After a YouTube video goes viral with NY Chef Samantha Barnes fileting off the fingertip of her foul-tempered husband, Sam knows it’s time to retreat and lick her wounds. An opportunity arises when she learns she has inherited her Aunt Ida’s dilapidated house in Cape Cod and an old friend offers her a job writing restaurant reviews for the Cape Cod Clarion. In A SIDE OF MURDER, Sam learns that she can always go home again, but even the idyllic community of her youth has its own deadly secrets.
When Sam and her friends eat dinner at the recently overhauled Bayview Grill, Sam plans to give it a great review - that is until she finds a body floating in the water outside. The dead body is identified as Estelle Kobolt, a former waitress of the restaurant that Sam knew years ago. To Sam, her death doesn’t look like an accidental drowning, but who would want Estelle dead? Sam has her own reasons for disliking the woman, but she won’t let that impede her from finding the truth. Handsome Harbor Master and Sam’s past summer crush, Jason Captiva, is not convinced of its murder, but he’s willing to hear Sam out. As the two start investigating Estelle’s life, Sam encounters a shady land developer, a notebook thief, secret affairs, resentful spouses, and plenty of good food! As she closes in on a killer, will Sam be able to outmaneuver the bad guy, or has she overlooked an important clue?
A SIDE OF MURDER, the first in the new Cape Cod Foodie Mystery series, has all the right ingredients to draw in readers: an idyllic location, a strong female lead, charming secondary characters, snappy writing, solid sleuthing, and several scrumptious recipes! Samantha Barnes is witty, fun, and physical as she navigates her new life on the Cape. Her reintroduction to a former crush adds fun and romance to the story while her new friend Helene, the mysterious librarian, is a nice touch. Sam also knows her way around a kitchen and the culinary tidbits spread throughout the story are mouthwatering. The mystery itself is smart and evolves effectively with plenty of suspects to throw suspicion one way or the other. A scene where Sam outmaneuvers a suspect on a Sunfish shows her expertise with a sailboat and ups the suspense factor. Overall, readers will enjoy this debut mystery and will look forward to returning to the Cape to spend more time with Sam and her friends.
Beautiful Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is known for seafood, sand, surf, and, now...murder.
Samantha Barnes was always a foodie. So when the CIA (that’s the Culinary Institute of America) came calling, she happily traded in Cape Cod for the Big Apple. Soon the young chef is a rising star in the city’s food scene—until a feud with another chef (her ex) boils over and goes viral. So when Sam inherits her Great-Aunt Ida’s house on the Cape and lands a job writing restaurant reviews, it seems like the perfect pairing. What could go wrong? Well, as it turns out, a lot.
The dilapidated house comes with an enormous puppy. Her new boss is, well, bossy. And the town’s new harbormaster is none other than her first love. Nonetheless, Sam’s looking forward to testing her inner food critic at the Bayview Grille—and indeed the seafood chowder is divine. But the body floating in the pond outside the eatery was not on the menu. Though the drowning is called an accident, Sam is certain it's murder. And as she begins to stir the pot, it becomes terrifyingly clear that she may be writing the recipe for her own untimely demise.
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