She came to Cedar Falls to hide. She didn't expect to find a killer.
Hazel Winthrop was a rising star in New York's pastry scene-until her mentor was found dead with a knife in her chest. The evidence pointed at Hazel. The press convicted her in the court of public opinion. And her fiancé, a reporter, wrote a bestselling book about her downfall.
Now, at forty-two, she's fled to Cedar Falls, Wisconsin, to run the bakery her late aunt Bea left her. The town is small, the winters are cold, and no one asks questions.
But someone already knows she's coming.
A mysterious scone-maple-walnut, still warm-waits for her on the counter. A threatening note warns her away. And Sheriff Sam Killian, a man with cold eyes and a silver watch, watches her from across the street.
When one of the town's beloved elderly residents is found dead in Hazel's walk-in cooler-with Hazel's knife in her chest-she must clear her name before she's sent to prison for a murder she didn't commit.
With the help of Gertie, a sharp-tongued old woman who carries a cast-iron skillet everywhere she goes, and Lena, a young deputy who's tired of her corrupt boss, Hazel digs into the town's darkest secret: the summer of 1998, when the sheriff's wife drowned in the lake with her hands tied behind her back.
The truth will set her free. But first, it will break her heart.
Perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen series and Ellery Adams's Charmed Pie Shoppe mysteries.
Butter, Sugar, Murder - Book 1
