Restaurant Mysteries

Poppy McAllister is happy about opening a Jersey Shore B&B - but working in a professional kitchen has always been her real dream. Now it's coming true, at least briefly, as she teams up during the high-profile Restaurant Week challenge. Poppy's specialty is pastries, and if anyone can make glorious gluten-free goodies, it's Poppy. Things get heated quickly. Relatively harmless pranks soon escalate into real hazards, including an exploding deep fryer. And now one of the judges has died after taking a bite of Poppy's cannoli - making her the chef suspect.

Opening night. A feared critic. Three bites, then collapse. Chef-owner Fiona Firth aims to get through The Perennial’s first dinner service in one piece, not find a body at the pass. Early tests point to monkshood in her seven-herb blend, and the whispers harden: police name Fiona their prime suspect. She spots what others miss: a swapped spice jar, sticky residue on a tasting mug, a camera blind spot no one should reach. Miso, her orange tabby, bristles while the lead detective tells her to stand down. Two others have motive and access: developer Dale Morrison, whose permits hinge on ...

We all hold lost recipes in our hearts. A very special restaurant in Kyoto helps find them . . . Tucked away down a Kyoto backstreet lies the extraordinary Kamogawa Diner, run by Chef Nagare and his daughter, Koishi. The father-daughter duo have reinvented themselves as “food detectives,”...

“Listeners will be entertained by narrator Karen Chilton's performance of this deliciously devious novel set at Essie's Soul Food Cafe on the South Side of Chicago.”—AudioFile A sparkling debut mystery set on the south side of Chicago, featuring the quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy...

One dead garden coordinator. One routine herb pickup. And a crime someone is desperate to pass off as an accident. Fiona Firth stops by Seacliff Springs’ community garden every Tuesday morning for fresh herbs. Finding Clara Pemberton dead among the rosemary beds turns a familiar routine into a nightmare. The explanation is convenient. A fall. An accident. Case closed. But the garden tells a different story. Missing tools. Broken stems. Disturbed soil. And Clara’s final notes suggest she wasn’t just tending plants. She was closing in on someone who’d been stealing from the garden for...

Restaurant Week was supposed to be Pelican Harbor's sweetest week of the year. Five days of tasting menus, harbor lanterns, and Blair Whitcome's legendary crème brûlée anchoring the finale — until a kitchen fire at the Bayou Brasserie kills the town's visiting food critic and turns a celebration into a crime scene. The fire marshal calls it an accident. Blair calls it wrong. The grease trap was clean three weeks ago. The back window was freshly sealed. And the exit was blocked before the fire ever started. What begins as professional instinct — a chef who knows what clean kitchens ...

Cynthia Rose leaves Texas to take over her son's ice cream truck on Maui while he's imprisoned, awaiting trial for a crime he didn't commit. Cynthia doesn't expect to have not one but several mysteries to solve before her son, Nate, and his girlfriend, Harmony, are exonerated and the real perp is brought to justice. Written by Celia Kinsey under the pen name Abby Byne.

Mahalia's Sweet Tea boasts the most flavorful soul food in all of Prince George's County, Maryland. But as events at the beauty industry's leading trade show turn ugly, owner Halia Watkins needs to bite into an unsavory new item on the menu - murder!

Restaurant owner Lucy Moretti is on top of the world - she’s finally in charge of Alba, the restaurant her family has been operating for two generations. Things are great - that is, until a police officer knocks on the door. He informs Lucy that one of her long time employees, Donovan Fagan, has been found stabbed to death on the front steps of the neighborhood church. Even worse, the murder weapon was a knife from Lucy's own restaurant! Always inquisitive, Lucy can't help but be drawn into the case, with the help of her best friend and executive chef, Ally. Join Lucy and Ally as they ...

The next delectable mystery featuring quick-witted, unforgettable Savvy Summers, owner of a soul food café in Chicago. Savvy has her work cut out when an old friend hires her to cater a company luncheon at a nearby office building on Chicago's South Side. Stepping out of her traditional soul...

A missing friend. A seaside town full of secrets. A chef who won’t stop until she uncovers the truth. When a close friend vanishes on the Oregon Coast, restaurateur and former detective Lily Good feels that familiar pull back into sleuthing. By day, Lily keeps The Good Chef humming—chopping, stirring, and serving comfort on a plate. By night, she follows a trail of half-truths, anonymous tips, and small-town whispers that all point to something much bigger than a simple disappearance. As tides shift and loyalties waver, Lily teams up with her detective boyfriend, Lance Phillips, to sift...

