hall. Normally sharing a booth with the love of her life would be a treat, but she's recently discovered secrets that throw her new romance into chaos.

In a quiet small town in New Brunswick, old Agatha Treadway makes one last cranky complaint to her niece before dying on her kitchen floor. The cause seems to be a jar of contaminated string beans, which sat on Agatha's basement shelf for years before becoming her final meal. The town doctor calls it a tragic accident - and a warning to all who can their own vegetables - but Agatha's neighbor, the intrepid Janet Wadman, knows better. Agatha was an expert canner, which means the beans must have been placed there by someone else. This was murder.

It’s been three years since food anthropologist and cooking show star Miriam Quiñones-Smith had her last brush with death. Her Spanglish culinary show, Abuela Approved, is topping the charts. Her parents are back in Miami and living with her in Coral Shores. And her kids are great. But when bones start popping up in unexpected places, Miriam’s idyllic life is threatened.

The Brook Ridge Falls Retirement Center is still reeling over the death of one of their own, when Lexy and her senior detective friends are asked to investigate another murder. Muriel Maguire insists that her grandson Henry has been framed for the murder of his wife, but the clues all point to Henry, and the police already have him in custody.