The Secret Ingredient

A Small Town Coffee Cozy Mystery

When legendary baker Genie Fairfax announces she's finally ready to pass down her family's treasured recipe notebook—four generations of culinary secrets that have made her cinnamon rolls the stuff of Clancy legend—Sarah Stall is honored to be among the candidates. But the intimate gathering at Genie's cottage turns tense when uninvited guests arrive with their own claims to the recipes, and by evening's end, the precious notebook has vanished. Two days later, the prime suspect is found dead in a walk-in cooler, clutching three torn pages in his frozen hand.

Sarah finds herself untangling a web of family grudges, stolen recipes, and old betrayals as she races to recover what remains of Genie's legacy. Everyone at that gathering had secrets, and everyone had reasons to want those recipes—but only one of them was desperate enough to kill. With her café targeted by the victim's schemes and the list of suspects growing shorter, Sarah must determine who turned a prized inheritance into a motive for murder.

As autumn settles over Clancy, Sarah discovers that some family recipes come with bitter ingredients. The fifth installment in the Bean There, Done That Mysteries serves up small-town intrigue, warm friendships, and a chilling reminder that the things we inherit aren't always what they seem.