Stolen Gems

In the third book of the Friday Friends Dinner Club, Melody leaves her hometown of Stonybrooke to indulge in three days of creating, cooking and learning how to take her fledgling business to the next level at the Create Conference. The cherry on top of the event: acceptance into the Pitch It Session, a prestigious panel awarding three women with book deals and television specials features.Odd things start to happen as soon as baking blogger and amateur detective Melody Note steps up the stairs to attend the Create Conference.Luggage goes missing, a theft occurs and a mysterious masked intruder interrupts a festive evening. The mood of the conference takes a dark turn as the featured display of the conference: twelve one-of-a-kind necklaces, worth $25,000 each- are stolen and the founder comes under suspicion.Founder of the event, Madge Poppins, has spent her life training and empowering artisanal, entrepreneurial women to thrive and succeed. The Create Conference has gone strong for twenty years. This is the final year and Madge is finishing her conference with a flourish. At least she was....until the necklaces are stolen out from under her nose (almost literally).Soon Melody is on the trail of a thief while trying to learn how to master baking a soufflé and impress a panel of intimidating judges. Then former flame, Brandon, shows up throwing Melody's cool demeanor off course. Does he really think their relationship can survive after their rocky last few months? Will Melody find out who stole the jewelry before the conference is over? It's a lot to handle, but Melody is ready to take it on and whip out a delectable new blog post in the process. Is there anything better than a dangerous mystery book along with something tasty to eat?My mom collected the Nancy Drew books when she was a girl. In my childhood home, she lined them all up on two shelves of the floor-to-ceiling oak bookcases. When I passed a milestone- good grades on my report card, did extra chores, was nice to my little brothers- my mom let me read the next mystery.As I read through the Nancy Drew series, I searched for other mysteries, especially during the triple digit days of summer in Northern California. The Boxcar Children, the Babysitter's club, the Mandie mystery series, the Hardy Boys and the Adventures of the Bobbsey Twins filled the hours of summer.As I got older, I dived into the classics of Agatha Christie, then Mary Higgins Clark and many other intriguing mystery books. I imagined what mysteries might lie right in my own little world. As stories came to me, I began to write them down, bringing the characters in my head into life.Along with reading mysteries, cooking and baking is near and dear to my heart. Gathering people and feeding them is such fun. Food is a wonderful way to get to know people.I've gotten to know so many wonderful people and had many rich conversations over a good (or not so good!) meal as well as solved a personal mystery or two.If you'd like to know more about the other books, get the recipes from the books (along with other goodies I come up with throughout the year), go to www.poppymhaas.comYou can also find me on Facebook @poppymhaas