Better Off Bread — Mara Webb

Take a trip to Compass Cove, an enchanted town full of magic and mayhem…

After a troublesome first month in Compass Cove Zora Wick is finally getting into a groove when the town goes into frenzy mode. There's a Bread Fair on the calendar, and the locals take their dough very seriously. There's a competition on the cards and prize money at stake, and apparently, it's worth killing over.

If that wasn't enough to handle a new bread shop has opened in town, a voodoo-inspired bakery operated by a mysterious witch who is dabbling in dark magic or just very good at pretending. Her shop is full of rotting food and disturbing symbols, but the humans of Compass Cove are lapping it up, and lines are forming around the block. Zora's convinced there's more there than meets the eye.

Zora also has to find a moment to wade through an awful morning of interviews for a bakery assistant, try and figure out why she saw her missing mother hiding in her bathroom mirror, and keep her boneheaded guardians from killing each other -- if they don't get killed by a troublesome magical pest first.

On top of that one of Zora's friends has fallen into trouble with sirens, a dark and brooding group of creatures that inhabit Compass Cove lake. Can she give the merfolk what they want without losing her friend? There's also a rather annoying wand insurance salesman that won't stop following her around… Zora might be pushed to murder herself if he doesn't let up.

Tensions and dough are rising, and it seems like everyone in town has something to prove. There's no loafing around for Zora, she'll have to go against the grain and catch a killer before her plans go a-rye.