Tragedy strikes the Geauga County Maple Festival when a local judge is found murdered. Although the event is crowded with townsfolk, one man says the wrong thing and ends up the county's most wanted. He is president of the maple festival, Fred Newman, and he suddenly finds himself under arrest by the Chief of Police. Fred is an attorney in the small town of Chardon, and although he may be a prime suspect, he's thankfully not alone. Several of the townspeople are called before the court, and Fred takes it upon himself to represent his fellow citizens. However, he soon seems even more suspicious when he represents another attorney, which only causes additional small town trouble. Despite the cloud that has settled over Geauga County, Fred continues his duties as President of the maple festival. He takes his responsibilities seriously, but how can he run a successful event when half the attendees think he might be a murderer? It'll take further investigation and the help of a local police officer to clear Fred's name and save the famous celebration.

'Tis the season for hot chocolate and mouthwatering treats. But sometimes too much of a good thing can be downright deadly . . . CHRISTMAS COCOA MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR Siobhán O’Sullivan’s hopes for a quiet Irish Christmas are dashed when the local Santa turns up dead in a carnival dunk tank of hot cocoa. Now instead of hunting down holiday gifts, she’s pursuing a heartless killer. Seems the dead Santa was no angel either, stealing neighborhood dogs to guide his sleigh. But was it his holiday antics—or worse—that led to his death by chocolate? CHRISTMAS COCOA AND A CORPSE by MADDIE DAY When local businessman Jed Greenberg is found dead with a Chocolate lab whimpering over his body, the police start sniffing around Robbie Jordan’s country restaurant for answers. Was it something in Robbie’s hot cocoa that killed Jed, or was it Cocoa the dog? As the suspects pile as high as her holiday tree, Robbie attempts to get to the bottom of the sickly-sweet murder . . . DEATH BY HOT COCOA by Alex Erickson A Christmas-themed escape game seems like the perfect pre-holiday treat for bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock and her best friend. But when the host is found dead in a pool of hot cocoa, it’s up to Krissy and her team to catch the killer—or escape before getting killed. There’s nothing like a hot cup of murder to warm up the holiday season!

Ex-New Yorker and local diner owner Gia Morelli is still getting used to the sweltering Florida sun. But this summer she’ll have to deal with a more dangerous kind of heat—when she’s hot on the trail of another murderer . . . Summer in Boggy Creek has arrived, and Gia’s best friend, successful real estate agent Savannah, is getting hitched. Now she’s enlisted Gia’s sleuthing talents in a desperate search for the perfect wedding dress. But when Savannah mysteriously vanishes after showing a mansion to a bigwig client, Gia investigates the house Savannah was trying to sell. The first clue she finds is Savannah’s car in the driveway. Inside the house, they stumble on Savannah’s potential buyer—dead. Someone had apparently closed the deal—with a two by four full of nails to the client’s head. Soon afterward, a woman’s body is fished from the lake near the same house. The townsfolk are now sweating bullets over the murders, and the heat comes down on poor Gia to find her missing friend, and track down the killer . . . Praise for Lena Gregory “Hold on to your plates for this fast-paced mystery that will leave you hungering for more!” —J.C. Eaton, author of the Sophie Kimball Mysteries, on Scone Cold Killer “Family secrets, old mansions, and a growing list of murder victims—these elements and more blend together to make an intriguing as well as entertaining cozy mystery.” —RT Book Reviews on Occult and Battery “As breezy and salty as a gust of wind off the chilly bay waters.” —Juliet Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author of the Witchcraft Mysteries on Death at First Sight “An intriguing opening to a fun new series.” —E. J. Copperman, national bestselling author of the Haunted Guesthouse Mysteries on Death at First Sight

Anyone alive, and wanting to stay that way, must deal with food. Crime is, and always has been, present. Food and Crime examines the crossroads of these two universal forces, how hunger can lead to theft, fraud, and murder, and how the well-fed will sometimes do anything to keep their bellies full. From the one-timers to the career caper-planners, food criminals are a wide-ranging, often audacious bunch, and this is the record of their impact, great and small. From a war fought by the Mayor of New York over tasty thistles, to the role McDonald's plays in the American culinary conscious, to how foreign food aid abuse led to a mighty fall in the financial sector, these sixteen stories of criminals who engage with the world of cuisine, cookery, or agriculture cover food and crime from the piddliest pilfering to the most diabolical murders. Covering the period from the Ancient Greeks (who invented insurance fraud) to the effects of COVID-19 on seafood crime in the true crime capital of America - Florida, here's clear evidence that there's never been a time when food and crime were not intimately entangled. Food and Crime sheds light on the unexpected, and sometimes unbelievable, connections between two things that we can never seem to get enough of.

