In The Solace of Bay Leaves, a cozy mystery set in Seattle’s iconic Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece has rebuilt her life around the aromas and rhythms of her bustling spice shop. As autumn arrives and the holiday cooking season looms, she juggles staff worries and a promising new romance amid shelves lined with fragrant blends.
Her fragile new balance shatters when her childhood friend Maddie is shot and critically injured. The attack is soon connected to an earlier unsolved murder that left another close friend a widow. Pepper becomes convinced that the key to both crimes lies in the complicated history of a once-beloved neighborhood building.
Drawing on her lifelong local connections, Pepper starts asking hard questions and uncovering buried stories that cast fresh light on the people she thought she knew best. As uncomfortable truths rise to the surface, she must confront her own regrets and darker emotions while racing to protect Maddie—and herself—from a killer who may be closer than she realized.
The Solace of Bay Leaves will appeal to readers who enjoy character-driven cozies with a strong sense of place, food and spice details, and mysteries that entwine personal history with present-day danger.
