Spotlight on The Carrot Marmalade Murder

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Meg Benjamin. Today, Meg shares her new release, The Carrot Marmalade Murder.

Blurb

Roxy and Nate are finally getting married, but murder wasn’t on the program. In the midst of her wedding prep, Roxy has to deal with Nate’s trouble-making ex who thinks she can rekindle their romance. But things get serious when the ex ends up dead in a Shavano back alley. Now Roxy needs to clear Nate’s name, sell her customers on her carrot marmalade, and find herself a wedding dress. All before it’s time to take a deep breath and confront her own wedding jitters.

Excerpt

I headed back to the kitchen to get the next bunch of trays and platters ready to go.

Nate and Kevin picked up the hotel pans with meatballs and filo packets to place on the hot trays they already had in place. I followed with the artichoke dip and crostini. We were making good time, and the waitress for the night, Evie, had just arrived. Everything seemed to be falling into place. I felt like patting someone on the back.

“Nathan?”

I heard the woman’s voice as I stepped through the door behind Kevin. Ahead of us, Nate stopped dead in his tracks, which made it sort of difficult for Kevin and me to get around him and put our food on the table.

“Nathan? That is you, isn’t it?”

I turned toward the woman’s voice, noticing that Nate was staring rigidly toward the side of the room near the posters. As I watched, a tall blonde stepped forward with a brilliant smile.

Calling her a tall blonde doesn’t really do her justice, though. In her stocking feet, she was probably about my height, but she wasn’t in stocking feet at all. She wore bright green three-inch spike heels with open toes that showed purple toenails. The skirt of her vividly green minidress ended a good two inches above her knees, while the neckline dipped low across her considerable cleavage. Her tumble of curly hair was a kind of honey gold that I doubted very much was natural but looked terrific.

She was spectacular, and apparently, she knew Nate.

Author Bio and Links

Meg Benjamin is an award-winning author of romance and cozy mysteries. Meg’s cozy mystery series, Luscious Delights from Wild Rose Press, concerns a jam-making sleuth based in the mythical small town of Shavano, Colorado. Her contemporary romance Konigsburg series is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Salt Box and Brewing Love trilogies are set in the Colorado Rockies (all are available from Entangled Publishing and from Meg’s indie line). Along with romance and cozies, Meg is also the author of the paranormal Ramos Family trilogy from Berkley InterMix and the Folk trilogy from Meg’s indie line. Meg’s books have won numerous awards, including an EPIC Award, a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers, the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance Writers, the Carly Crown Jewel of Books from the Mid-America Romance Authors, and the Award of Excellence from Colorado Romance Writers.

Giveaway

Meg Benjamin will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Meg on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

The Carrot Marmalade Murder is the seventh book in Ms. Benjamin’s Luscious Delights Mystery series, and it delivers all the ingredients I’ve come to enjoy in a cozy mystery—intrigue, romance, murder, and a charming Colorado Rockies setting.

Add a trouble-making ex, wedding jitters, and scrumptious food, and you have the perfect recipe for an entertaining read. From the start, I found myself completely immersed in the story. The characters—both delightful and not-so-delightful—pulled me along, and I kept turning pages, eager to uncover what would happen next. I found myself becoming surprisingly invested in their choices, relationships, and tangled lives, which made the twists and turns all the more satisfying.

This is the kind of book that makes you want to put everything else aside and settle in for “just one more chapter”—only to realize that several chapters have disappeared. My advice? Set aside a large block of reading time, because once you begin, you may find it difficult to stop.

Well done!