When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren't just delicious. They're having magical effects on the people who eat them--and the public is hungry for more.
Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn's fiancé is found dead--killed with Ella Mae's rolling pin--it'll take all her sweet magic to clear her name.
frightened. They’d only been alone together once since that day, but they hadn’t touched. And as the summer passed, Ella Mae feared that they’d never find a way back to the moment they’d shared in this room. Reba cleared her throat, forcing Ella Mae back to the present. “We’re okay,” she told Hugh. “Just a bit of smoke. There’s no damage.” “Speak for yourself,” Reba said and put a hand to her forehead, feigning a swoon. “I feel kinda dizzy. You might need to carry me outta here, young man.”
mouth open in a smile of pleasure. Ella Mae uttered a strangled sound that was part sob, part laugh and then raced to the shore to find her dog a real stick. The pair played in the shallows until Ella Mae’s caffeine addiction drove her back to the house, a wet and happy terrier by her side. Reba was in the kitchen, reading the Sunday paper as she sipped from her coffee cup. Her hair was in thin rollers and she had yet to apply her false eyelashes. The room smelled of strawberries. “You’re up
the pies cookin’.” “I’m going to make the very first ones for you and the crew,” she promised. “Are you an apple pie man?” “Yes, I am. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and I’ll be a pig in mud. No cheese for me. I never did understand why folks wanna ruin a perfectly fine piece of pie.” Ella Mae watched as he tossed the bag directly onto the Mad Hatter’s face. “Actually, I put the cheese in the crust. You should try it,” she said, following Cyrus through the back door. “Why not? You only live
became solemn again. “Have the missing bearer bonds been located? Chandler could really use that money. The equine center is barely limping along.” “Don’t know, my dear. I’d guess they were inside the rolling pin Ashleigh left at the scene, there was a switcheroo, and someone walked away with a tidy sum of money.” “I’d swear the culprit is Loralyn, even though she was in Atlanta. It would have been easy for her to take the rolling pin from my mother’s kitchen, but how could she switch that pin
pink and blue paperback. Pen and paper at the ready, she decided to look up her aunts’ names first. “Let’s start with Verena.” She flipped to the vs and began to read. “Verena means ‘true’ or the ‘detector of truth.’” Ella Mae took a sip of coffee and jotted a note. “Sounds like Verena. She always knew when I was lying. And neither Buddy nor her sisters ever bothered trying to deceive her. I wonder if she can differentiate between lies and truth with everyone. Is that her gift?” She turned to
