[Cafe Prose Mystery 01] • Prose & Poison

Murder, mayhem, and Shakespeare collide in the small town of Willow Creek.

For the past twelve years, thirty-three-year-old Talbot Meadows has thrown herself into her work as a rare materials appraiser at the prestigious Library of Congress in Washington D.C., forgetting the small-town life she left behind years ago.

But when Talbot is called back to her perfectly charming hometown of Willow Creek at the request of crotchety Harold Ellerton -- village millionaire, mayoral candidate, book connoisseur, oh, and grandfather to her ex -- to appraise his newest acquisition, Talbot gets more than she bargained for once finding Harold murdered and his mysterious rare book nowhere in sight. And to make matters worse, Talbot's own mother is at the top of the suspect list.

If finding a dead guy isn't bad enough, an unexpected layoff from her coveted job has Talbot starting over in Willow Creek -- taking residence in the room above her mother's garage and acquiring a part-time job as a barista at Cafe Prose, her best friend Piper Stone's café-slash-used bookstore.

Armed with a mysterious note left by Harold, her adorable Yorkshire Terrier Romeo, and a penchant for research, Talbot vows to get to the bottom of Harold's death no matter how many ex-boyfriends, inept police officers, town gossips, or gorgeous men get in her way.

Prose and Poison is book 1 in the Cafe Prose Mystery series.