A Murder Between Apple and Cinnamon

An inherited café. A lazy cat with a crooked ear. A body among the apple crates.

After a break-up and the death of her beloved grandmother, Hanna Förster comes home to the little German village of Lindenbrück — and inherits the cosy Squirrel Café, complete with a mountain of debt, a temperamental wood stove, and a fat tabby tomcat named Streusel with one crooked ear. All Hanna wants is to bake apple cake in peace and start over.

Then, at the village harvest festival, the mood curdles. Somewhere between the scent of cinnamon and the oompah of the brass band, the loathed festival landlord is found dead. A regrettable accident, says the detective from the county town — and off he drives, back home. Hanna doesn't believe it for a second. Because she knows exactly who, that evening, refused a slice of streusel cake.

With her sharp-eyed neighbour Edith (binoculars always at the ready), Streusel the cat, and conscientious village constable Jonas Reuter — who isn't supposed to be investigating at all — Hanna starts pulling at the village's tangled secrets. Four suspects, two false trails, and an old memorial stone that gives away more than Lindenbrück has been willing to admit for thirty years.

A Murder Between Apple and Cinnamon is the first cosy case in The Squirrel Café Mysteries: a small village, a warm-hearted cast, and not a drop of gore — just the smell of fresh baking, a cat underfoot, and a fair-play puzzle you can solve right alongside Hanna.

Perfect for readers who like their mysteries clean, their villages charming, and their amateur sleuths armed with cake. Includes an original recipe from the Squirrel Café at the end of the book — Marlene's covered apple cake is here, ready to bake.