Tish Tarragon owns the Cookin’ the Books Café and Catering Service in Hobson Glen, Virginia. She helped the local police solve several cases recently and has just recuperated from actually being shot on the last case. Since the local police chief has left, perhaps her days of helping solve cases is over.

Her dear friend, and part-time employee, Celestine Rufus has just lost her husband of forty years. Celestine is supposed to compete in the Annual Virginia Commonwealth Bake-Off, but just isn’t up to it at this time. Tish agrees to take Celestine’s place in the bake-off and prepares to create three prize-winning entries. She wants to give the prize money to Celestine to help with expenses.

Tish plans to bake a Frangipane Cherry Pie for one of her entries, but gets some very strange reactions when she mentions that to people. It seems the last two contestants who planned to bake a cherry pie, died during the competition before they had the chance to bake the pie. After the first day of the bake-off, a note is left at her station telling her to drop out of the contest. More, not so subtle hints are left on days two and three, and everyone feels that Tish’s life really is in danger. She and her friends are called back into action once again to solve this case. Tish is not backing out of the bake-off and is determined to find the killer.

THE CURSE OF THE CHERRY PIE, by Amy Patricia Meade, is the fourth book in Ms. Meade’s Tish Tarragon Mystery Series. I have not had the pleasure of reading the other books in this series, but this one can easily stand alone as a great cozy mystery read. Tish is a strong heroine in this delightful story and is surrounded by supporting characters who are just that … supporting her in everything she does. That is, everyone except Tish’s boyfriend … but that’s another story. The storyline takes several unusual twists and turns to a delightful conclusion. This is a great cozy mystery for a summer read.