Quiche of Death (A Sugar & Spice Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
3rd in Series
Publisher: Lyrical Press (July 21, 2020)
Print Length: ~254 pages

Synopsis

When editor Sugar Calloway and baker Dixie Spicer went into business creating cookbooks, they found a sideline as amateur sleuths. Now a bitter family grudge could leave a fatal aftertaste…

At Sugar & Spice Community Cookbooks, the friends and business partners have secured a tasty new commission: producing a cookbook for the Arbor family. The Arbors have made their fortune in quiches, and Sugar and Spice have been invited to a weekend gathering where all the siblings, along with crusty matriarch Marta, will be in attendance. But it’s soon clear that this trip will come with a hefty slice of drama.

Theo, the only grandson, arrives with his flaky fiancée, Collette, who quickly stirs up trouble . . . and is found dead the next day. As the investigation unfolds, secrets—and recipes—are shared, and Sugar and Spice realize just how messy and murderous the situation may be. As another family member falls ill, can they solve the case without getting egg on their faces . . .and a target on their backs?

* Includes delicious recipes! *

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Excerpt

“Quiche me, you fool.”

The demand was followed by hoots of laughter as the sister—Jezzie, I think her name was—leaned into her spouse for a smooch. He hesitated but obliged.

I smiled at the boisterous group who clearly shared some inside joke about quiche and kissing. The warmth of the table and the sibling love melted my heart like butter on a biscuit. Taking a sip of water, I glanced over at Dixie, who sat across from me at the huge oak table.

She rolled her eyes.

“What?” I mouthed.

Dixie shrugged. Jezzie had perhaps a teensy bit too much wine, but still: When did my best friend and business partner get so darn stuffy? Maybe it was the inside-joke part that she found off-putting.

But we did know quiche was the family’s stock-in-trade, so it wasn’t that much of a stretch to figure out the expression had something to do with the Arbor family’s food business. After all, that was why we were here.

Guest Post

Is it real?

One of the things that I’m often asked is whether St. Ignatius, where the Sugar & Spice mysteries are set, is a real place. It’s very real to in my head, but I’m guessing that’s not what the person is asking me. And, I have to say, that I’m thrilled to find that many readers think it’s a real town.

Pampered Pets Mysteries, the other cozy series that I co-write as part of Sparkle Abbey, is set in Laguna Beach, a very real place in Southern California. A great pet-friendly community that was such fun to get to know and to write about.  However, in a constantly changing world, it was sometimes difficult to keep up with changes in the community. Streets don’t move, but businesses close, buildings are torn down, or new developments change the landscape.

So, when I started writing the Sugar & Spice mysteries, I deliberately choose to use a fictional town.

I’m from a small town in rural Madison County, Iowa and wanted to choose a place much like the area I grew up in. However, I hoped to avoid the problems inherent in using an actual town.

Readers who are from similar backgrounds will often ask if perhaps St. Ignatius is modeled after a particular town they know.

In truth, it’s a composite of many different small towns that I’ve visited. I’ve borrowed different pieces of those real places to create my fictional St. Ignatius.

• It has a town square with a central courthouse flanked by local businesses. I keep a map of the town square so I don’t accidentally move shops around as I’m writing.
• News travels fast and it is often shared at the local diner on the square. In St. Ignatius that’s the Red Hen Diner.
• It’s not large enough to have its own police force, so the county sheriff and his deputies handle law enforcement. Which can mean a noise complaint, a missing goat, or a murder.
• There’s a strong sense of community, where people in town look out for each other. Sometimes that means people know a lot about other people’s business. I guess it’s all in your perspective, right?
• There are families who have lived there for several generations and though newcomers are welcome, it may take a while to not be considered “new.”

I’ve had so much creating St. Ignatius for the Sugar & Spice Mysteries and I like to think if I’ve done it right, the town feels as real to readers as it does to me.

About the Author

Mary Lee Ashford is a lifelong bibliophile, and avid reader, and supporter of public libraries. In addition to writing the Sugar & Spice mystery series for Kensington Books, she also writes as half of the writing team of Sparkle Abbey, author of the national bestselling Pampered Pets mystery series from Bell Bridge Books.

Prior to publishing Mary Lee won first place in the Daphne du Maurier contest, sponsored by the Kiss of Death chapter of RWA, and was a finalist in Murder in the Grove’s mystery contest, as well as Killer Nashville’s Claymore Dagger contest.

She is the founding president of Sisters in Crime – Iowa and a current board member of the Mystery Writers of America Midwest chapter, as well as a member of Novelists, Inc., Romance Writers of America, Kiss of Death the RWA Mystery Suspense chapter, Sisters in Crime, and the SinC internet group Guppies.

Mary Lee has a passionate interest in creativity and teaches a university level course in Creative Management to MPA candidates, as well as presenting workshops and blogging about creativity. She loves encouraging other writers and is a frequent presenter on a variety of topics at workshops, conferences, and writers’ groups.

In her day job, Mary Lee is a Deputy Chief Information Officer. She currently resides in the Midwest with her husband, Tim, and Sparkle, the rescue cat namesake of the Sparkle Abbey pseudonym. Her delights are reading and enjoying her family and especially her six grandchildren.

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