A murdered woman on a mountain trail. A detective's perfect alibi. And one innkeeper who swears she saw him kill her. When Adelaide Patterson's body is found with a knife in her chest behind Mountain Acres Bed & Breakfast, owner Avery Jensen knows exactly who the killer is—Detective Charlie Winthrop, the same man who checked in with the victim the night before. The same man screaming at Adelaide in their suite at 1 A.M. The problem? Six police officers claim they witnessed Winthrop arrest a drunk across town at the time of the argument and subsequent killing. Someone has orchestrated the perfect murder, manipulating time itself to create an unbreakable alibi. Now, Avery's questions are drawing the wrong kind of attention. In a small town where even the walls have ears, she's uncovering secrets someone would kill to keep silent. ...And the mountain holds plenty of places to hide another body. Some mysteries are better left unsolved—particularly when the detective is the killer. A gripping howdunit cozy thriller about how far someone will go to maintain a perfect façade, and the one woman brave—or foolish enough—to tear it all down—especially when there's a sticky-fingered monkey to protect.

Secrets run deep in charming small towns—but so does murder. When a former resident turns up dead at the local fall festival, Avery Jensen finds more than sticky caramel apples. She discovers a body. Shocked, Avery—owner of a cozy B&B—turns to her mischievous capuchin monkey for help. Known to slip jewelry and other shiny objects into his pockets, this kleptomaniac primate now busies himself collecting clues…or just more dead ends. But why murder a former resident? What secrets lie buried beneath this picturesque small town's charming façade? As Avery and her simian sidekick uncover rivalries, lies, and decade-old scandals, they learn no place is too remote for suspicion—and murder. With a nosy B&B owner and her sticky-fingered pet on the case, the killer must work fast before his deadly secrets emerge from the shadows...

A dead woman checked in at the bed and breakfast... it didn’t sit well with the other guests. When the wealthy and notorious Lorraine Baker shows up for a room at Avery's charming Mountain Acres Bed and Breakfast, it seems like an ordinary reservation. But by morning, Lorraine is dead, and though it appears she died in her sleep - the monkey thinks otherwise. As the mystery piles up faster than the fluffy pancakes at breakfast, Avery, along with her sticky-fingered, kleptomaniac Capuchin monkey, Ali, digs into the details of Lorraine's life. Fake IDs, pending divorce papers, and a stockpile of pilfered pills led Avery to believe Lorraine wasn’t who she claimed to be. With the unbeknownst help of her detective friend, Chris, Avery sets out to unravel the threads and reveal the true identity of the guest who checked in but never checked out.

The festival judges are dying for the recipe—since this slice of pie is a real killer. When a judge is found poisoned at the annual Dogwood Festival pie-eating contest, Avery and her friends are caught in a whirlwind of suspicion and deceit. A hidden underbelly of blackmail and betrayal forces them to question the motives of those they once trusted—the peaceful façade of their quaint town crumbling. From the charming bed and breakfast where Avery's mischievous pet monkey, Ali, wreaks havoc, to the dark secrets lurking in the hearts of the festival-goers, no one is above suspicion. Desperate to clear her friend’s name, Avery discovers the truth is more elusive than the murderous ingredient in a prize-winning pie. Avery needs more than a clever monkey to survive this deadly bake-off.