Soul of a Killer

August 1, 2022
Murder by peach cobbler implicates the chosen family of the twin owners of a Pacific Northwest bookstore and cafe. It's showtime for Mama Zola, who wants to impress with her cooking for the Annual Founder's Day Potluck at her new church home, Everlasting Missionary Baptist Church, now that she's moved to Timber Lake. Mind you, she knows pride is a sin, but she's determined to let everyone know that her peach cobbler is next to godliness, or not far off. Her foster son, Koby Hill, and Keaton Rutledge, the twin sister he was reunited with as an adult, can't help but tease her about the excitement surrounding the day, especially because they're usually the ones running around as the owners of Books & Biscuits, a soul food bookstore and cafe. But Mama Zola didn't get this far in life letting herself be bothered by the judgments of others, and she's ready to present her spread to her new church family with the help of Keaton and Koby's employee Pete Howers. When the twins hear from Mama Zola later in the day, though, she isn't touting her success. Instead, she tells Koby she thinks she's going to be arrested. It seems that churchgoer Austin James basically ended up facedown and dead in a bowl of the cobbler, and the Timber Lake police may think that Pete is to blame. Though Pete isn't someone Keaton and Koby know well, he's become part of their family of choice, and the two are determined to defend him and clear his name, even when Det. Daniel Chow gives Keaton a warning to stay out of the case. A standard cozy soaked in soul food.

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