For the first time since she opened her bakery, Samantha Sweet is staring at empty bistro tables and unsold pastries and wondering what's going on. A few regulars still show up, the ovens still hum, but something is missing. When her daughter Kelly insists she take a quick break and attend a local estate sale, Sam reluctantly agrees. She expects dusty knickknacks and chipped teacups. Instead, she finds a stack of vintage cookbooks ... including one that refuses to be ordinary.
Throughout the handwritten binder are symbols and margin notes that feel more like messages than measurements. As Sam begins testing the Depression-era recipes, she experiences some weird happenings and uncovers the story of the woman who once owned the book, a determined restaurateur who built a thriving business during the darkest years of the 1930s. Her menu brought customers and her dishes brought hope.
But the deeper Sam digs, the stranger things become. Her wooden box reacts to the cookbook in ways she can't explain. Sam experiences vivid images after tasting certain recipes. And when the elderly woman who hosted the estate sale dies, within days, under suspicious circumstances, Sheriff Beau gets involved.
Meanwhile, Kelly is determined to pull Sweet's Sweets back into the spotlight by entering the spring food festival baking contest. A win, especially with celebrity judges in attendance, could transform their fortunes overnight. But as Sam experiments with recipes that carry echoes of another era, she begins to suspect that someone else is out to sabotage her efforts.
Could a recipe from the Great Depression somehow lead to murder in modern Taos? Or could one of the cookbook's recipes hold a dangerous secret?
Readers are raving about these lighthearted, relaxing, well-written books?Samantha may not be young, beautiful or have the perfect body, but she is intelligent, independent, and hard working, the kind of person you feel you already know.
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Praise for Connie Shelton's previous mysteries:
"The best yet!! Not only was Sweet Magic fantastic, it left me dying to see where life is headed for Samantha and her family! Heart-gripping, fast-paced, and amazing." ? J.J. 5-stars, online review
"LOVE, LOVE these books!" ?5 stars, online review
"Fantastic! Impossible to put down!" ? 5 stars, Amazon reader
"Shelton again has done a superb job in bringing New Mexico to life." ?Albuquerque Journal
"Connie Shelton gets better with every book she writes." ?The Midwest Book Review
