Murder at Velvet Cocoa: A Cozy Mystery Featuring a Poisoned Bite and a Killer with a Secret, (Paperback)

<b>She built a life from scratch. Someone just poisoned it.</b> <p>Darby Quinn traded a prestigious Manhattan law career for hand-rolled truffles and the quiet streets of Birch Hollow, Vermont. Three years later, Velvet Cocoa-her meticulously run chocolate shop-is everything she has: proof that a woman who once weaponized language in corporate boardrooms can build something beautiful, honest, and hers. </p><p>Then Julian Thorpe walks in. The most feared food critic in America. A man whose reviews have bankrupted restaurants and destroyed careers. He reaches for the darkest truffle on the tray, takes a single bite-and collapses on her pine floor.<br>The poison was in one truffle. Not the batch. <i>One.</i> And it was placed there during the exact seven minutes Darby stepped away to sign for a delivery. </p><p><b>Now her shop is a crime scene, her customers are canceling, and someone in this picture-perfect ski town is a killer.</b> </p><p>With her OCD spiraling and her livelihood hanging by a thread, Darby does what twelve years of corporate law trained her to do: she builds a case. Assisted by Bev-her seventy-two-year-old shop assistant who moderates the town's most explosive Facebook group-and Sam, the quiet carpenter whose steady hands and painful past hide a gentleness she wasn't expecting, Darby works to reconstruct the tasting night minute by minute. </p><p>But every suspect has a secret worth protecting. And when a second murder strikes and a melted truffle appears on Darby's kitchen table, the killer's message is clear: <i>stop looking, or you're next.</i> </p><p><b>She's not going to stop.</b> </p><p><i>Murder at Velvet Cocoa</i> is a full-length cozy mystery set in a snow-covered Vermont village during ski season. It features a compelling amateur sleuth with OCD portrayed with depth and nuance, a slow-burn romance built on mutual vulnerability, a locked-circle mystery with fair-play clues, and a heartbreaking villain reveal that asks: <i>Who gets to start over-and what happens when the foundation of a new life is a lie?</i> </p><p><b>Perfect for readers who love: </b><br>- Richly atmospheric small-town settings with cozy charm and real tension<br>- Amateur sleuths who are smart, flawed, and impossible not to root for<br>- Slow-burn romance that never overshadows the mystery<br>- A carefully constructed whodunit with clues hidden in plain sight<br>- Themes of reinvention, authenticity, trust, and second chances<br>- Chocolate. So much chocolate.</p>

• Murder at Velvet Cocoa: A Cozy Mystery Featuring a Poisoned Bite and a Killer with a Secret, (Paperback)
• Author: Paisley MacDonald
• ISBN: 9798198783294
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2026-06-18
• Page Count: 322