Leslie Budewitz, a Bigfork author and attorney, offers her third installment in the Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle’s bustling Pike Place Market.
Pepper Reece, owner of the Seattle Spice Shop, keeps busy conjuring up new spice blends, entertaining demands from brides-to-be and hoping for a rave review from a cranky food critic.
While strolling the marketplace with her visiting mother, Lena, the two encounter an old acquaintance selling handmade pottery. The woman, now living under a false name, mysteriously disappeared from the city several years previously.
Pepper is unaware of the impact this encounter had on her mother, but after the woman is found murdered a few days later, tough questions get asked, and history begins to unfold.
Not content to let the Seattle police solve the crime, Pepper sets about uncovering some facts on her own, putting her life in jeopardy and creating an elevated level of suspense.
Budewitz is intimately familiar with the city’s streets, sounds, and smells, and takes readers on a colorful journey as Pepper and her canine companion, Arf, seek out clues to solve the current crime, and one buried in the past.
The story, like her others, is fueled by descriptions of food and wine, two of the author’s passions. She offers a cache of recipes at the back of the book. Solving crime was never so tasty!
Budewitz, a two-time recipient of the Agatha Award, is also the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries. She is the 2015-16 president of the Sisters in Crime writers group.
– Judy Shafter