A Lavender Lie

The annual Maplewood Harvest Bake-Off should have been a celebration. Instead, it became a crime scene. Frances Morrison, at seventy-two, knows her small town inside and out. She knows who keeps the best garden, who gossips at church coffee hour, and exactly how long to bake her legendary snickerdoodles. What she never expected was watching her best friend become the prime suspect in an attempted murder. When celebrity food blogger Dolores Kingsley arrives in Maplewood promising to judge the competition, tension follows her like a shadow. She‘s built her empire on destroying small businesses with scathing reviews, and whispers suggest Maplewood is next on her list. Then Dolores tastes Pauline Shepherd‘s lavender-honey cookies. And collapses. Within hours, Pauline‘s kitchen is searched. Her ingredients are confiscated. And the evidence tells a damning story about poisoned extract and deliberate sabotage. But Fran knows something everyone else has missed. Her friend is innocent. The official investigation is moving fast. Too fast. Fran has 48 hours before an arrest is made. With her tech-savvy grandson Cody by her side, she begins asking the questions no one else wants answered. Who had access to Pauline‘s kitchen? Who knew her baking schedule? Every answer leads to more questions. Every suspect has an alibi. And someone doesn‘t want Fran getting any closer to the truth. In a town where everyone knows your business, keeping secrets requires careful planning. But Fran Morrison has been reading people for seven decades, and she‘s not about to let her best friend take the fall for someone else‘s crime. Will Fran‘s detective instincts be enough to catch a poisoner who‘s already three steps ahead?