Culinary Fiction

The autumn equinox is here, and Caitlyn Le Fey is excited by the upcoming masquerade ball to celebrate the festival of Mabon. Not only is it a chance to dress up in glamorous costumes, but - with the Widow Mags catering - the villagers might finally put their prejudices aside and appreciate the delicious treats from her grandmother's chocolate shop. But on the night of the ball, Caitlyn barely has time to sample the decadent caramel fountain, or help her old vampire uncle search for his missing fangs, before a guest is brutally murdered.

Maggie Crozat, proprietor of a historic Cajun Country B&B, prefers to let the good times roll. But hard times rock her hostelry when a new cell phone app makes it easy for locals to rent their spare rooms to tourists. With October-and Halloween-approaching, she conjures up a witch-crafty marketing scheme to draw visitors to Pelican, Louisiana.

What happens when a classically trained New York chef and fearless omnivore heads out of the city and into the wild to track down the ingredients for her meals? After abandoning Wall Street to embrace her lifelong love of cooking, Georgia Pellegrini comes face to face with her first kill. From honoring that first turkey to realizing that the only way we truly know where our meat comes from is if we hunt it ourselves, Pellegrini embarks on a wild ride into the real world of local, organic, and sustainable food.

Hoteliers Maxime and Catherine Le Bon have spent their life savings restoring the hotel, which lies in an archipelago of sun-soaked islands off the coast of Marseille. To celebrate the grand opening, a group of privileged guests joins Verlaque and Bonnet: Marine's free-spirited best friend; an aging film star, his much-younger wife, and her son; a pair of affable American tourists; and a querelous Parisian couple. But the murder of one of the guests casts a shadow over everyone's vacation, and things go from bad to worse when a violent storm cuts off all communication with the mainland.

Afternoon tea isn't just about flavorful brews and delicious treats. It's also about presentation—fine china teacups (never mugs!), with carefully coordinated saucers and plates. With her fragile stock running low, Lily has an excuse to indulge in one of her favorite hobbies: visiting an antiques fair for replacements. Lily snaps up a charming Peter Rabbit-themed tea set in a wicker basket, perfect for children's events. But a few days later, a woman named Kimberly marches into the tearoom, rudely demanding to buy it back—then later returns and removes an envelope hidden in the lining.

Brook Ridge Falls' favorite bakery owner Lexy Baker has everything she ever wanted. A new husband she adores. A thriving bakery business. Everything is going great. Until a new bakery springs up across the street and tries every trick in the book to put her out of business! Lexy smells something rotten about the bakery, and it isn’t just their stale brownies. When her own bakery is broken into, she knows who did it...but what she can’t figure out is why. Could the new baker be after her great-grandmother's prize-winning scone recipe, or is there another more sinister reason?

Birch Tree, Maine, is experiencing a rash of deaths, all mysteriously linked to food trucks that frequent the Birch Point Lake Park. Angel’s new donut truck was doing great, until deathly rumors started. Shanice thought she had customer support when taking over her grandpa’s potato truck, until one started complaining. Marisol’s taco truck is a fixture in the park, until linked to a food judge’s death. Mey’s noodle truck was her ticket to a new life, until her ex-boyfriend threatens to take it away. Could competition between vendors have led to this murder and mayhem?

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 her divorce from her thrice-married embezzler husband, Trinidad Jones is ready for a fresh start. So when she's left one of her ex's businesses in Upper Sprocket, Oregon, she decides to pack up her dog, cash in her settlement, and open the Shimmy and Shake Shop, introducing the world to her monster milkshakes. Soon Trinidad's life seems to be churning along smoothly. That is, it was until she discovered her neighbor, the Popcorn King, face down in his giant popcorn kettle.

Harvest, Ohio, is a long way from New York City, where Bailey King left a coveted job as a head chocolatier to take over Swissmen Sweets, her Amish grandparents' candy shop. But between lavender blueberry fudge and chocolate cherry ganache truffles, Bailey may have bitten off more than she can chew when the search for a missing pot-bellied pig turns up a body suffering from sugar overload - the fatal kind....

Chloe loves her new life pouring beers and mixing cocktails at the Sea Glass Saloon in the Florida Panhandle town of Emerald Cove. On this morning’s foggy run, she spots a sailboat washed up on a sandbar. Hearing a cry, she climbs aboard the beached vessel to investigate and finds not only a mewling kitten, but also a human skeleton, in the cabin. The skeleton is tied to Chloe’s friend Ralph, whose wife disappeared on a sailboat with three other people twelve years ago. Believing his wife lost at sea, Ralph remarried. Now he finds himself a murder suspect.

Nothing spoils a romantic evening with the hottest detective in town like stumbling upon a body. Oh. My. Bad. Luck. But hey, I'm Ellie Hart, and lately murder follows me everywhere. Seeing the body was more than enough mayhem for me, but unfortunately, the prime suspect threatens to blackmail me into helping clear her name. Now I have no choice but to find a missing clue.

When a retired actress is killed, Tiffany and Rosie are asked to investigate - why would someone want her out of the picture, after all these years? Meanwhile, Tiffany and Stone work hard to keep their secret under wraps...

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.

Catching a killer is a piece of cake... Or is it? When Mindy Macbay moves back to her hometown of Santa Verona, she soon finds herself on the receiving end of anonymous threats, and even worse, unpleasant encounters with her high school nemesis and former paramours. "Winters will have you giggling into your book!" Will Mindy unmask the killer before it’s too late? And will her annoying high-school nemesis manage to make Mindy's life sufficiently miserable? Praise for A.R. Winters: "The perfect balance of being lighthearted, but still a serious page-turning mystery." - Jaycie D, Amazon.com...

Betrayal. Murder. A vineyard stained with secrets. Olivia Craven never expected her past to follow her … but now, it’s coming for her. After leaving behind the wreckage of her marriage, Olivia Craven hoped for a fresh start in the tranquil vineyards of Ogilvie. But when her estranged husband is found murdered in a wine barrel, and her mother is brutally attacked in her own home, Olivia is thrust into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. With Detective Harris circling, a Russian crime syndicate closing in, and a chilling discovery hidden in her most intimate belongings, Olivia must unravel...

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.

When cupcake-loving croupier Tiffany Black attends an office party at her friend Jack’s casino, she doesn’t expect murder to be on the menu. Tim and Susan, employees in Jack’s human resources department, collapse during the event. When Susan dies from what appears to have been intentional poisoning, Tiffany has no choice but to take the case. Who would’ve wanted to kill Susan, a pretty and charming young woman with seemingly no enemies but maybe a few too many admirers? As Tiffany investigates her death, she uncovers a surprising life, and an office rife with simmering resentments. ...

The Fall Festival is in full swing. Civil War reenactors from three counties are partaking in Blossom Valley's tribute to John Brown. Blue Ridge Mountain foliage is in full bloom. And best of all is Jacob Potter's pumpkin farm where his hay rides, piglet races, pumpkin picking, and corn maze are time-honored draws for locals and tourists alike. That's why it's such a shock when Mr. Potter is found dead, hidden under a tarp in the back of Winnie's pickup truck.

Spring is right around the corner, and with the warmer temperatures come plenty of food requests from Lilah Drake's covered-dish clients. Lilah pulls out all the stops with a sweet new casserole for the birthday party of Marcus Cantwell, a wealthy curmudgeon who has some angry ex-wives and more than a few enemies. When he's found facedown in Lilah's casserole, it's anyone's guess as to who might have wanted the old man dead.