Culinary Mystery

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

Vintage cookware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton has agreed to help her sister clear out the house of a deceased older neighbor, and she's thrilled at the prospect of discovering antique kitchenware and other treasures - until she opens a vintage trunk in the cellar and finds the remains of a teenage girl with a cleaver buried in her skull. When the body of a second girl is found just days later in a nearby river, the clues all indicate that the crimes are connected - and that the culprit's motives are hidden in the past.

Ella Mae LeFaye's delicious pies are still drawing long lines, as well as the attention of Beatrice Burbank, president of the Camellia Club, a philanthropic organization comprised of high-society Southern ladies from the charming and affluent town of Sweet Briar, Georgia. To ensure the success of their centennial dessert cookbook, Bea hires Ella Mae to teach the tasty tricks of her trade to the club's members at their annual retreat.

Ever since Thanksgiving, when an engagement ring in a velvet box—and no gift tag—was left behind, Poppy and her pals have been left with an unsolved mystery. But at least this mystery isn't the kind that involves murder. That all changes when the body of a fish supplier is discovered in the kitchen of her ex's restaurant—and he's frozen, not fresh. For once, it's not Poppy who tripped over the corpse, yet she can't escape being drawn in since the victim has a note taped to him reading Get Poppy. Figures—an engagement ring isn't labeled, but the dead guy is addressed to her.

In her Food Lovers' Village Mysteries, Agatha Award-winning author Leslie Budewitz introduces us to Jewel Bay, a tight-knit Montana community that thrives on tourism and farm-to-table fare. Featuring Erin Murphy, beloved proprietor of the Merc—a century-old general store converted into a local foods market-each book brings us closer to the folks who call Jewel Bay home, and the cunning culprits in their midst.

Ike Hamilton is a part of the Haven Harbor community just like anyone else, though he's fallen on hard times and has to make do on disability checks and deposit bottles. Most of the locals do what they can to help him out, and needlepointing partners Angie and Sarah are happy to see him at the annual Blessing of the Fleet, honoring all those lost at sea over the centuries. But when harmless Ike is stabbed, suspicion quickly falls on a troubled teenage boy who's new in town. Angie's convinced that young Leo is innocent - but if he didn't do it, who did?

Marygene Brown always figured she'd marry her childhood sweetheart, Alex Myers, not cater his wedding. But the Peach Diner could use the exposure. Most of the island is showing up - although more for the role-playing murder game at the reception than for the widely loathed bridezilla, Lucy Carmichael. Marygene may have to smile through the festivities, but Mama doesn't have to hold her peace - especially since only Marygene can hear her mother's ghost. Mama says she sees an aura of darkness around the wedding.

When amateur baker, and now amateur sleuth, Rosie Hart finds herself embroiled in another mystery in rural Airlie Falls, Texas, she can’t believe her bad luck. Soon the town is reeling from a murder, an unidentified body, a late mayoral challenge, missing town money, and a strange group of socialites gathered at a mansion out of town. With so many of her new friends suspected of wrongdoing, Rosie can’t sit on the sidelines any longer. She’s convinced these strange occurrences are connected, but she’s running out of time to prove how.

When a wealthy New York philanthropist pays top dollar for a private four-day ziti workshop, Nell Valenti wants everyone at the Villa Orlandini Cooking School focused on the task at hand. But complications abound when Nell’s boyfriend, Pete Orlandini, rushes to Rome for an unexpected business trip; Chef Orlandini is more preoccupied with a potential spot on an American cooking show than with preparing for the workshop; and an uninvited woman sneaks into the villa to inspect Pete’s olive grove.

With her rent rising faster than her pie crust, bakery owner Winnie Johnson had hoped to be rescued by an inheritance from her wealthy friend and neighbor Gertrude Redenbacher. Instead all she inherits is the widow's hostile hissing tabby, Lovey, and a vintage ambulance, restored by Gertrude's late husband. As her dream crumbles, Winnie makes her final delivery - a peach pie to an elderly widower. But she finds Bart Wagner lying on his kitchen floor, smothered by a pillow.

