A HALF-BAKED MURDER

A Paris-trained pastry chef gives a modern twist to baked goods, California-style.

Like so many disappointed young women, Chloe Barnes returns to the place where she grew up with a keen sense of failure and a wealth of family support. But Chloe has a little something extra in her toolbox: Thanks to California’s newly relaxed recreational-use marijuana laws, she finds an innovative way to reinvent herself. Food critics in France may have panned her raspberry and chocolate mousse cake, but folks in Azalea Bay love her special brownies, the ones she first made to help her Grandma Rose cope with the debilitating effects of chemotherapy. Chloe now has extensive experience with cannabis cookery. She knows how to temper the herb’s funky notes and balance its pungency with salty, sweet, and acidic flavors. In partnership with her ever supportive Aunt Dawn, she secures a space with both dine-in and retail potential. Now all they need is a license from the state. But their plans are jeopardized when town bully Brendan Chalmers is found dead in the park. Surveillance footage shows Dawn entering the park the evening before Chalmers died, and she’s soon the chief suspect in the police investigation. Chloe’s pretty sure the state won’t grant a dispensing license to someone convicted of murder, which is still a crime even in California. Her only hope is to unmask the real killer.

Far from half-baked—George’s series debut is cooking with gas.