At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .
Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavenderтАЩs culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-lovedтАФand occasionally malignedтАФherb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged LizтАЩs greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty growerтАЩs plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee whoтАЩs taken to the hills, though Liz herself is not convinced.
Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, thereтАЩs one in every pocket.
Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from LizтАЩs success, and a local growersтАЩ cooperative. SheтАЩs also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf.
As PepperтАЩs questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?
Includes delicious recipes!