Overview

This book is part 1 of the Maple Creek Bakery Mistery series When Cora Rossi-Ashford returned to Maple Creek, Oregon, she was looking for fresh air, sourdough starter, and a second chance - not a murder investigation. After twelve years as a food journalist in Seattle, Cora thought she knew how to read a room, spot a false note, and ask the question no one else wanted to ask. But six weeks after inheriting her grandmother's beloved bakery, she is still learning the rules of small-town life: everyone knows everyone, gossip travels faster than steam from the espresso machine, and old history has a way of hiding in plain sight. The annual Maple Creek Bake-Off should be her chance to prove she belongs. The ovens are warm, the croissants are perfectly laminated, and the town square is dressed in autumn leaves for Maple Creek's most cherished tradition. But the competition turns deadly when celebrated food critic Victor Hale is found dead between rounds - and one of Cora's chocolate croissants is found nearby. At first, Victor seems like just another sharp-tongued critic with a talent for making enemies. But Cora soon discovers he came to Maple Creek with a hidden purpose. Beneath the polished reviews and professional reputation, Victor was tracing a long-buried family secret tied to the town's most prominent names, a secret reaching back decades to old photographs, forgotten records, and a recipe her grandmother guarded for reasons Cora never understood. Now the bakery that was supposed to be Cora's fresh start has become the center of a murder investigation. The sheriff, Ben Holt, is calm, careful, and far too good at keeping his thoughts to himself. Peggy, Cora's assistant and self-appointed social media strategist, is eager to help, even when her enthusiasm outruns her reliability. Agnes Whitmore, the eighty-year-old fixture at the bakery's corner table, knows more about Maple Creek's past than most people would like remembered. And Biscotti, Cora's orange tabby cat, keeps turning up exactly where he shouldn't - which is usually exactly where Cora needs to look. As rivalries rise, clues surface, and the town closes ranks around its secrets, Cora begins to understand that Victor's death was not about a baking contest. It was about inheritance, memory, reputation, and the dangerous things families do to protect the stories they prefer to tell. With a missing notebook, a suspicious second croissant, and forty years of silence standing between her and the truth, Cora must decide how far she is willing to dig into Maple Creek's past. Because someone in town has already killed once to keep that past buried. And if Cora keeps asking questions, she may be next. Warm, witty, atmospheric, and full of small-town charm, Murder at the Maple Creek Bake-Off is a debut cozy mystery layered with family secrets, slow-burn tension, bakery warmth, and a sharp-eyed heroine who knows that the right question can be more dangerous than any accusation. Perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke, Laura Childs, Diane Mott Davidson, and readers who love cozy mysteries with cats, bakeries, hidden histories, and a touch of Pacific Northwest autumn.

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