Part of Bookstore Cafe Mystery, book 10
First published 2022
Krissy Hancock owns a bookstore café in Pine Hills, Ohio. She expects mysteries to stay inside her novels, not invade her daily life. Someone wages war against her business through planted cockroaches, fake negative reviews, and deliberate vandalism. Her boyfriend Paul Dalton, a local police officer, helps her investigate the attacks. Then a killer commits murder using a teapot filled with Krissy's own spiced chai blend as the weapon. The entire town now suspects Krissy of the crime. The real killer nurses a grudge that stretches back years and grows more dangerous with time. Krissy must identify the murderer before another victim dies. She faces the loss of everything that matters to her. Her business could collapse, she could go to prison, or she could become the next target. The sabotage campaign and the murder connect in ways she must uncover to save herself.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, adult-fiction, cozy-mystery
Vibes: cozy, engaging, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-detective, false-accusation, romantic-subplot
Setting: Pine Hills, Ohio
Period: 21st-century
320 pages · Paperback · Kensington Cozies
Content warnings: death, murder