Gourd to Death

Book excerpt: This Halloween, pie shop proprietor Val Harris must patch together clues to solve a murder by pumpkin . . . As the owner of Pie Town, Val’s been tapped to judge the pie making contest at the annual pumpkin festival in the coastal California town of San Nicholas. Things could get sticky though—her boyfriend, cop Gordon Carmichael, is entering the competition with his “special” family pumpkin pie recipe. But Val’s got bigger problems than a conflict of interest when she and her flaky piecrust-maker Charlene discover another contestant crushed under an enormous pumpkin. When grudge-holding Chief Shaw comes up with a half-baked reason to toss Carmichael off the case and onto the suspect list, it's up to Val and Charlene to find the tricky killer. But as they dodge lethal pumpkin cannons and follow the clues into a figurative and literal maze, the pie pals are in for the scariest Halloween of their lives—and it may be their last . . .