This is a short story that can be read as a stand-alone or as a prologue to the Olivia Faulkner Mysteries series. It is shorter than the rest of the books in the series which are all full length novels. Olivia planned on a summer roadtrip across the country, but she ends up stuck in her childhood home in Grand Arbor Township when her camper van breaks down. Good thing there's a $1000 grand prize in this year's Grand Arbor Cherry Festival Pie Baking Contest... The problem is--somebody is determined to make sure nobody wins. Can Olivia find out who's sabotaging the contest or will this year be the last cherry festival in Grand Arbor? Books in the Olivia Faulkner Mysteries series: A Pie To Vie For (Book 0.5) Maple Syrup And Murder (Book 1) Dead As A Donut (Book 2) Raspberry Tart Revenge (Book 3) Tea Time Treachery (Book 4) more titles to be announced soon!

A Pie to Vie For Olivia planned on a summer road trip across the country, but she ends up stuck in her childhood home in Grand Arbor Township when her camper van breaks down. Good thing there's a $1000 grand prize in this year's Grand Arbor Cherry Festival Pie Baking Contest... The problem is--somebody is determined to make sure nobody wins. Can Olivia find out who's sabotaging the contest or will this year be the last cherry festival in Grand Arbor? Maple Syrup and Murder All Olivia Faulkner wanted when she left Chicago and returned to her childhood home in Grand Arbor was a fresh start and a safer life for her daughter, Vi. But when a professor is murdered with a poisoned maple bacon pastry from her family café, Olivia Faulkner must dive deep into a murder investigation and solve the mystery. With the help of her daughter, an old flame, and the nosy old ladies who stitch and gossip at the café, can she catch the real killer before gossip spreads through tiny Grand Arbor and her business is ruined? Dead as a Donut Business at Olivia Faulkner’s family café is finally picking up, but when she stumbles on a dead businessman holding a box of her donuts, she is thrown headfirst into another murder investigation. Meanwhile, there is a new lifestyle mall in Grand Arbor that is driving family-owned shops like hers out of business. Armed with the help of three gossipy old ladies, her mischievous cat, and an old love, Olivia sets out to solve the mystery. On top of all this, Olivia has to juggle sleuthing, baking, and her daughter’s interview to get into a prestigious private school. Can she find the killer before her life in Grand Arbor crumbles to pieces? Raspberry Tart Revenge Olivia Faulkner's life is Grand Arbor is finally looking up. Cheesecakes are flying out of her online store faster than she can bake them and her daughter, Vi is one step closer to her dreams of going to Harvard. When an admissions officer at Vi's new school winds up dead, all of Olivia's plans begin to unravel. To complicate things further, while investigating the murder, Olivia makes a startling discovery about the disappearance of her sister. Can Olivia solve the murder and find the truth behind the decades old family mystery, or will she become the next victim?

“With twists and turns and various forks in the road . . . takes readers on a wild journey”—from the author of Nacho Average Murder. Includes recipes! (Read Your Writes Book Reviews) For country-store owner Robbie Jordan, the National Maple Syrup Festival is a sweet escape from late-winter in South Lick, Indiana—until murder saps the life out of the celebration . . . As Robbie arranges a breakfast-themed cookoff at Pans ’N Pancakes, visitors pour into Brown County for the annual maple extravaganza. Unfortunately, that includes Professor Connolly, a know-it-all academic from Boston who makes enemies everywhere he goes—and this time, bad manners prove deadly. Soon after clashing with several scientists at a maple tree panel, the professor is found dead outside a sugar shack, stabbed to death by a local restaurateur’s knife. When an innocent woman gets dragged into the investigation and a biologist mysteriously disappears, Robbie drops her winning maple biscuits to search for answers. But can she help police crack the case before another victim is caught in a sticky situation with a killer? “A fast-paced tale, with a well-plotted mystery that left me hanging onto my seat through all of the twists and turns.”—Lisa Ks Book Reviews “Maddie Day goes above and beyond with her Country Store Mystery series with each book drawing you deeper and deeper into South Lick, Indiana and Robbie Jordan’s life.”—Cozy Mystery Book Reviews