THE DIVA DELIVERS ON A PROMISE

When a widow is suspected of murder, her party-organizer friend taps connections in the local food scene to find out who-really-dunit.

Event planner Sophie Winston is so totally tuned into food trends that she’s the perfect organizer for the first convention of the Association of Ghost Kitchens, delivery-only restaurants without storefronts that are all the rage in Old Town, Virginia. Sophie loves a good mystery, and ghost kitchens almost feel like that, because no one can be sure who made the food, except for maybe the person delivering it. It’s a far cry from more formal events that Sophie is involved with, like the annual luncheon of A Healthy Meal, a volunteer group meeting at Geraldine Stansfield’s perfectly made-up house. Recent widow Gerrie has somehow thrown together the formal event despite her mourning, and everything looks perfect, from the refreshing mocktails to the just-so tablescape. But a scream interrupts the gathering when a dead man is found in the house. Sophie immediately goes into investigator mode about the late Russ Everett’s life and legacy, especially because she has a close connection to Officer Wong. In spite of Sophie’s knack for investigating, it seems that there’s little to learn—unless of course all the potential suspects are lying about what they do or don’t know. As rumors circulate that Gerrie might have had a hand in the demise, Sophie can’t help but help. It’s almost the opposite of how she feels about the fraud at her friend Natasha’s newly-started cookie business, with brash Natasha demanding help in the most unsympathetic way.

More rewarding for its ongoing antics and recipes than its invocation of a world that seems a trifle out of touch.