A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S FUDGE

A kindhearted hotelier and fudge maker just can’t catch a break from murder.

Allie McMurphy is attending Mackinac Island’s first Midsummer Night’s Festival with her best friend, Jenn; her boyfriend, Rex Manning, a police officer; and her bichon-poo, Mal, when a fuss erupts over the disqualification of an entry in the competition to be named queen. On her way home with Mal, who’s afraid of the fireworks, Allie discovers the body of festival head Winona Higer, shot dead. This isn’t the first time Mal and Allie have found a corpse, and she’s developed a reputation for messing with murders, much to the displeasure of Rex, whose job description calls for him to solve Mackinac’s crimes. Despite being more than busy running her hotel and making fudge for her shop, Allie can’t resist a little snooping. The first suspects are naturally the family of the girl who was disqualified, but that kerfuffle seems a thin motive for murder. So does Winona’s argument with her gardener over her roses, which she thought he'd poisoned with the wrong fertilizer. Threatening notes to pageant judges precede another dead body, once again sniffed out by Mal. More shootings and break-ins raise the question of why the killer is targeting the festival judges. Or are these attacks just a series of red herrings to obscure a hidden motive? Allie needs to find the answer before she becomes the killer’s next victim.

Charming characters and settings make for a pleasant stop before trying your hand at the fudge recipes.