Mrs. Eugenia Potter, an attractive widow of a certain age, arranges an adult cooking class in a small town. When classmates, some of whom are also friends, turn up dead, she needs more than a recipe to avoid disaster.

Intrepid amateur sleuth and gourmet cook Mrs. Potter finds herself up to her ears in murder following the mysterious deaths of three neighbors

Warm memories and good food greeted Mrs. Potter's retum to her beloved Nantucket, but so did a chilling surprise. Her old friends had a dangerous new dangerously thin and dressed to kill! Was something sinister going on? A handsome new diet doctor had won over the richest widows on the island with his weight-loss secrets—and his very personal attention. But when sudden death was seved up along with delightful Down East dishes (try sinfully rich Scrimshaw Inn Rum Pie or tangy Nantucket Cranberry Cup Pudding!), the inimitable Mrs. Potter knew it was time to stir the pot and come up with a devilishly clever culinary killer.

Some like it hot “Delightful . . . Ms. Pickard has given the protagonist a new least on life!”— The New York Times When Eugenia Potter receives an urgent phone call from the manager of her ranch near Tucson, she's only too happy to drop everything and fly home. Something inside of her is calling her back to the desert. Why else would be preparing spicy Mexican meatball soup at her cottage in Maine when the menu clearly calls for clam chowder? But once she arrives home, Mrs. Potter discovers that her ranch manager and his granddaughter are missing from her ranch, Las Palomas, and feared dead. When a guest at a dinner gathering thrown by Mrs. Potter is food poisoned—apparently from eating her famous 27-ingredient chili—she knows she must act quickly before the murderer strikes again. And it doesn't hurt to have the help of a long-lost beau to spice up the danger with romance . . .

Kernels of Truth.... When Eugenia Potter stumbles upon some ancient pottery shards on her ranch, she feels a profound connection with the past. And a deep desire to learn more about the relics. Now, she's heeding the call of her soul—by visiting an archaeological camp amid the magnificent cliff dwellings of Colorado's Mesa Verde. But strange things are happening at Mesa Verde, from the director's increasing mental confusion to a visitor's grisly death. Even a Talking Circle—a traditional ritual facilitated by the passing around of an ear of blue corn—doesn't reveal the source of the trouble. And when a busload of teenagers on a hiking trip disappears without a trace, Mrs. Potter begins some digging... to unearth a cruel scheme, a long-buried secret, and the deadly fruits of a killer's dark hungers.

A DINNER TO DIE FOR Summoned from her Arizona ranch to take charge of her teenage great-nephew and his twin sister, Genia Potter takes a rental on the Rhode Island coast. Old acquaintance Stanley Parker is only too happy to welcome her. And soon Genia is busily preparing for the tasting party that she and Stanley are hosting that evening at her cottage. An avid cook and recipe collector, Stanley has already roped Genia into collaborating on The Secret Ingredient Cookbook, chock-full of Rhode Island culinary mysteries. Now is their chance to test some recipes and solicit others from each of the invited. Stanley has carefully selected six guests. And each has been asked to contribute a recipe with one secret ingredient. Genia asks no questions–until the lobster bisque is cold and all but one are present. Where is Stanley? Dead. And unlamented. Has one of the guests concocted a secret recipe for murder? Everyone has a motive. And everyone has a secret–including Genia’s troubled great-nephew, the prime suspect. . .