Hello, dear readers! In Queensville, Michigan (location of Sieve and Let Die, Vintage Kitchen Mystery #11) Jaymie Leighton Müller has a busy busy life, with multiple jobs, a food column in the local newspaper called Vintage Eats, a food blog, a husband, a daughter, and volunteering at the local historic home.
Legumes are highly nutritious and a great source of plant-based protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Beans and pulses make up part of the legume family, are incredibly affordable, and offer so many versatile meal plan options. They are a fantastic staple that should be a common part of your diet. Try these budget-friendly, versatile, and nutritious recipes for your next meal with your family or for a late weeknight dinner made in an instant.
As much as Beacon Bakeshop owner Lindsey Bakewell appreciates the Halloween season and the town’s Halloween Bash celebrations, she’s at her limit with the pranks and trick-before-treats shenanigans. Waking up every day to find a different horror movie icon hanging outside of her lighthouse home has gotten old, especially since she already has the in-house ghost of Captain Willy Riggs haunting the tower. Not sharing Lindsey’s sentiment is her best friend Kennedy Kapoor, who is doing everything she can to promote the Beacon Harbor Halloween Bash’s Pumpkin Pageant.
After inheriting her great-aunt Octavia’s house, bakery, and 250-pound English mastiff Baby, Maddy Montgomery has been using her social media skills to promote Baby Cakes Bakery to the Southwest Michigan town of New Bison. Live-streaming her filled-with-mishaps attempts to cook have gained her a growing following, but she’s really looking forward to the New Bison Spring Festival where she and her employees can not only showcase their creations but also compete in the baking competition.
Hannah Swensen is back with new recipes created for the Tri-County Summer Solstice Celebration. There’s one thing more important than the celebration: Mike, Lake Eden’s handsome police detective, is determined to quit. Bill, Andrea, Hannah, Norman, and more friends want him to stay. Delaying tactics seem to be the best idea, so Mike will have time to think over his decision. A colleague spirits Mike to the lake cabin for rest, relaxation, and fishing.
One of my favorite things in a cozy mystery is a coffee-related setting. I also have certain favorite cities that I especially enjoy “visiting” in books. The Ground Rules Mystery series by Emmeline Duncan has both! The main character Sage Caplin, together with her best friend Harley Yamazaki, own a coffee cart and a roastery, with plans to one day have their own brick-and-mortar coffee shop. Their company is called Ground Rules. The books are set in one of my favorite towns Portland, Oregon.
Ricki James-Diaz runs Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop located in the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. There was trouble there recently, and the staff is trying to move on, regain their balance, and stay safe during hurricane season. It’s Ricki’s first and she finds herself checking the weather app a lot.
Ivy Culpepper’s to-do list is growing longer by the day, and it’s getting harder for her to decide what should take priority. Not only haven’t they finalized the menu or bread wall for Ivy’s engagement party to celebrate her upcoming nuptials to Miguel Baptista, they still haven’t even decided which of their respective dream homes to live in.
As the fall season approaches, Coral Shores, Florida, prepares for Halloween and the many celebrations of its multicultural community. Former New Yorker Miriam Quiñones-Smith and her husband Robert are dressing up for their son’s school Fall Festival where her cooking show’s Spanish language network is hosting a food booth. Miriam is happy to present her Caribbean foods now that she is the host of YouTube’s Abuela Approved and has her Cocina Caribeña featured regularly on a morning TV show, but a shadow looms with the appearance of Lois Pimpkin.
Double Shot Death is the second book in the Ground Rules Mystery series by Emmeline Duncan. I love coffee mysteries so I was excited when the first book, Fresh Brewed Murder, came out last year. I also love Portland, which is where this series is set, so it was a “double shot” of fun for me. When I saw that a new book in the series was coming out this year, well of course I was going to read it.
