The Orange Peel Alibi

A pastry Mara Ellison did not bake has been placed beside a dead Harbor Days organizer-and someone wants Harborwick to believe Tide & Crumb Bakehouse is responsible.After years styling perfect food for film and advertising shoots in Boston, Mara returns to the Maine bakery that once gave her a place to belong. She expects long hours, old memories, and a chance to start over. She does not expect Evelyn Morrow's body behind the bakery on the morning of Harborwick Harbor Days.The evidence looks simple: a pastry box bearing Tide & Crumb's name, bitter-orange marmalade the bakery never uses, and harbor-renewal accounts that refuse to add up. As rumors threaten the bakery and the town's waterfront project, Mara must use her eye for detail to separate a real recipe from a carefully staged imitation.With a police sergeant she once knew too well, a nervous treasurer, a polished sponsor, and a missing harbor file complicating every answer, Mara follows a trail of altered numbers, delivery records, and secrets hidden in plain sight. The closer she gets to the truth, the more dangerous Harborwick's warmest celebration becomes.The Orange Peel Alibi is a clean culinary cozy mystery with a coastal Maine setting, bakery atmosphere, community secrets, gentle romance, and a fair-play murder mystery.