And when Jenna and Rhett’s intimate prenuptial dinner is rocked by an explosion that nearly takes Rhett’s life, Jenna can’t help but think Sarita is to blame.ĭesperate to prove Sarita’s guilt but consumed by worries over Rhett’s condition, Jenna reluctantly lays her case out for the police and leaves the investigation in their methodical hands. But there’s a dark cloud hanging over the festive mood by the name of Sarita Strachline, a woman Jenna helped convict of arson who is now out of jail and bent on revenge. With Bride’s Dream Expo in town, it’s all things wedding in Crystal Cove, including at the Cookbook Nook, where owner Jenna Hart is preparing for her own wedding in just a few short weeks. The Agatha Award–winning author of Wining and Dying returns to the Cookbook Nook, where a killer’s explosive vengeance may lead to Jenna Hart’s happily never after… Trading puzzle solving for crime solving, she sorts through the convoluted clues and cryptic suspects, hoping to nab the guilty party before they decide she’s a problem they’ll solve with another murder. It’s been clear since the victim arrived that he had contentious relationships with a number of the contestants-even going so far as to steal puzzles from some of them and claim them as his own-and Jenna’s certain one of them is the killer. Jenna can’t stand by and watch her aunt take the fall. And when the puzzle guru has his throat slit while he’s out hiking, the police instantly peg Aunt Vera as the culprit. Her aunt Vera is putting up a sizable cash prize, and no one is more surprised than Jenna to discover there’s bad blood between Vera and the prominent puzzle constructor who’s acting as master of ceremonies. The annual crossword puzzle contest has drawn contestants from near and far to Crystal Cove, and Jenna watches in amazement as puzzle-themed books fly off the shelves at the Cookbook Nook. In the cutthroat world of crossword solvers, Jenna Hart will have to decipher some puzzling clues to catch a killer…

Poaching is Puzzling Book 12 now available!

Murder in the cookbook nook