Tish Tarragon's preparations for Coleton Creek's annual garden club awards luncheon are threatened when one of the prime contenders is murdered.

Literary caterer Letitia 'Tish' Tarragon is preparing her English Secret Garden-themed luncheon for Coleton Creek's annual garden club awards, but when she is taken on a tour of some of the top contenders with the garden club's president, Jim Ainsley, Tish is surprised at how seriously the residents take the awards - and how desperate they are to win.

Wealthy, retired businessman Sloane Shackleford has won the coveted best garden category five years in a row, but he and his Bichon Frise, Biscuit, are universally despised. When Sloane's bludgeoned body is discovered in his pristine garden, Tish soon learns that he was disliked for reasons that go beyond his green fingers. Have the hotly contested awards brought out a competitive and murderous streak in one of the residents?


Christmas, cookies and a corpse: Tish Tarragon is drawn into a deadly puzzle when a young actress is murdered at the Hobson Glen Holiday Fair.

Literary caterer Letitia 'Tish' Tarragon has pulled out all the stops for her booth at the Hobson Glen Holiday Fair, theming her appetising offerings around the festive performances by the Williamsburg Theatre Group. But when Tish meets the cast, she is surprised by the hostility between members of the allegedly close-knit troupe, centred around their star actress, the beautiful, talented yet mysterious ingénue, Jenny Inkpen.

Determined to spread some Christmas cheer, Tish volunteers to deliver breakfast to the eight actors, but is horrified to discover Jenny dead in her trailer the next morning. As Tish attempts to find out more about the group's leading lady, she soon uncovers lies, jealousy and a series of shocking secrets. Can Tish expose a cold-blooded killer before the fair is over?


Cookin' the Books

by Amy Patricia Meade

Published 30 November 2018

Literary caterer Letitia 'Tish' Tarragon fights to save her reputation and catch a killer when a murder occurs during a fundraising dinner for the local library.

Letitia 'Tish' Tarragon has just moved to Hobson Glen and opened a new restaurant and catering business, Cookin' the Books Cafe. So when her new landlord, Schulyer Thompson, recommends her to Binnie Broderick, the executive director of the local library, Tish is delighted. Binnie needs a last-minute caterer to create a literary inspired three-course dinner for the library's annual fundraiser, one of the highlights of Hobson Glen's social season.

But there's a problem: Binnie Broderick is a notoriously difficult woman to please. And when she chokes to death from arsenic poisoning after dousing her main course in hot sauce, Tish suddenly finds herself fighting to save her business - and her reputation. It seems that very few of Hobson Glen's residents escaped Binnie's disapproval. But who would want her dead, and why?


A sharp and tangy culinary mystery featuring Tish Tarragon. Can Tish beat the curse of the cherry pie to win first prize at the Virginia Commonwealth Bake-Off?

When literary caterer Letitia 'Tish' Tarragon's friend and star baker at Cookin' the Books cafe, Celestine Rufus, pulls out of the prestigious Virginia Commonwealth Bake-Off, an anxious Tish reluctantly takes her place. Will her signature bake, a frangipane cherry pie, be up to the grade?

As the bake-off gets underway, Tish's worries increase when she learns that two contestants from the previous two competitions also had cherry pies on their menus . . . and both women died suddenly before making their bakes.

Amid bitter rivalries, simmering jealousy and the bakers' insatiable appetite for winning, is the curse of the cherry pie about to strike again?


From Ladle to Grave

by Amy Patricia Meade

Published 30 September 2021

Could a body found in a graveyard be linked to a tragic murder twenty-five years ago? Tish Tarragon is plunged into a new case when a fundraising dinner in the local church hall leads to a dark discovery.

Literary caterer Tish Tarragon's 'heroines of literature' fundraising dinner at St Jude's Episcopal Church is a resounding success. But as Tish walks through the graveyard to lock up the church hall, she takes a tumble . . . over a dead body.

Retired Sheriff Gadsden Carney has been murdered. Not only that, he's lying upon the Honeycutt family plot. Six-year-old Daisy Honeycutt was killed twenty-five years ago in a case that rocked Hobson Glen. Sheriff Carney was in charge of the investigation - and his murder looks suspiciously similar to young Daisy's.

Tish and Sheriff Reade discover that Gadsden was looking into the Honeycutt case again. Could his death be linked to Daisy's murder all those years ago? Her killer died behind bars. Or so everyone thought . . .


Tish Tarragon is catering for a wedding, but the weekend goes from sweet to sour when a guest at the venue is poisoned.

"A charming cozy with plenty of suspects for the romantically inclined sleuths to winnow out'" Kirkus Reviews Starred Review of From Ladle to Grave

Literary caterer and owner of Cookin' the Books café Tish Tarragon is pushing thoughts of her impending eviction aside to prepare an appetising welcome buffet for a wedding weekend at Abbingdon Green Bed and Breakfast. While there, Tish witnesses one of the guests, controversial TV chef and restaurant critic, Gunner Randall, threatening staff after missing breakfast and making do with a mushroom omelet.

When Randall is found dead the following day, it soon becomes clear that poisoned mushrooms were behind his demise. With no shortage of potential suspects and motives, can Tish and her new beau, Sheriff Clemson Reade, uncover who was enraged enough with the unsavoury star to silence him for good?


Cold Turkey

by Amy Patricia Meade

Published 3 October 2023