Hi, my name is Stephanie Wu, but you can just call me Steph. I guess I’m a stay-at-home mom now? I only recently decided to quit my job as a graphic designer for an ad agency. I should probably let my boss know. I’d like to paint if that’d work out, but I’m a little too tired at the moment to throw myself into a new career. Parenting a newborn is pretty exhausting.
I have a daughter named Madeline — we call her Maddie — no other kids, and a husband, Henry. He’s an accountant and a lover of black coffee, Russian literature, and all things chess. We live above a bakery called The Likable Daisy. It always smells amazing here. Imagine a pumpkin spice candle burning constantly, but whenever you have a craving for something, you can just head downstairs. Dangerous, right?
Most of my day these days involves taking care of Madeline and myself. I recognize that I’m lucky to have maternity leave, but my favorite bakery and café — the one I mentioned earlier — closed after the owner’s tie got caught in a mixer. Suddenly, I’m less certain of my ability to survive motherhood. At least my friends Jane and Charlotte are still seeing to it that I eat regularly.
On top of my general anxiety about being a first-time mom, I have this sense that something very wrong has happened. A freak accident is bad enough. The owner was my friend, but I’m starting to think there’s more to it. How many people get killed by their own mixer? And if it weren’t an accident, then who’s responsible?
When I start to wonder who had a motive and/or opportunity, a better, scarier question arises. Who didn’t? Having such close neighbors begins to feel a little less friendly, and I ask myself, is this any place to raise a child? Maybe my in-laws were right all along about the suburbs, but there’s something so charming about living in an old downtown.
With any luck, this will all go away, or the police will investigate and solve, well, what I think was a murder, but I might just have to sleuth a few things out for myself to convince them. Don’t tell my husband.
Prove It: Murder In The Mix is the first book in the NEW “The Likable Daisy” cozy mystery series, released September 2020.
When a tragic mixer mishap results in the closing of a beloved bakery, new mom and upstairs neighbor Stephanie Wu is sure of two things: One, she misses their cappuccinos. And two, it was no accident. But time is running out for the sleep-deprived sleuth. Can she solve the murder and figure out pumping before her maternity leave is up? With a baby at her breast and a killer at her back, life and living above The Likable Daisy will never be the same again.
Meet the author
Hannah R. Kurz is a first-time cozy mystery author and American, not to be confused with the German translator Hannah Kurz. When not axing imaginary people in cold blood, she’s usually busy playing with her two delightful daughters or indulging in another favorite pastime, baking.
All comments are welcomed.