Lemon Curd and Lies
A jar of lemon curd. A stolen technique. A food critic who never thought anyone would find out.
When Marcus Webb - Pacific Northwest Quarterly's most influential food columnist - publishes a glowing profile of Portland chef Stella Grange, it includes a verbena lemon curd recipe that Cora Rossi-Ashford recognizes immediately. Dorothy Ashby, Maple Creek's master baker and the woman who taught Cora everything she knows, created that technique. And Dorothy never gave anyone permission to use it.
What begins as a question of attribution quietly becomes something more dangerous. Cora starts pulling threads: an old correspondence between Dorothy and Marcus, a former student who may have acted out of ambition rather than admiration, and a heritage documentation project that could expose decades of borrowed artistry. When a key piece of evidence goes missing and Dorothy's reputation hangs in the balance, Cora realizes that in the world of artisan food and culinary legacy, some people protect their secrets with more than silence.
With Biscotti monitoring the alley from the windowsill and Peggy keeping careful notes, Cora must untangle a story of mentorship, credit, and the quiet ways creative work can be taken from the people who made it.
Lemon Curd and Lies is Book 5 in the Maple Creek Bakery Mystery series. Can be read as a standalone.
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