Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The Solace of Bay Leaves is the 5th Spice Shop mystery, featuring Pepper Reece, a 40-something single city girl. When her life fell apart at 40, after she stumbled over her husband, a Seattle police officer on the downtown bike beat, and a parking enforcement officer practically plugging each other's meters, and the law firm where she worked as an HR manager imploded in scandal, taking her job with it, Pepper never expected to find solace in bay leaves. But season after season, as the new owner of Seattle Spice in the Pike Place Market, Pepper faces danger head-on, determined to work for justice, protect those she loves, and live a spicy life.
The Spice Shop Mysteries have been described as "smart cozies that respect the reader." Each involves a social justice issue as well as tasty food and recipes, and portrays a slice of life in one of the country's most fascinating, and delicious, cities.
Synopsis
Pepper Reece never expected to find solace in bay leaves.
But when her life fell apart at forty and she bought the venerable-but-rundown Spice Shop in Seattle's Pike Place Market, her days took a tasty turn. Now she's savoring the prospect of a flavorful fall and a busy holiday cooking season, until danger bubbles to the surface . . .
Between managing her shop, worrying about her staff, and navigating a delicious new relationship, Pepper's firing on all burners. But when her childhood friend Maddie is shot and gravely wounded, the incident is quickly tied to an unsolved murder that left another close friend a widow.
Convinced that the secret to both crimes lies in the history of a once-beloved building, Pepper uses her local-girl contacts and her talent for asking questions to unearth startling links between the past and present--links that suggest her childhood friend may not have been the Golden Girl she appeared to be. Pepper is forced to face her own regrets and unsavory emotions, if she wants to save Maddie's life--and her own.