FAITH FRANKLIN IS BACK! If you've gotten to know Faith in the 1st four "Slice of Paradise" stories and you're hungry for more...IT'S TIME! Join her in her 5th adventure, Pecan Flan Murder Plan! It's gonna be "Flan-tastic!" Faith Franklin is over the moon about the grand opening of Paradise Falls, a beautiful nature preserve she’s helped bring to the community. Between the gorgeous surroundings, the friendly people and the majestic animals, nothing could ruin this day! Well, almost nothing. One of the preserve’s staff members has been found murdered, and there seem to be countless leads ...

A strict, career-minded lawyer, an easygoing flirtatious cowboy, a mysterious disappearance, and a mischievous puppy… Can childhood friends with opposing personalities become more? Back in her small coastal town, divorced and heartbroken lawyer Marina Helms is a fish out of water helping in her mom’s seafood restaurant kitchen. Then Marina lands in hot water when she agrees to help her best friend, Kai Lawrence, find the brother he didn't know he had. She just needs to keep her crush on Kai under wraps until she goes back to her demanding job and lackluster life. A part-time cowboy, ...

When a feared food critic comes to Nueva Vida, every chef in town holds their breath. This reviewer has destroyed careers with a single scathing article, and now they're here to pass judgment on the local dining scene. But someone has already delivered their own verdict—served with a final course of poison. The critic is found dead after what should have been a career-making tasting menu, killed by a bitter compound so expertly disguised that only a culinary master could have pulled it off. With every local chef now a suspect—including Eliza's friend Alistair—she's forced to ...

One dead wellness guru. One herbalist consultant. And someone determined to make her the prime suspect. Fiona Firth agreed to review Phoenix Thorne's ritual preparations as a professional favor. Finding him dead the next morning wasn't part of the deal. Now the authorities want to know why she was the last person to examine his supplies. Her bistro's good name is on the line…again. And the real killer is perfectly content letting her take the blame. A bitter rival with public threats. A facility manager facing financial ruin. Secrets stacked as carefully as the meditation cushions. ...

2 BOOKS FROM THE BESTSELLING SERIES FOR THE PRICE OF 1! OR FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED! ALSO INCLUDES AN OFFER FOR A FREE STORY IN THE SERIES PLUS 2 DELICIOUS RECIPES DIRECTLY FROM THE STORIES! CONTAINS: BOOK 1: A Cherry Sinister Murder Faith Franklin is a dreamer. She dreams of cakes & pies. She dreams of crepes & brownies. And, more than anything, she dreams of making a career of serving her delicious treats to an adoring public. So, when her grandmother calls and asks her to move to Florida to help run her café, she cannot get out of Minnesota fast enough! And before she knows it, she is...

Stress-free weekend in Boston... ...not when the woman who owns the business next to yours is murdered. Isabella had planned a stress-free weekend at a small-business conference with her cousins. Instead of learning how to cross-promote her apothecary, she's got another murder to solve. But will the Boston Police Department let her? The obvious suspect is the victim's abusive husband... ...until he comes up with an iron-clad alibi. Even then, Isabella is convinced he's the culprit. But if he’s guilty, why did he call Detective Palmer to help with the investigation? When a second person is...

Angie Turner's restaurant, The County Seat, is conveniently located near a first-class farmers market - so her menu is full of fresh ingredients. But a visiting culinary professor has just had a taste of something very unhealthy.... Angie first meets Daniel Monet at a local mission, where she and her chef-in-training, Hope, are serving barbecued chicken poutine to the homeless. Monet is one of Hope's teachers - but Angie's boyfriend knows him from his youthful days in England. But soon, the bon vivant is no longer vivant.

FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED! If you've gotten to know Faith Franklin in A Cherry Sinister Murder & The Cheesecake Fake and you're ready for more...IT'S TIME! Join Faith in her 3rd adventure, The Blackmail Flour Trail! How exciting! Faith, Laura & Grandma Bessie have made it to the final round of the Cupcake-Baking Contest! They’ve met, and beaten, some interesting folks along the way and now they’re so close to winning the $50,000 prize they can taste it! But things are about to take a nasty turn. When their competitor for the final round is found murdered, not only does it look like the...

Amidst the glitz and glamour of a police fundraiser, a shocking tragedy unfolds — a bone-chilling plummet from a hotel rooftop. A man's life is snuffed out, but was it a tragic accident, a desperate suicide, or cold-blooded murder? Minutes after the deadly fall, a tense altercation escalates into an arrest. Gio La Serta, caught in the crosshairs of suspicion due to an earlier disagreement, finds himself shackled, his freedom snatched away. To many, it's an open-and-shut case. But for private investigators Jake and Al, the hurried arrest reeks of foul play. Commissioned by a wealthy ...