Sour Grounds

Edith Merrick thought she'd have a quiet spring writing about local farmers for the Quill Creek Gazette.

Instead, she's watching one of them die in front of her.

When stubborn, difficult farmer Gordon Whitfield collapses moments after announcing he's cutting off the water rights half the county depends on, the whole town becomes a suspect - including the land developer circling his farm, the boundary rival who never forgave an old grudge, and the eager niece standing to inherit everything. But it's a single, ordinary detail - a man who never once in his life took sugar in his coffee - that Edith can't stop turning over in her mind.

As she gets closer to the truth, Edith finds herself facing something she's never had to face before: a confrontation with real danger, and a killer more desperate than cruel. With Pearl's steady friendship, Deputy Russ Tovey's patient investigation, and Hank Weller by her side through the hardest night of her year, Edith has to decide how far she's willing to go - and how much she's willing to risk - to see justice done fairly.

Sour Grounds is Book Two of The Quill Creek Mysteries, a cozy mystery series set in the rolling farmland of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - for readers who love a gentle whodunit with real heart, a small-town cast worth returning to, and a recipe (plus a gardening tip) tucked in at the back.

No graphic violence. No profanity. Just a fair-play mystery, real emotional stakes, and a town worth visiting again.