Darby Quinn left Manhattan's cutthroat legal world to build something honest: Velvet Cocoa, a chocolate shop in the snow-dusted village of Birch Hollow, Vermont. Her days are measured in tempered batches, alphabetized spice racks, and the quiet rituals that keep her OCD in check. Her world is small, precise, and entirely under control.
Until a notorious food critic selects the darkest truffle on the tray-and dies on her shop floor.
With her livelihood crumbling and suspicion circling, Darby does what her lawyer's brain was built to do: she investigates. Armed with meticulous batch logs, a razor-sharp eye for inconsistency, and the town's most well-connected gossip at her side, she reconstructs the seven minutes she was away from the truffle trays-the seven minutes that someone used to commit murder.
The suspects are everywhere. A flamboyant restaurateur with a ruinous secret. A jittery coffee shop owner hiding a catastrophic past. A vengeful chef who once lost everything to the dead man's pen. An icy ex-wife negotiating from the shadows. And the victim's quiet, helpful assistant-whose kindness might be the most dangerous thing in town.
As a second body surfaces and her own apartment is violated, Darby must choose between the controlled safety she's built and the messy, uncertain truth she's uncovering. Because in Birch Hollow, everyone came here to start over. And someone will kill to make sure the past stays buried.
Murder at Velvet Cocoa is a richly atmospheric cozy mystery with a slow-burn romance, a nuanced portrayal of OCD, a cast of suspects with secrets worth killing for, and a final revelation that will break your heart before it satisfies your sense of justice.
