Candy Apples and Crime
(2025)(A book in the Small Town Halloween Cozy Mystery with Dog series)
A Story by Maisy Marple
Josie Brennan loves everything about October in Maplewood Ridge—the crisp mountain air, the brilliant foliage, and especially the Halloween Harvest Market where her Haunted Candy Apple Bar delights families with gooey caramel and spooky toppings. As owner of The Apple Barrel café, she's become the heart of her Vermont community, serving comfort food and warm conversation to neighbors who've known each other for years. This Halloween season should be perfect, with the town square decorated in jack-o'-lanterns and orange lights, children planning costumes, and everyone looking forward to the Spooky Orchard Hayride at Talmadge Orchards. But when the town's most ruthless orchard owner is found stabbed with one of his own grafting knives the morning after the hayride party, Josie discovers that even the friendliest small town can harbor deadly secrets.
With half the town under suspicion and her friends caught in the web of a murder investigation, Josie finds herself piecing together a puzzle where everyone had motive and opportunity. Richard Talmadge had spent years crushing local businesses, threatening lawsuits, and destroying lives with calculated cruelty, leaving behind a long list of people who wanted him gone. Between running her café's Halloween rush and managing her candy apple booth at the market, Josie can't ignore the suspicious behavior all around her or the growing evidence that points in too many directions. Her loyal friends Claire, Tom, and Paula each have secrets they're hiding, and even Nina Talmadge, the victim's seemingly sympathetic widow, may not be what she appears. With her scruffy rescue dog Rusty occasionally nosing out crucial clues and Detective Marcus Webb methodically interviewing everyone who attended the costume party, Josie begins to understand that the killer has been hiding in plain sight, manipulating the investigation while watching innocent people suffer under suspicion.
As Halloween approaches and the market continues under a cloud of fear, Josie's attention to small details—a carefully folded napkin, a misplaced coffee cup, a timeline that doesn't quite add up—reveals a truth more calculated and cold-blooded than anyone imagined. In a case where costumes provided the perfect disguise and a Halloween party offered ideal cover for murder, Josie must trust her instincts and her knowledge of her neighbors to expose a killer who planned every step with chilling precision. Candy Apples and Crime is the fifth book in the Halloween Mystery Series, a cozy mystery perfect for readers who love autumn celebrations, small-town communities, and observant amateur sleuths who prove that sometimes the most dangerous people are the ones who seem the kindest.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
With half the town under suspicion and her friends caught in the web of a murder investigation, Josie finds herself piecing together a puzzle where everyone had motive and opportunity. Richard Talmadge had spent years crushing local businesses, threatening lawsuits, and destroying lives with calculated cruelty, leaving behind a long list of people who wanted him gone. Between running her café's Halloween rush and managing her candy apple booth at the market, Josie can't ignore the suspicious behavior all around her or the growing evidence that points in too many directions. Her loyal friends Claire, Tom, and Paula each have secrets they're hiding, and even Nina Talmadge, the victim's seemingly sympathetic widow, may not be what she appears. With her scruffy rescue dog Rusty occasionally nosing out crucial clues and Detective Marcus Webb methodically interviewing everyone who attended the costume party, Josie begins to understand that the killer has been hiding in plain sight, manipulating the investigation while watching innocent people suffer under suspicion.
As Halloween approaches and the market continues under a cloud of fear, Josie's attention to small details—a carefully folded napkin, a misplaced coffee cup, a timeline that doesn't quite add up—reveals a truth more calculated and cold-blooded than anyone imagined. In a case where costumes provided the perfect disguise and a Halloween party offered ideal cover for murder, Josie must trust her instincts and her knowledge of her neighbors to expose a killer who planned every step with chilling precision. Candy Apples and Crime is the fifth book in the Halloween Mystery Series, a cozy mystery perfect for readers who love autumn celebrations, small-town communities, and observant amateur sleuths who prove that sometimes the most dangerous people are the ones who seem the kindest.
Genre: Cozy Mystery
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