As MURDER FRESHLY BAKED opens, Amber Bowman, manager of Amish Village in Middlebury, Indiana, watches Ryan Duval cross the finish line of Race for a Cure, then fall dead from a gunshot wound to his chest. It's happening all over again! This is the third death/murder of the year. Can Amber face another investigation?

Flash back several weeks earlier when Amber is called to the bakery to check out a note left with a pie. The note states, in really bad poetry, that poison has been slipped into it. That same day Amber receives a disturbing email saying something similar. Over the next few days more notes and pies are left in various shops throughout the village and more emails arrive. Amber is very disturbed and enlists the help of her friend and coffee shop manager, Hannah Troyer, to help her figure this out. Of course she goes to the police as well, but Amber and Hannah have a history of being amateur sleuths. Where will their personal investigations lead them this time?

Ryan Duval is a playboy, dating three women at the same time, all of whom work in Amish Village. Two of them are Amish and one is Englisch. Did one of them kill him, or is his death related to the note and pies?

Vannetta Chapman masterfully weaves several subplots into this well-crafted inspirational story and brings it all together at the end in a very beautiful way. There are many characters in this Amish-Englisch community who live and work together side by side. You almost need a glossary to know who's who. However, enough information is given about previous stories to help you understand the characters' relationships.

MURDER FRESHLY BAKED is a story about change and growing up, about trusting God with the details of our lives and about God healing the broken pieces. Ms. Chapman also addresses one of Amber's employees having PTSD and the use of service dogs to help them through their healing process. This is the third book in Ms. Chapman's Amish Village series. She's one of my favorite authors.