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Minister's wife, sometime sleuth and culinary artist Faith Sibley Fairchild is intrigued by rumours of mysterious goings on at Hubbard House - an elegant, secluded retirement home for the well-heeled Yankees of Aleford, Massachusetts. Determined to do some surreptitious snooping, she joins the flu-depleted kitchen staff. But after witnessing a resident collapse face-first into a bowl of her bouillon and finding a murdered drug dealer in her room, Faith realizes that murder is the speciality of the house. And her own untimely demise might be the next item on the menu.

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Munch Mancini is a busy woman, juggling her job, a fledgling business and single motherhood, but she hasn't forgotten her old friends like Ellen Summers. Munch and Ellen were young and foolish together, but somewhere along the line Munch went straight and Ellen went to prison. Now Ellen is about to be freed from the California Institute for Women. She'll have another chance to make a life. Or will she? Just a day before her release, her world falls apart when someone tortures and murders her mother and stepfather. Ellen may be the next target. Friendship, loyalty, motherhood, men and even Munch's sobriety are put to the test as she embarks on a harrowing mission to catch a killer and save Ellen.