Hayley Powell is a food columnist for her local newspaper. She gets the opportunity to participate in cookbook author, Penelope Janice's Fourth of July cook off at her estate. She is beyond excited as Penelope is her idol. But things don't go as planned. Hayley gets food poisioning the first night there and overhears a man, who she believes is Penelope's husband, and a woman plotting a murder of who she thinks is Penelope. When Hayley tells Penelope what she overheard, Penelope doesn't believe her. Did Hayley really hear a murder plot or was it a fever induced hallucination? Things get even more complicated when Penelope's husband is found daed at the bottom of a cliff. Now Hayley has to find out if his death was an accident as everyone believes, or if it was murder like Hayley suspects. She teams upwith Bruce, the crime reporter for the paper after an attempt on her life and another possible murder occurs. The two try to piece together what happened.

This was a great edition to this series. It is a little different from her previous books. Hayley's children are not in this book anc we only see her two best friends briefly. However, everything I love about this series was still there. Hayley is still the same person even with different background characters and I found that I didn't miss Mona and Lindy as much as I thought I would. I loved seeing Hayley and Bruce team up together and I hope we see more of them together. The mystery was well done. I was not expecting who the killer was. I can't wait to read the next book.

I received this book from net galley in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyable, entertaining Maine mystery! Although much of protagonist Hayley's life has changed throughout this series, she's still Hayley, and I appreciate that. I love her humor, her realistic imperfection, her personality, and her drive for finding truth and justice. In Death of a Cookbook Author, she's staying at a celebrity chef's summer "cottage" with several other cooks, competing in a competition and being filmed for a tv show. There are quite a few secrets and hidden agendas among the household, and Hayley has no qualms about making people upset in her quest to find the truth. This was a fun read, a good mystery with a hint of romance, and some delicious recipes! This is one of my favorite series, though I definitely think it stands alone for those who are new to the series. Great for lovers of mystery, cooking, and Maine!

I happily received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.