Val Deniston loves the historic Chesapeake Bay town where she lives with her grandfather, the Codger Cook. Running the fitness club's Cool Down Café-and salvaging the five-ingredient dishes Granddad messes up-keeps her busy. She's used to his catastrophes in the kitchen, but not in the dining room… Especially when one of his dinner party guests winds up face down in the chowder. The demised diner apparently scammed Granddad's best buddy, and since...

Its a cold January in the Chesapeake Bay area, but Cool Down Café manager Val Deniston has plenty to sweat overlike catering a book club event, testing recipes for her Granddads cookbook, and catching the author of a deadly tale of murder. . .The last thing Val needs in her life is an unsolved murder, especially when the victim, an actor famed for impersonating Edgar Allan Poe, happens to be dressed exactly like her Granddad. To keep an eye on Granddad,...

Suzette Cripps has been occupying a spare bedroom at Val's granddad's house while she takes classes in this Maryland Eastern Shore townbut she's always seemed a little secretive and fearful, and any talk about her past is a closed book. After winning the costume contest at the Halloween-themed bookstore party, Suzette is mowed down by a hit-and-run driverand Val and her grandfather start to wonder whether it was really an accident or if someone was...