Cool Completely

The diner was closed. The freezer was running. And someone had made sure the door stayed shut.

Marnie Kowalczyk has enough trouble keeping her restaurant afloat. On a good week, the bills get paid. On a bad week, she wonders why she ever traded a steady paycheck for a kitchen full of broken appliances, unpredictable customers, and endless dirty dishes.

Now she has a wedding dinner for a hundred and twenty guests to prepare in seven days, a seating chart that keeps changing, and one very bad idea: taking over a long-abandoned 1952 diner in Marlow, whose widowed owner seems determined to give her the keys.

The place hasn't served a proper meal in years. The booths are dusty, the equipment is ancient, and the whole building smells like forgotten coffee and unfinished business. But beneath the grime, Marnie sees something worth saving. Maybe even a second chance.

On Friday, she helps switch the power back on.

On Saturday morning, she opens the walk-in freezer and finds a dead man.

Not just any man, either. The victim was about to buy the building, and his death couldn't have come at a more convenient time for certain people in Marlow.

The police call it a tragic accident. After all, the freezer door has no handle on the inside. One wrong move, one unfortunate moment, and a man could easily find himself trapped.

But Marnie isn't convinced.

The mop pail normally used to prop the door open is standing dry against the wall. A pair of reading glasses sits neatly squared on the prep table. And a lime-green wrapper is caught beneath the freezer door, exactly where it shouldn't be.

Marnie spent ten years reading insurance claims and spotting the tiny details that didn't add up. She knows the difference between an accident and a scene someone has worked a little too hard to make look innocent.

And this one is practically spotless.

As questions pile up, so do the secrets. There's a forged deed that could change who owns the diner, a dead witness who may have known too much, and a widow who still sets out an extra coffee cup every morning for the husband she lost. Everyone in town seems to remember something different about the building, and almost everyone has a reason to want the truth left buried.

Meanwhile, the wedding clock keeps ticking. The menu isn't finished, the guest list is a disaster, and a particularly unhelpful goat has developed an appetite for the seating chart.

Between simmering sauces, suspicious neighbors, family complications, and a growing collection of clues, Marnie must figure out who wanted the buyer dead, what really happened inside that freezer, and how far someone is willing to go to keep the diner's past from coming to light.

She has until Friday at six to feed a hundred and twenty hungry wedding guests.

And possibly even less time to catch a killer.

A funny, warm, and deliciously twisty culinary cozy mystery packed with small-town secrets, eccentric characters, unexpected friendships, mouthwatering comfort food, and a murder that refuses to stay on ice.

Perfect for readers who love clever amateur sleuths, charming diners, lovable chaos, and mysteries served with a generous helping of humor and heart.

And because every good mystery deserves something delicious, the book includes twelve recipes you can make at home, from classic diner meatloaf to homemade apple pie.

���� Book 3 and the final installment of The Harlow Mills Kitchen Mysteries. Each book features a complete, self-contained mystery, so you can enjoy them in any order.

���� Twelve delicious recipes included.

Pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and discover why some secrets are best served cold.