Spotlight & Giveaway: Crime and Croissants — cozy mystery about a second chance that turns deadly

# What this spotlight covers

# Premise and stakes Milly Rosebush has just moved back into a lakeside house she once owned with her ex-husband. She plans a fresh start for herself and her daughter, hoping the lakeside setting will bring quiet and stability. That plan collapses when Milly discovers a dead woman in an upstairs bedroom. A stranger sees Milly holding the murder weapon, and gossip quickly makes her the prime suspect.

Clearing Milly's name requires asking questions that unsettle Fox Hollow. The deeper the investigation goes, the more secrets appear—local gossip, past relationships, and hidden motives. Milly enlists her cooking club and a helpful neighbor to investigate, blending food, friendship, and sleuthing as she tries to solve the crime before she's further implicated.

# What the excerpt reveals The excerpt begins with Milly and her long-time friend Carla arriving at the lake house. The house appears neglected: weathered clapboard, long shadows, a missing porch board, dust and cobwebs. Carla's fashion-conscious reluctance contrasts with Milly's practical determination. The scene uses food—Milly's wicker basket with lemon honey chicken—to coax Carla inside, establishing Milly's identity as a cook whose food can sway people.

They discover a hissing black cat on the porch, and a later scene sketches Milly's emotional life: she negotiated the lake house in her divorce, wanted to avoid returning to the Massachusetts colonial her ex kept, and imagines a calmer future by Moonshadow Lake for her and her daughter Laney. The excerpt also introduces Milly's resentment toward her ex-husband and the emotional context behind her move.

# Genre signals and structure Crime and Croissants signals a classic cozy-mystery blend:

• A small-town setting with close social ties and fast-moving gossip.
• An amateur sleuth who relies on community networks (a cooking club and neighbors).
• Food and recipes woven into the narrative, with cooking scenes used to build relationships and atmosphere.
• An initial personal crisis that becomes a criminal investigation with mounting personal risk.

# Who this will appeal to Readers who enjoy light-to-midweight mysteries grounded in character and community will likely be interested. The cooking-club angle and recipe moments add a culinary hook for readers who like food-centered cozies. The lakeside New Hampshire setting will attract readers who prefer intimate, regional English-language mysteries rather than high-stakes police procedurals.

# Junkie provides Chapter One, giving readers a direct taste of tone, character, and setting. The post also identifies this as part of the Cooking Club Murder Mysteries and indicates giveaway coverage, making it a discovery point for readers who want a sample and a chance to win a copy.

# Takeaway Crime and Croissants frames a second-chance narrative around a central whodunit: Milly must use local ties, cooking-club camaraderie, and persistent questioning to prove her innocence while navigating a town that already knows her past.