Professor Bay Browning has more snake problems than the Garden of Eden in this twisted mystery. The English Literature instructor is busy preparing for a new semester when a serial killer, known as Medusa, bites her quiet life in the behind. A wild ride ensues when Bay and her grifter sister, Cass, assist a perturbed Detective Downing with the investigation. What else can the sisters do, once they become Medusa’s targets? Will the slithering trail of mythology, art history, and family secrets help them catch a killer before she turns them to stone?
Francine “Frankie” Champagne is the 40-something owner of Bubble and Bake, bakery by day and wine lounge by night in the tourist haven of Deep Lakes, a small central Wisconsin town in Whitman County. After a fire destroyed Frankie’s home five years ago, Frankie left the law firm where she worked as a paralegal to begin anew, pursuing her passion for baking and wine tasting. Partnering with long-time friend Carmen Martinez, who also manages a sheep farm with her husband, Frankie’s fiery spirit and Carmen’s practical nature combine perfectly for success.
The peacefulness of a Deep Lakes winter is upended when a local pastor is found dead inside his fishing shanty on frozen Lake Loki. Frankie sticks her curious nose into the investigation, despite warnings from the local police chief to leave it alone. But Frankie has something to prove, maybe to the local newspaper editor who wouldn’t hire her as a reporter, maybe to herself as she juggles multiple identities: mother, daughter, business owner, vintner, baker, writer. Frankie’s fierce independence won’t allow her to back down, so she pursues the clues she finds on the pastor’s desk and in the fishing shanty, while the two sides of her dueling conscience meddle with her decisions. Scraping away layer after layer of information, Frankie discovers the chilling deception that led to the pastor’s icing on the lake.
Grab your favorite vintage, pastry or both, and settle in for a cozy helping of whodunnit with a new friend, Frankie Champagne.
Book 2 of the Deep Lakes Cozy Mystery series. Out Now!
The promise of Spring in Deep Lakes, Wisconsin brings the community out of hibernation to plan the annual Roots Festival. Bubble and Bake owner Frankie Champagne just wants to help the Granite Mansion quarry heiress plan the keynote presentation. So, why does she find herself in the middle of the legendary and deadly Quarry Curse?
Summer in Deep Lakes sprouts a homegrown murder on the O’Connor farm. Frankie Champagne’s hunt for clues lands her deep in sheep doo doo, especially after rare stones surface in unexpected places. Crime-solving is no picnic for the baker/vintner as she hops from farm to field to bakery, trying to keep up with the tourist season and track a killer, too.
A frazzled Frankie is wrangling the Bubble & Bake tourist season and grape harvesting at her vineyard, so what’s a woman to do when a dead bird expert floats to the surface of Blackbird Pond? Since the victim is a beloved cousin of Frankie’s employees, she swoops in to investigate. Can the Bubble & Bake crew find the killer before the dirty bird flies the coop?
Before Frankie Champagne encountered Deep Dark Secrets, her main concerns were baking tasty pastries and producing flavorful wines—along with charming her mother, of course. But with the town Christmas season in jeopardy, Frankie steps up to save the day, as only someone who doesn’t believe in the word impossible can do. Frankie summons her female superpowers and, with a little mysterious intervention, she might even overcome her Christmas blues in the process.
Joy Ann Ribar grew up in a small Wisconsin community where Winter is the longest season of the year, the Friday Fish Fry is a religion and Up North is a collection of wonderful memories instead of a destination. Joy loves to travel just about anywhere, but her hiking boots keep finding their way back to Wisconsin. Where else can a person find excuses to bake goodies nine months of the year as comfort from the cold? Where else is grilling brats, drinking toasts and slicing cheese considered a workout? Where else can you find celebrated supper clubs, the largest variety of year-round water activities and the most adoring football fans even when the Packers are losing? And in the current century, visitors can find something in Wisconsin they never imagined - many first-rate wineries!
Deep Dark Secrets is the first book in the Deep Lakes Cozy Mystery series by Joy Ann Ribar and after reading it I am moving to Deep Lakes and getting a job working for Frankie… Deep Dark Secrets is such a fun book !!! Not only will the reader love Frankie and her many jobs but they will love how she innocently investigates the murder. And you cannot help but love that she has a good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel on the other and they are fireflies instead of angels and they argue back and forth.....that just adds originality to this series !!! I highly recommend reading Deep Dark Secrets and I look forward to the next book in this series.....
Small-town Wisconsin guards many secrets - some curious, others dangerous. In her debut mystery, Deep Dark Secrets, Joy Ann Ribar tempts the reader with a setting and cast of characters that force pages to turn fast. Multiple twists conspire to confuse yet lead to an alarming, if satisfying, conclusion to this first mystery in a new cozy series.
A local Pastor found dead in his ice fishing shanty sends Frankie, owner of the Bubble and Bake wine shop and bakery, on a mission to solve this untimely death. Central Wisconsin small town personalities and rural idiosyncrasies combine to make this mystery a winter romp through a maze of deceptions and false leads. A part time writer between baking delightful quiches and mouth-watering Kringles, Frankie’s motivation to solve the crime is underscored by her desire to pitch the murder story to the competing newspaper and scoop the local rag. After following Frankie through the resolution of the case, you’ll wish you could have a glass of Spring Fever Riesling with a lemon basil scone or slice of Sad Tomato Pie in the cozy, eclectic lounge of the Bubble and Bake.