Alphabet Soup Mysteries

The first in the Alphabet Soup Mysteries and opening night is here!One recipe is included in each book! Opening night of Chef Jessica Vasquez's new restaurant: The Crock Pot. With the media spotlighting the opening on the evening news and food bloggers featuring the restaurant online, the pressure is on. At the end of the night, The Crock Pot is a smashing success and Jessica is beaming with pride. That is until she realizes her Sous Chef, Earl, is missing. After a short search, she finds him by the dumpsters, shot to death. Suspicion is cast on Jess. She doesn't want to be compared to her father, so that thrusts her into the role of sleuth to clear her name and save her business. As she digs into the murder, her business is vandalized, and she's harassed by an unknown source. Along with her two besties, Sawyer and Vee, they find the murderer may be closer than they thought.

Jess has some time off, so for the first time in a while, she is going on a date. It's a blind date set up by her General Manager, Noah. However, after waiting for two hours, Jessica is devastated to think she's been stood up. He seemed so nice via texts. As she is leaving the restaurant they were meeting at, she sees police have blocked off the street two blocks down. That's when she learns the truth about her date. He was murdered. For her peace of mind and at the begging of Noah, she begins investigating his death and things get strange and too close to home.

Chef Jessica is asked to cater a funeral service for a family friend. Not something she typically would say yes to, especially with her commitment to the restaurant. But if she can pull this off, it could mean another source of income. But, as she and her team are ready to go, Jess goes to leave the invoice in the office, only to find the assistant funeral director dead near the kitchen area. Initial evidence points to poisoning which leads to suspicion being on Jessica's food. Why do bodies keep ending up dead around Jess? Was this another plot to sabotage her business? Or is something else nefarious happening at Caruso's Funeral Home? With the help of her two besties, Sawyer and Vee, she is determined to find out and once again, clear her name.

Disaster strikes Dashwood, when a fire burns down an abandoned building that was set to be renovated into a high-end apartment complex. It was part of a larger improvement and beautification project for the city with boutique shops and art galleries. This doesn't impact the Crock Pot or Chef Jessica, at least not until the police show up to arrest Marco, one of the bussers, for murder. It turns out that there was a man killed inside the building. Initially, they thought he died from the fire, but the autopsy showed blunt force trauma. As news spreads, nobody can believe the kindhearted, generous, and trustworthy busser could be capable of murder. However, the evidence is pretty damning against him. Chef Jess believes his pleas of innocence and decides to lean into her new nickname. The crime-fighting chef is determined to find the real killer and prove Marco's innocence.