After her former fiancé decides he needs to find himself by
traveling the world, Piper returns to Cloverdale where her
aunt and uncle welcome her with open arms. Piper opens a
shop focused on pickles and preserves of all kinds. With the
food festival bringing so many people to Cloverdale, she has
purchased a huge pickle barrel for the centerpiece of her
booth at the fair.
When a local politician is found dead in her pickle barrel,
everyone fears for the town of Cloverdale, which depends on
the revenue from the fair. The town needs to catch the
culprit fast, and since the last person seen arguing with
the victim was Nate, a young musician, the sheriff focuses
on Nate as primary suspect. Amy, Piper's assistant pleads
with Piper to prove the sheriff wrong because she's sweet on
Nate doesn't believe he's guilty of murder.
Piper sets out to find out more about the victim and what
might have driven someone to murder him. As she
investigates, Piper meets Will, the owner of a local tree
farm and just the man who could turn her thoughts to
romance.
Ms. Hughes has crafted a wonderful mystery around the
premise of pickles, items which most of us think of only as
a garnish. The town of Cloverdale is a typical small town;
populated with relatively normal people trying to live a
good life. Throw in the occasional odd duck and the town is
complete. THE PICKLED PIPER is the first in a new series,
Pickled & Preserved, and I wait with anticipation for
next book. Mary Ellen Hughes has other series, and THE
PICKLED PIPER makes me want to go out and track them down.
After her dreams of romance are crushed, Piper Lamb decides to pursue her dream of opening her own shop of pickles and preserves, called Piper’s Picklings, in the idyllic small town of Cloverdale. But she isn’t in town long before she encounters a barrelful of trouble. The Cloverdale fair offers Piper a sweet opportunity to promote her business. With her new assistant, Amy, she sets up a booth centered around an eye-catching display of the ever-popular dills in an old-fashioned barrel of brine. But things soon turn sour when fairgoers witness a fight between Amy’s boyfriend, Nate, and town council blowhard—and bagpipe player—Alan Rosemont. When Rosemont is found floating in Piper’s barrel, Nate becomes the prime murder suspect. With Amy’s boyfriend in a pretty pickle, there’s no time to dillydally. But as Piper searches for the real killer, she needs to be careful to preserve her own life; or she may end up a pickled Piper herself.
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