Apple Cornered

In this juicy cozy mystery series debut, the popular Sunbeam Café in Harvest, Ohio, has expanded into catering, and for 20-something owner Darcy Woodin, life is sweet—until an extra-large order brings an unsavory side of murder.

Harvest’s very first annual Johnny Appleseed Days festival is right around the corner, and locals are looking forward to the yummy seasonal treats that will accompany the celebration. In anticipation, Darcy has received an order for 100 apple pies from overzealous community organizer, Margot Rawlings. It’s an overwhelming number, but thanks to the help of her grandmother and her friends, it looks like Darcy will make the deadline. She has just one concern.

Margot has hired a Johnny Appleseed impersonator to headline the event, but when they meet, Darcy senses something “off” about him. For one thing, he never drops character. For another, no one seems to know his true identity. Her worries are tragically confirmed when she discovers his dead body on the Harvest Square. It’s a bitter end that gets even more mysterious when the real impersonator shows up alive and well a day later.

Soon enough, Darcy is persuaded to sleuth out why the first “Johnny Appleseed” was killed. With only one eye-witness—the apple of her eye, her newly adopted stray tabby, Michelangelo, she’ll need to dig up every seed of information to unearth the whole truth.