It is my pleasure to share with you the cover for the next book in the “Spice Shop” mystery series from Seventh Street Books, coming July 2024 and now up for preorder.
Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Name of Series: Spice Shop, Book #8
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Author Website: lesliebudewitz.com
Book Synopsis
One person’s treasure is another’s trash. . .
Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, wants nothing more than to live a quiet life for a change, running her shop and working with customers eager to spice up their cooking. But when she finds an envelope stuffed with cash in a ratty old wingback left on the curb, she sets out to track down the owner.
Pepper soon concludes that the chair and its stash may belong to young Talia Cook, new in town and nowhere to be seen. Boz Bosworth, an unemployed chef Pepper’s tangled with in the past, shows up looking for the young woman, but Pepper refuses to help him search. When Boz is found floating in the Ship Canal, only a few blocks from Talia’s apartment, free furniture no longer seems like such a bargain.
On the hunt for Talia, Pepper discovers a web of connections threatening to ensnare her best customer. The more she probes, the harder it gets to tell who’s part of an unsavory scheme of corruption—and who might be the next victim.
Between her quest for an elusive herb, helping her parents remodel their new house, and setting up the Spice Shop’s first cooking class, Pepper’s got a full plate. Dogged by a sense of obligation to find the rightful owner of the hidden treasure, she keeps on showing up where she’s not wanted, asking probing questions.
One mistake, and she could find herself cashing out. . .
About the author
Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in two cozy mystery series, the Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. She also writes moody suspense under the pen name Alicia Beckman. Leslie is the winner of three Agatha Awards—2013 Best First Novel for Death Al Dente, the first Food Lovers’ Village mystery; 2011 Best Nonfiction, and 2018 Best Short Story, for “All God’s Sparrows,” her first historical fiction. A past president of Sisters in Crime and a former board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives and cooks in NW Montana.
Beautiful cover. Sounds like a winner! Congratulations, Leslie!
Thanks! One of my favorite covers in the series.
Thanks, Dru Ann — isn’t it fun?
I absolutely love this series and can’t wait for the latest installment.
Heart, heart, heart!!!
Great cover. But where’s Leslie’s name?
OOPS!!! Wrong version — we’ll get that fixed!
Bonus points, Sarah, for the catch! An earlier version had my name, but when the designer added the quote, a layer of the file fell off. And neither she nor my editor nor I, or my web designer, noticed! But I think we’ve fixed it everywhere now!
Great cover, title, and series!
Thanks, Molly!
Truly a beautiful cover and I love the name. Looking forward to reading the further adventures of Pepper
!!
Thanks, Mary! Pepper will appear in at least one short story later this year, and I’m about to start writing her 9th book.
Brilliant cover!! I love it. I’m looking forward to reading it.
Thanks, Penney! So many fun images to work with in this book!
Great cover! Can’t wait to read this one!!
Leslie is an author who does not ever let me down…I do so enjoy her Spice Shop series and am so thankful for each book.
You want to just walk right into that scene–what a marvelous cover, Leslie. Congratulations, and best of luck with TO ERR IS CUMIN.
Thank you, Lori, Judy, and Pamela! I loved it when I was writing and an image I knew would go beautifully on the cover showed up!
I can’t wait!
Thanks!