Claire Walker Mystery

An unexpected romance. A haunting mystery. Pastries to die for. Amateur baker Claire Walker is thrilled to be a contestant on Britain's Battle of the Bakers. She can almost smell the fresh pastries wafting through the air. If she can win the grand prize, she can ditch her teaching job and launch her baking career. The Viscount of Colburn, Jonathan Ainsley, is the custodian of Blackfirth Park and an eligible bachelor. He reluctantly agrees to allow the cooking competition show to film on his estate, but when a contestant is found dead soon after filming begins, Jonathan is forced to get involved. To make matters worse, the baker's death stirs up rumors of the legendary death of the tenth Viscountess of Colburn two hundred and fifty years earlier. Even as suspicion falls on some of the bakers, a decidedly different kind of heat begins to simmer between Claire and Jonathan. If they are to have any hope of a future romance, they must first solve the mystery before the show gets canceled or someone else falls prey to what some believe is the Blackfirth Park ghost.

A romantic getaway turns deadly when a passenger on the train is murdered-and a famous chef is the prime suspect. Amateur baker and part-time sleuth Claire Walker is looking forward to a vacation with her boyfriend, Jonathan Ainsley. The happy couple boards the famed Scottish train, the Mallaig Steam Express-temporarily renamed "The Marzipan Express" in honor of chef Alan Gables, who is hosting an exclusive culinary experience for his most devoted fans. The trip has barely begun when Claire and Jonny discover a dead body, and though it appears to be an accident, Claire can sense something is wrong as easily as she can sense an overbaked soufflé. All clues point to Alan as the culprit: He doesn't have an alibi, his assistant is oddly nervous around him, and a shadowy figure keeps appearing at all the wrong times. Is someone from Alan's past trying to frame him? Or could Alan be trying to cover his tracks? Claire had hoped for a delicious, romantic getaway, not investigating a mysterious death while stress-eating trifle in the kitchen car and trying to not be jealous of a magazine reporter who is flirting with Jonny. It's mayhem in more ways than one.