Town In A Cinnamon ToastProprietor, Black Forest Bakery
Cape Willington, Maine

Hallo! Wie geht’s? My name is Georg Wolfsburger. You may have heard of me. I own the Black Forest Bakery in the quaint seaside village of Cape Willington, Maine, located on the rocky Down East coast. Many of you I have met around town, and I’m sure some of you have been into my shop, where I bake the most delectable cakes and German pastries in New England. But the sticky mess in which I currently find myself has nothing to do with my bakery.

In just two day’s time, I will be marrying the love of my life and apple to my strudel, the lovely and energetic Maggie Tremont. I can’t even begin to describe my happiness to you! I’m looking forward to the wedding more than anything else in the world. There’s just one minor problem at the moment. Last evening, at our wedding rehearsal dinner, our best man, Julius Seabury, went missing. Much to my surprise and regret, he was later found dead and—dare I say?—possibly murdered! A friend of mine, blueberry farmer Candy Holliday, discovered his body at the English Point Lighthouse and Museum, in the second-floor archives, which is full of musty old books and documents. Needless to say, it was a great shock for us all.

As if that isn’t tragic enough, it appears that Julius was killed by a knock on the head with one of the bottles of champagne I personally ordered for our upcoming wedding celebration! Talk about popping a cork! The police might even think I did it! Gott in Himmel! Can you imagine?

With the loss of Julius, my best friend and best man, and with my upcoming wedding just two days away, and with a possible murderer running around town, and with ongoing preparations to open the bakery for the summer season in a few weeks’ time, I have so much on my mind that it’s just spinning like a top! Not to mention the fact that I have a wedding cake to bake for my own wedding! But before I can do that, I need to find out who took that bottle of champagne from its case without anyone’s knowledge, and why it was taken to the museum and used to strike down my best man.

If you know me, then you know I’m normally a reserved, stay-out-of-trouble man, but in this case I feel that I need to take immediate action. I have to find out what happened to Julius in order to save my wedding. Thankfully, I have Candy Holliday to help me solve this mystery. As you might know, she has quite a bit of experience with this sort of thing. It’s a case we’ll try to solve together.

The clues, as expected, are mysterious. Why was there sand on the bottoms of Julius’s shoes? What was he looking at through his binoculars? Why did he seem so distressed in his final days? Was someone after him? Did it have anything to do with the town’s founding families, like the Sykes and the Pruitt families? And, most important, what the heck is this thing called Foul Mouth?

It will take all our combined efforts to get to the bottom of this mystery. I admit that I’ll never be the sleuth Candy has become, but I will do my best to sharpen my investigative skills! I’ll don my green felt Tyrolean hat (complete with feather) and get out there to solve this crime. Only then will I have peace of mind. Then the beautiful wedding I’ve planned with my darling Maggie can take place, so we can both live happily ever after.


Town in a Cinnamon Toast is the seventh book in the “Candy Holliday” mystery series, published by Berkley Prime Crime, February 2016.

The author of Town in a Sweet Pickle brings back Candy Holliday, a blueberry farmer with a green thumb for sleuthing.

The much-anticipated wedding of local resident Maggie Tremont and popular baker Herr Georg has stirred up the usually quiet coastal town of Cape Willington. To make sure the wedding of the year goes off without a hitch, the participants gather at a pre-wedding dinner—everyone, that is, except the best man.

Worried, Candy, the maid of honor, goes looking for him, finally tracking him down to the upstairs archive rooms at the English Point Lighthouse and Museum. There’s only one problem: he’s dead, struck over the head with a bottle of champagne, the same exclusive brand that was ordered for the dinner. Before the wedding plans fall flat, Candy rushes to find the murderer, unearthing a conspiracy that could spill over into the whole town.

# # # # # # # # # # #

All comments are welcomed.

NOTE: Town in a Cinnamon Toast was published on Feb. 2, 2016, by Berkeley Prime Crime, and available in both print and as an ebook. Other titles in the New York Times bestselling series include Town in a Sweet Pickle, Town in a Strawberry Swirl, Town in a Pumpkin Bash, Town in a Wild Moose Chase, Town in a Lobster Stew, and Town in a Blueberry Jam. Large print editions of the books and an audiobook of Town in a Blueberry Jam are also available. For more information on the series, visit www.hollidaysblueberryacres.com.

Giveaway: Leave comment below for your chance to win a signed copy of Town in a Cinnamon Toast. US entries only, please. The giveaway will end February 16, 2016 at 12 AM EST. Good luck everyone!