About this item
Pepper Reece never expected to find solace in bay leaves. But when her life fell apart at forty and she bought the venerable-but-rundown Spice Shop in Seattle's Pike Place Market, her days took a tasty turn. Now she's savoring the prospect of a flavorful fall and a busy holiday cooking season, until danger bubbles to the surface . . . Between managing her shop, worrying about her staff, and navigating a delicious new relationship, Pepper's firing on all burners. But when her childhood friend Maddie is shot and gravely wounded, the incident is quickly tied to an unsolved murder that left another close friend a widow. Convinced that the secret to both crimes lies in the history of a once-beloved building, Pepper uses her local-girl contacts and her talent for asking questions to unearth startling links between the past and present - links that suggest her childhood friend may not have been the Golden Girl she appeared to be.
About the Author
Leslie Budewitz is the three-time Agatha Award winner and bestselling author of the Spice Shop and Food Lovers' Village mysteries. She'll make her suspense debut in April 2021 with "BITTERROOT LAKE" (Crooked Lane Books) , written as Alicia Beckman. When four women separated by tragedy reunite at a lakeside Montana lodge, murder forces them to confront everything they thought they knew about the terrifying accident that tore them apart, in Agatha Award-winning author Alicia Beckman's suspense debut.- Though I loved living in Seattle as a college student and young lawyer, I'm happiest back home in my native Montana. And I'm thrilled to share with you this story of grief and friendship, of loss and loneliness and love. In short, it's the story of women's lives told through the lens of Sarah McCaskill, a young widow, who discovers that to heal the wounds of the present she must first tend to the wounds of the past.It's also the story of Whitetail Lodge on the shores of Bitterroot Lake. Though fictional, it draws on my love of Montana's historic lodges and the families who built them. Grand houses, built by people with grand plans - some dashed, some come true. And it's the story of women's friendships, and how they change over time as life tugs us this way and that. It's a theme I've explored in other books as well, particularly in THE SOLACE OF BAY LEAVES, my 5th Spice Shop mystery (2020) . The series is set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, a place I fell in love with as a college freshman and still love to visit for research. (And by research, of course, I mean eat.) I'm also the author of the Food Lovers' Village Mysteries, set in fictional Jewel Bay, Montana. DEATH A DENTE, first in the series, won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First novel. I'm the proud owner of two other Agatha teapots - 2018 Best Short Story for "All God's Sparrows," set in Montana Territory in 1885, and 2011 Best Nonfiction (2011) for BOOKS, CROOKS & COUNSELORS: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law & Courtroom Procedure, drawing on my thirty-plus years as a lawyer. My books and short stories have also won or been nominated for Derringer, Anthony and Macavity awards. As a lawyer, I've represented individuals seeking damages for terrible wrongs, employers looking to do the right thing, and clients ranging from commercial fishermen to radio stations and even a major league baseball team. Currently, I handle mediations and help lawyers in over their heads. I'm a board member of Mystery Writers of America and past president of Sisters in Crime. I love to cook, eat, hike, travel, garden, and paint - not necessarily in that order. My husband Don Beans, a doctor of natural medicine, our gray tuxedo cat, an avid bird watcher, and I live in northwest Montana. For seasonal updates, please visit my website, http://www.LeslieBudewitz.com, and click on the newsletter tab to sign up f
