A culinary cozy murder mystery.
Grape Expectations, a new wine bar, is due to open in Gull Bay, and April Hart is enthusiastic about the opportunities this may bring. It will be right next door to her restaurant and should attract more people into the picturesque resort. Gull Bay is not the busiest of bays in Jersey, and a new bar could be just what is needed to revitalize it. Once visitors have had a drink or two, they may be eager to prolong their visit with a meal. And where better than April's restaurant next door? She is so happy, in fact, that she agrees to bake wine-flavored cupcakes for the launch party to ensure Grape Expectations gets off to a great start.
But that proves to be a mistake in more ways than one.
The problems start when Amanda Spiers, the manager of the new bar, rejects every cupcake baked. It takes April and her bakery manager Rachel so many attempts to perfect the recipe that it impacts her own business. And not in a good way. When April discovers that Grape Expectations will also be serving the same Mediterranean food that she specializes in, and tries to poach her chef to cook it, she believes that Amanda is out to sabotage her restaurant deliberately.
But it seems that April is not the person with most to lose.
Amanda is killed with a broken wine bottle, and it is April who discovers the body. Unfortunately. For although Amanda had ruffled more than a few feathers in the twenty-four hours before she died, only one person had the means, the motive and was caught at the scene. And that was April herself.
Can April, along with her friends Rachel, Miguel, and the irascible Hope, find the killer? Before April risks losing more than her livelihood, but her freedom as well.
Part of the Gull Bay Mystery series, A Bottle of Wills can also be read as a standalone book. Perfect for fans of Agatha Frost, Charlaine Harris, and Joanne Fluke.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Grape Expectations, a new wine bar, is due to open in Gull Bay, and April Hart is enthusiastic about the opportunities this may bring. It will be right next door to her restaurant and should attract more people into the picturesque resort. Gull Bay is not the busiest of bays in Jersey, and a new bar could be just what is needed to revitalize it. Once visitors have had a drink or two, they may be eager to prolong their visit with a meal. And where better than April's restaurant next door? She is so happy, in fact, that she agrees to bake wine-flavored cupcakes for the launch party to ensure Grape Expectations gets off to a great start.
But that proves to be a mistake in more ways than one.
The problems start when Amanda Spiers, the manager of the new bar, rejects every cupcake baked. It takes April and her bakery manager Rachel so many attempts to perfect the recipe that it impacts her own business. And not in a good way. When April discovers that Grape Expectations will also be serving the same Mediterranean food that she specializes in, and tries to poach her chef to cook it, she believes that Amanda is out to sabotage her restaurant deliberately.
But it seems that April is not the person with most to lose.
Amanda is killed with a broken wine bottle, and it is April who discovers the body. Unfortunately. For although Amanda had ruffled more than a few feathers in the twenty-four hours before she died, only one person had the means, the motive and was caught at the scene. And that was April herself.
Can April, along with her friends Rachel, Miguel, and the irascible Hope, find the killer? Before April risks losing more than her livelihood, but her freedom as well.
Part of the Gull Bay Mystery series, A Bottle of Wills can also be read as a standalone book. Perfect for fans of Agatha Frost, Charlaine Harris, and Joanne Fluke.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Used availability for Ashley Cain's A Bottle of Wills