A Cookie Before Dying — Virginia Lowell

Olivia Greyson is the proud owner of The Gingerbread House -- a quaint shop that specializes in all things cookie -- and her best friend, Maddie, is her sidekick, baking up scrumptious treats for their cookie-themed parties. But there's no sugarcoating a fellow shop owner's terrible temper...

One morning Livie's lawn is covered with what looks like a generous sprinkling of confectioners' sugar, but in fact are balled-up flyers reading SUGAR KILLS. She assumes they were distributed by Charlene Critch, the uptight owner of The Vegetable Plate. When Livie heads to Charlene's store, she finds the place trashed and catches sight of a man running out the back door.

Charlene refuses to believe Livie's story about the intruder, and the feud between the two escalates when Maddie celebrates the harvest with cookies shaped like fruits and vegetables, setting Charlene off again. Could Charlene be hiding a secret serious enough to kill for? Responding to a dog howling on a stormy night, Livie and her Yorkie, Spunky, discover the body of a man who was stabbed to death -- and looks suspiciously like the one who fled Charlene's store. Perhaps sugar is not all that kills...