Pumpkins Are Murder — Kathy Cranston

Springdale is bustling as Halloween approaches and the town turns out in force to celebrate the annual Pumpkin Parade. Jessie Henderson thinks the parade will be a welcome break from running the Bakehouse and overseeing renovations on her new venture -- until she learns what her role in the festivities will involve. Jessie's embarrassment melts away when an unpleasant local character turns up dead during the parade. With so many people around, Jessie and Chief Daly are surprised to find that nobody saw anything. Was Jessie imagining the suspicious man in black she saw from her float? And why do so many of the people they speak to seem suspicious? Jessie and the chief find themselves with an unusual problem: they've got too many suspects, none of whom can provide an alibi for the time of the murder. Can Jessie pick through the tangled web of secrets and lies to find the real killer? And will she ever be able to look at a pumpkin again?