She came back to Sugar Creek to cater a wedding, not crash a crime scene. But when the bride's biggest rival turns up dead at her aunt's charming B&B, the big day is suddenly on the brink of disaster—and Abby is caught in the middle. With the wedding on the brink of disaster and her best friend Cassie all too eager to play detective, Abby suddenly has more on her plate than just hors d'oeuvres. The town is buzzing with secrets, the bride is about to snap, and someone is willing to kill to keep the past buried.

As it turns out quilting is the deadly new fad people are just dying to try...And here I thought the annual quilt auction would be a boring way to spend an evening! One big murder in my tiny hometown was more than I ever wanted to see, but now the death toll has risen to two. Eek! Hey, at least I've got my favorite 10-pound bundle of mischief at my side for good. My Jack Russell buddy, Pip, and I are experienced amateur detectives now and we're more than ready to put another tough case to bed.

Paige Palmer spent her entire adult life studying to earn her doctorate in philosophy, only to be passed over for the job of her dreams. Escaping academia, she takes a job as barista at a quirky and cozy shop, The Roastery on 33rd, feeling somehow drawn to the charming spot in the quaint New Hampshire town. But there are secrets in the Roastery that have been percolating for decades. When a body is discovered in a secret room in the building, Paige’s impatient and tough-as-nails boss becomes increasingly convinced that an in-house investigation will be necessary to catch the culprit.

Allison Sweet, 34, a sous chef in Los Angeles, has had it up to here with demeaning customers, her demanding boss, and her failed love life. After a shocking incident, she realizes the time has come to start life fresh and follow her lifelong dream of moving to a small town and opening a bakery of her own. After a popular food critic trashes Allison’s bakery, he ends up dead - and suspicion falls on her. With business failing, Allison’s only hope is to solve the crime and clear her name.

In Jewel Bay, all is merry and bright. At Murphy's Mercantile, AKA the Merc, manager Erin Murphy is ringing in the holiday season with food, drink, and a new friend: Merrily Thornton. A local girl gone wrong, Merrily's turned her life around. But her parents have publicly shunned her, and they nurse a bitterness that chills Erin. When Merrily goes missing, and her boss discovers he's been robbed, fingers point to Merrily - until she's found dead.

When Ivy Sinclare, Washington state’s most notorious convicted murderer, asks Judy Pine to tell her story, Judy jumps at the chance. As she unravels accounts of Ivy’s past, Judy begins to believe in the prisoner’s innocence, but Judy’s determination to find the truth may jeopardize her own future. This opportunity proves to be more than Judy bargained for.

Trapped in Paradise, Washington by a snowstorm, Lily and Judy fear for their lives. A sudden blizzard confines a group of shelter seekers to a lodge that has been closed for the season. The scenery is breathtaking, but when bodies start to drop, it seems clear that one of their companions is a murderer.

The Danube Express was once the most famous train on the continent. Linking east and west, it was the fastest route from the Alps to the Black Sea, until airplanes and automobiles made it obsolete. When a group of savvy investors revived it in the 1970s, it became an express only in name. But when a Hungarian actress disappears from the train, it turns out to be more than a publicity stunt. Soon it is clear that a killer lurks on the Danube Express, and plans on taking it all the way to the end of the line.

Big Red is more than a pet…so much more. The large ginger ball of fluff is not the only one taken, which is a catastrophe for the owners who, like Maddie, consider them family. Of course, the body found behind her bakery takes precedence, with the police and the town is scared, but why is no one else searching for the pets? Sheriff Tanner, who happens to be her ex-boyfriend, is doing what he can to solve both crimes. Still, Maddie can’t sit by and wait. Going against her darling Gran’s wishes, she once again does her own detective work - with a little help from her friends.

As Christmas approaches in the Cornish town of Seal Bay, festive cheer fills the air. Twinkling lights, jingling bells, and sparkling trees adorn every corner, and Morwenna Mutton, the sharp-witted sexagenarian sleuth, is eagerly counting down the days. But when local author Pawly Yelland is discovered dead at a party, a champagne flute in one hand and a mince pie in the other, it seems this Christmas will be anything but merry.