In the Blink of a Pie

September 27, 2024
To usher in the fall season at Sappy Endings, the maple sugaring farm and caf� her late father started in Vermont, Leila Khoury plans a pie-baking contest. The day of the contest is busy and festive. The busy-ness verges on chaotic when a neighbor insists she should be one of the judges, a surprise applicant for a caf� position arrives, and Emma, the daughter of Leila's beau, stumbles, dropping all of the entry forms. In the confusion, the neighbor samples the pie and Emma, carrying a balloon from the clown hired to entertain children, bumps into her, throwing the rest of the pie to the ground. Moments later, the neighbor convulses and dies. Leila knows she must find the source of the poisoned pie quickly or lose the farm. Tension increases when she gets an ominous email and the neighbor's son, a lawyer and former suitor, threatens to sue. With help from her friends and a supportive local detective, Leila works through the leads. With romance, pie recipes, and intrigue, this book will delight fans of Joanne Fluke, Jenn McKinlay, or Laura Childs.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2024
Murder threatens a maple farmer's newfound equilibrium. Life finally seems in balance for Leila Khoury. Although she still misses her murdered father, she's improved her relationship with her mother, Selma, who now admits that she may have favored Leila's younger brother, Simon, in the past. But Leila's able stewardship of Sappy Endings, the maple farm and syrup business her father left the family, helps mother and daughter reconcile. Now Sappy Endings is so successful that they need another employee to help out in the farm's cafe. But the same day Leila hires Jenna Fleming away from The Bagel Place, disaster strikes. The Khourys' meddling neighbor, Margaret Middleton, sneaks a sample of a maple pumpkin pie that was supposed to be tasted first by the three judges at the inaugural Sappy Endings pie-baking contest. Pushy Margaret quickly falls down dead, and sales plummet nearly as promptly among locals who blame Sappy Endings for her death. To add to Leila's stress, her college roommate, Taylor Hudson, surfaces to relitigate her grudge against Leila, who turned her in for cheating. Even Leila's relationship with Noah Rivers, who runs the sugaring operations at Sappy Endings, hits a bump when his daughter, Emma, objects to their plan to combine households. But Sappy Endings is her first priority. Knowing that nothing will bring back business but solving the murder, Leila throws herself into unmasking Margaret's killer and saving her dad's legacy. Although the solution is obvious, Bruns' tale is good-natured enough for a happy--if, well, sappy--ending.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.