At the end of the previous book in the series, Fudge Bites, our heroine, fudge-maker Allie McMurphy, decided to turn down her ex-boyfriend Trent Jessop’s offer to winter in Chicago with full use of his commercial kitchen in favor of finally becoming an official year-round resident of Michigan’s Mackinac Island. She’s also planning on reopening…
Like the last Christmas-themed novel in this series, Christmas Cupcake Murder takes place in our heroine Hannah Swensen’s past—this time about a decade before the current point in the series. Hannah is finally getting her mother, Delores, to look into renting a space in which to finish, and perhaps sell, Delores’s massive collection of antiques.…
Kensington Books has been publishing seasonally themed collections of mystery novellas from their culinary cozy (and adjacent) authors since 2007, and this is probably my favorite of the ones I’ve read so far! A lot of my friends have complained of shorter attention spans since the pandemic started, and while I’ve been lucky not to…
Cafe owner and caterer Val Deniston is looking forward to her Maryland town’s annual Dickens Fair, held every year in early December. Her grandfather Don is slightly less enthused. He’s been replaced as Santa by newcomer Jake Smith and has been given the role of Scrooge instead. While he tries not to let his assigned…
It’s wintertime in Ocean Crest, New Jersey, and our heroine, Lucy Berberian, is trying to persuade her best friend, Katie Watson, to join her in jumping into the Atlantic Ocean for a Polar Bear Plunge to benefit the town’s senior center. Most of the town’s businesses are sending a representative, and Lucy is carrying the…
It’s December in Oriole Point, Michigan, which means two things: the Hollyberry Festival, organized by indefatigable town booster Piper Lyall-Pierce, and the annual town production of A Christmas Carol. When perennial Jacob Marley portrayer and theatre benefactor Everett Hostetter is found dead, the immediate assumption is that the wealthy 95-year-old finally succumbed to old age.…
The Christmas holiday season is ramping up in South Lick, Indiana, and Robbie Jordan—owner-operator of the restaurant, country store, and B&B, Pans ‘N Pancakes—is busy trying to keep up with demand on all her business fronts. When a handsome young man comes in looking for her assistant, Danna Beedle, Robbie isn’t the only person shocked…
What better way to gear up for Halloween than with a culinary cozy mystery that amps up the spooky? Things have always been a little kooky in San Nicholas, California, especially given that pie-maker Val Harris’s best friend is the elderly if sprightly Charlene McCree, a woman who firmly believes that a local pastor is…
Halloween has come to Arborville, and Pamela Paterson’s main concern is whether she’s underdressed, as usual, for the town’s annual bonfire celebrations—especially in comparison with her friends Bettina and Nell, who have gone all out with their costumes. All thought of frivolity is swiftly pushed out of their heads, however, when two teenagers stumble across…
Hope Early’s food blog is thriving to the extent that she’s had to hire an assistant and is on the precipice of landing some major sponsorship deals. When the local library approaches her about teaching a class on blogging, she’s thrilled to be able to give back to her community—if a little nervous since she’s…
