The Starters Secret
A sourdough starter. A stolen family legacy. A murder baked into Cypress Bend history.
Charisma Finnegan only planned to sell bread at the Founders' Hearth Festival. Her famous starter, Vincent VanDough, was safely back at the bakery, and the day should have been filled with cinnamon rolls, heirloom recipes, and small-town gossip.
Then food historian Dr. Hollis Bramwell publicly challenges the polished story behind Rusk & Root Provisions' "heritage" starter kit. According to him, the treasured Rusk family starter may not have belonged to the Rusks at all. It may have begun with Tessa Bellroot, a widowed baker whose name was quietly folded out of Cypress Bend's history.
Before Hollis can reveal his final proof, he is found dead inside the restored Bellroot summer kitchen.
Now the festival's pretty displays turn into evidence. A sealed blue jar, a missing brown folder, a cut archive page, an old feeding note, and a family story too profitable to question all point in different directions. Sissy Bellroot looks guilty. Claudia Rusk looks too composed. Amos Rusk knows more than he wants to say. And someone is dragging Charisma's own beloved starter into the rumor mill.
With Deputy Tom Whitaker working the official case and Donna's diner serving as Cypress Bend's unofficial truth counter, Charisma must follow the crumbs through old ledgers, family grudges, online accusations, and the dangerous difference between preserving history and owning it.
Because in Cypress Bend, some starters are fed before first light.
And some secrets rise whether anyone wants them to or not.
The Starters Secret is a warm, clue-rich cozy mystery featuring sourdough, small-town wit, buried family history, clean suspense, and a heroine who knows that what people throw away often tells the truth first.
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