In Cedar Cove, coffee, gossip, and secrets are always served fresh.
When prominent university administrator Dr. Andrew Whitmore collapses after his usual cup of coffee at Mia Doyle's beloved caf , the town's Founders Weekend celebration turns into a crime scene. Rumors spread faster than the harbor wind, and Mia's business becomes the first casualty of a murder no one saw coming.
Paige Donovan, a former lead detective turned licensed private investigator and host of the true-crime podcast Buried Truth, knows better than to trust the town's easiest answers. Whitmore had enemies in every corner of Cedar Cove, from the working harbor to the halls of the university. He was charming, powerful, and far too skilled at keeping other people's secrets.
As Paige follows the trail from caf tables to dockside grudges, university records, old friendships, and long-buried betrayals, she discovers that Whitmore's polished reputation hid something much darker. But in Cedar Cove, the truth rarely stays in one place, and solving one murder may uncover a mystery much closer to Paige's own past.
Sweet as Sugar is the first book in the Paige Donovan Mystery series, a cozy, character-driven mystery filled with coastal charm, caf warmth, buried secrets, and a heroine determined to bring the truth into daylight.