The Marmalade Murders

Thirty years of blind judging, one perfect alphabetical order, and a single jar of marmalade that was never meant for anyone else's breakfast table.

Nettlecombe's Harvest Fair has run the same way for seventy-eight years, and its marmalade contest has run the same way for thirty of them: one judge, one blind tasting, no exceptions. Odette Fanchon has built a quiet empire out of that ribbon, and half the town has a grudge to show for it. This year, she doesn't make it past the letter F.

Enter Imogen Fairweather, the town's part-time postmistress and full-time devourer of cozy mystery novels, who knows everyone's handwriting, everyone's secrets, and exactly how a wax seal should look when it hasn't been tampered with. When a missing recipe card and a suspiciously spotless mixing bowl don't add up, Imogen starts asking the questions Nettlecombe would rather she didn't.

A dairy farmer still bitter over a decade-old disqualification. A fair organizer with a secret sponsor and a vanishing budget. A young baker one scandal away from ruin. An estranged nephew who stands to inherit the family farmhouse. Everyone in town is lying about something. Only one lie ends in murder, and it's hiding in plain sight, sealed under a perfect golden lid.

A charming, small-town whodunit for readers who like their amateur sleuths sharp, their suspects plentiful, and their murder weapons homemade. Perfect for fans of clever, cozy-adjacent mystery fiction with real bite, and a great gift for the puzzle-loving reader in your life.

Pour a cup of tea, lock the pantry, and find out who really won the ribbon this year.