Apple Turnover Murder

It is June in Lake Eden, Minnesota, and Hannah Swensen has more work than she can handle. Bridal showers keep her busy, and Stephanie Bascomb, the mayor's wife, orders eleven-hundred cookies from The Cookie Jar for a three-day charity event.

Hannah's business partner, Lisa, wants a stand selling apple turnovers, though Hannah has never baked one. She trusts a recipe from Lisa's mother-in-law. She also agrees to play assistant to a magician in the talent show that is part of the fundraiser. After a long run of baking and one awful purple dress, she admits that leaving her comfort zone has been fun and profitable.

The trouble is the show's host, Bradford Ramsey, a community college professor. Hannah and her younger sister Michelle each had a bad romance with him. When he comes sniffing around between acts, Hannah tells him off. Then the curtain fails to go up, and she finds Ramsey backstage, dead, with a turnover in his hand.

To protect her own reputation and Michelle's, Hannah starts looking into his death. The suspects are many and scorned. They include an ex-wife who feels cheated in more than one way and a prominent local woman who may have used Ramsey to get back at her unfaithful husband. This is a light cozy mystery with a baking setting, and it includes more than ten cookie and dessert recipes.