Food Fiction Stories

Newcomers to Tinker's Cove, Ty and Heather Moon have moved into a dilapidated house reputed to be a haven for ghosts. Now strange noises and flickering lights erupt from the house at all hours and neighborly relations are on edge. And when a local boy goes missing near the house, it's up to Lucy Stone to unravel the mystery of the eccentric couple and their increasingly frightful behavior.

In her Food Lovers' Village Mysteries, Agatha Award-winning author Leslie Budewitz introduces us to Jewel Bay, a tight-knit Montana community that thrives on tourism and farm-to-table fare. Featuring Erin Murphy, beloved proprietor of the Merc—a century-old general store converted into a local foods market-each book brings us closer to the folks who call Jewel Bay home, and the cunning culprits in their midst.

Nationally acclaimed storyteller J.J. Reneaux grew up Cajun for true, surrounded by the stories, music, food, and culture of rural communities in southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana. A traditional storyteller who collects by word-of-mouth, Reneaux has developed her repertoire over years of collecting: on front porches, school playgrounds, and her beloved fishing trips, as well as at nursing homes, airports, and at neighborhood fais-dodos.

A sleuth who sees spirits, a chef who reads tea leaves, and a cat who knows all the games. Murder doesn’t have a ghost of a chance. For Staley Stoneybrook, life has been turned upside down. As the beneficiary of her long lost uncle’s will, she finds herself the owner of the historic Paradise Bay Station & Inn. But in a strange twist, the beautiful oceanfront property will only be hers when she posts a profit at the end of a year—something she’s determined to do. But as she’s about to make her first report to her uncle’s lawyer, he’s killed in front of his office. It’s only ...

After his father leaves him an unexpected inheritance, Trey has one goal: to see and seduce his way through all fifty states. Who says hook up culture is dead? ...He never counted on breaking down before he even reached his first destination. Willow’s End, Missouri has precisely one good thing going for it: Charlie Baxter. With his strong arms and delicious, full lips, Trey’s starting to think that maybe taking an unexpected pit stop won’t be so bad. If Charlie would stop playing hard to get, that is. Gamble is the fourth book in the completed Virtue & Vice series, but it can also be ...

Juniper "June" Berry lives and breathes food. Her food truck, Junkyard Jams, is a kaleidoscope of color and a haven for culinary daredevils, where unexpected flavor combinations reign supreme. But when her ex-boyfriend, Rhodes "Rho" Sterling, a classically-trained chef with a penchant for perfection, sets up his sleek food truck, Sterling Fare, directly across from hers, their rivalry reignites. Years ago, their shared passion for food ignited a fiery romance, but ambition and insecurity drove them apart. Now, as they compete for customers and acclaim, old wounds resurface, simmering hotter...

"Eggnog Murder": When a gift-wrapped bottle of eggnog proves to be a killer concoction for a Tinker's Cove local, all Lucy Stone wants for Christmas is to find the murdering mixologist who's stirring up trouble. "Death By Eggnog": Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell has never cared much for Bar Harbor's grouchy town librarian, Agatha Farnsworth. But after the Scroogy senior has a fatal - and suspicious - allergic reaction to supposedly non-dairy eggnog, it's up to Hayley to ladle out some justice.

Enjoy the holiday season with three festive mysteries set in coastal Maine. This anthology includes "Yule Log Murder" by Leslie Meier, "Death by Yule Log" by Lee Hollis, and "Logged On" by Barbara Ross.

If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Not ideal. If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant.

Since its earliest days, The New Yorker has been a tastemaker: literally. As the home of A. J. Liebling, Joseph Wechsberg, and M. F. K. Fisher, who practically invented American food writing, the magazine established a tradition that is carried forward today by irrepressible literary gastronomes, including Calvin Trillin, Bill Buford, Adam Gopnik, Jane Kramer, and Anthony Bourdain. Now, in this indispensable collection, The New Yorker dishes up a feast of delicious writing on food and drink.

Join best-selling authors Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Peggy Ehrhart for a collection of the coziest Christmas capers! Everyone dreams of a picture-perfect small-town Christmas, but when murder is in the cards, some holiday greetings are addressed to kill....

A family at odds, a business on the line, and a body at the wharf. It’s a busy time in Paradise Bay with spring break in full swing. Although the sun is glorious and the water is inviting, Staley Stoneybrook is busy with her job. As the owner of the Paradise Bay Station & Inn, she not only manages her own business but also forges ties with others. In the early morning hours, she’s enjoying a tour of the world-class local seafood market until a body is discovered upstairs. She’ll have to bring all her paranormal allies onto the case when she decides that something about the death is ...

A fun filled festival, a trip through time, and the curse of a mummy. Paradise Bay is abuzz with the annual Roaring 20s festival. A lecture on Egyptomania with authentic artifacts kicks it off, and Staley Stoneybrook is delighted to be in attendance. But when a famous archaeologist drops dead in the middle of his lecture, Staley and her paranormal crew spring into action. As she tries to find a killer while also running the station, an even more pressing mystery presents itself: What can she can possibly wear to the 20s Gala?

A classic steam train, an old mining town, and danger around the bend. It’s the dog days of summer in Paradise Bay. The beach is sizzling, the tourists are swarming, and the inn is full. At someone’s suggestion, Staley Stoneybrook decides to see one of the area’s other attractions—the old mining town of Ravenston. Although the Gold Rush era saloon, candy store, and even a staged bank robbery are charming, the gaping mine in the hills above the town looms over it. The lawless days of the Wild West may be far behind the former ghost town, but Staley discovers that finding gold can ...

A chill in the air, a cemetery at the station, and a body in the clocktower. Halloween sneaks up on Staley Stoneybrook. As the preparations for the station’s annual Ghoul’s Night Out get underway, everyone pitches in to do their part. It promises to be a fun and spooky time for the trick-or-treaters of Paradise Bay. But before they can hang a single cobweb, a real body turns up. Although Staley uses all of her paranormal allies to solve the murder, she has two mysteries on her hands. It seems that a poltergeist has decided to visit the station for Halloween.

A gaming convention, a gaggle of geeks, and an accident waiting to happen. Staley Stoneybrook has settled nicely into the Paradise Bay Station & Inn. As spring gives way to summer, her routine pleasantly starts with making the inn’s coffee and finishes with the evening bonfire. But her first real challenge arrives when an errant roof tile tumbles into the vegetable garden. At the invitation of some young guests at the station, Staley is also trying to broaden her horizons while staying close to home. She visits her first Paradise Bay gaming convention. Game nerds compete with each other ...

Of all the essentials for survival: oxygen, water, sleep, and food, only food is a vast treasure trove of memory and of sensory experience. Food is a portal to culture, to times past, to disgust, to comfort, to love: no matter one's feelings about a particular dish, they are hardly ever neutral.

"In almost any culture, at any time, you can find food writing,” writes guest editor Mark Bittman in his introduction. “Food means growing and hardship, and health and medicine, and work and holiday. In its abundance it is a gift and a joy, and in its absence a curse and a tragedy. If a culture has writing, that culture has food writing.” The stories in this year’s Best American Food Writing are brilliant, eye-opening windows into the heart of our country’s culture.

Culinary creator, writer and community advocate, Sohla El-Waylly selects the best twenty articles published in 2021 that celebrate the many innovative, comforting, mouthwatering, and culturally rich culinary offerings of our country.

When Kayla discovers that something is eating Daisy's cat food, she immediately calls the Pet Club to action. They grab their pets and start to gather clues. Will they solve the case of the cat food thief?