A Stew to a Kill

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Its Halloween and everyone in town is excited about the Crystal Bay first annual Halloween Walk. In A Stew to a Kill by Jenny Kales, Greek-American foodie and business owner Callie Costas is working her magic in the kitchen. You can almost smell the Greek stew bubbling on the stove.

Part of the Halloween Walk festivities is a Halloween Gala benefitting the local food pantry, a favorite of Callie's She is also busy baking desserts for new business owner Christy Strouse, who owns Tea for Two.  As Callie delivers her desserts to the shop, she encounters someone from her past she would sooner forget. Ben Lucas, a man she dated briefly after her divorce, is in town. What was he doing here, she wondered.

He tells her he is working on a business deal to open a new mall outside of town. This strikes terror in her heart. Would customers flock to the new mall and leave their charming downtown shops?

When someone poisons an employee at Tea for Two and then injures one of the other locals, Callie worries about the events. Murder has a way of scaring away customers. With her detective boyfriend away, not urging her to mind her own business, she dives right in. With a threatened mall being planned not far from the downtown shops. Callie and her fellow business owners are worried about more than the murder.

Besides the delicious Greek dishes Callie serves at her restaurant (recipes included in the book), the mystery is enticing too.