There are only two things certain in a baker’s life—early morning starts and the fact that you will always find flour everywhere. Even when you’ve showered. Even when you’ve washed your clothes. Even when you’ve scrubbed under your fingernails. Little white smudges are everywhere.

I love my job, truly. It’s my calling in life. For a long time I thought I knew exactly where my career was headed, a straight shot from one of the best cooking schools in the world (Le Cordon Bleu in Paris) to a Michelin star restaurant where I would create intricate desserts that required tiny tweezers and temperamental doughs, and where I’d maybe one day write a cookbook or even be a guest judge on MasterChef.

Life’s funny like that. Because where I ended up is a whole lot different than what I’d pictured.

You see… I run a weed café.

Yup, you read that right. Not only do I make magnificent macarons with flavors that would make your tastebuds sing with joy, but I also infuse them with cannabis. I make a whole range of delicious infused baked goods and drinks including the cliché pot brownie (only mine is made with gold leaf and Valrhona chocolate for a luxurious touch), everything but the kitchen sink cookies and even a calming CBD chai latte for my customers who want something to help them wind down after a stressful day.

My day starts while it’s still dark out and honestly, aside from the bags under my eyes, I love it. There’s something peaceful about the empty kitchen and the possibility of a new creation. But I have to be organized because once the café opens, I know there will be plenty of mouths to feed and I never like to keep people waiting if I can help it.

That’s around the time that my aunt arrives. We run the business together. It’s a perfect partnership—between my Type-A perfectionistic tendencies and her kooky joie de vivre we do great business and have fun while we work. Each week I trial experimental flavors and new items to see which ones my customers love most.

The best part of coming home at the end of the day is getting to hang out with my adorable Chihuahua, Antonio, and my beloved Grandma Rose. She’s the reason I’m here. Grandma Rose raised me and made me the woman I am today. She’s my best friend, my mom, my mentor. And now it’s my turn to help take care of her.

You see, she’s the reason I left Paris behind to come back to Azalea Bay, the small town where I was born. Grandma Rose is battling cancer and the cannabis is part of her treatment. Since I wasn’t happy to let her suffer through eating funky-flavored gummies I took it upon myself to make her something way better! And now it’s turned out to be a business that supports my family.

Life’s funny like that. Sometimes you think you’re headed in one direction and you end up spinning off course… only to land exactly where you’re meant to be.

A Half-Baked Murder, A Cannabis Café Mystery Book #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: February 2023
Format: Print and Digital
Purchase Link

Emily George launches a groundbreaking, irresistible new series unlike anything else out there, as twenty-eight-year-old California pastry chef Chloe Barnes takes her career higher, opening a cannabis café where she can use her Michelin-star skills to transform dry, bland pot brownies into gourmet treats. With a unique and culturally relevant hook, authentic fresh voice, and the classic tropes of the genre that all cozy fans love, everyone’s buzzing about the Cannabis Café Mysteries!

Formally trained pastry chef Chloe Barnes is opening a cannabis bakery. That’s not at all what the twenty-eight-year-old envisioned while living the dream in Paris with a hot fiancé and a Michelin star restaurant gig around the corner. But the rising “it girl” of choux puffs rethinks everything after a scathing food review and humiliating breakup make her long for home in sunny California. When her beloved grandmother falls ill, Chloe returns to quaint Azalea Bay to start over in the most satisfying way possible—concocting delicious edibles with her quirky Aunt Dawn.

Combining French luxury and THC, Baked by Chloe will take pot brownies to another level. That is, until a creepy past acquaintance rehashes old drama and shockingly turns up dead—landing Aunt Dawn as the number one murder suspect. Now, alongside her closest confidants, a stunned Chloe must alternate between budding entrepreneur and amateur sleuth to clear her aunt’s name, open the best bakery in town, and weed out the real culprit from a list of unsettling suspects!

Meet the author
Emily George is an Australian author who writes modern murder mysteries that feature her favourite F words: female friendships, family and furry friends. She also likes alliteration.

Like her sleuths, she’s an elder Millennial who grew up on a steady diet of late 90’s romantic comedies, Spice Girls songs and Babysitter’s Club books. When she’s not figuring out creative ways to kill people (fictionally, of course) she enjoys knitting, baking, playing video games, and listening to true crime podcasts. She resides in Canada with her husband.

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