Author Guest Post with Meg Benjamin: The Pepper Peach Murder

Roxy Constantine is the jam queen of Shavano, Colorado. But her social life is a bust, and she’s still recovering from a bad experience as a line cook in Denver.

Welcome to one of the January 19th stops on the blog tour for The Pepper Peach Murder by Meg Benjamin with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

Roxy Constantine: Jam Queen

My heroine, Roxy Constantine, is a jam-making whirlwind. She spends her life making jam, selling jam, and thinking about jam. After all, the local paper has called her “The Jam Queen of Shavano County.” She’s got a lot to live up to.  And a past to forget.

Roxy returned to her hometown of Shavano, Colorado, after a bad experience as a line cook in Denver left her wondering how to spend the rest of her life. Her jam company, Luscious Delights, became her road back. She’s put her life into her business and things are just beginning to take off after a lot of hard work. But getting Luscious Delights off the ground has taken up most of her time. Roxy hasn’t had a real social life since returning to Shavano. But now she’s met a local chef, Nate Robicheaux, and things may be looking up in the romance department.

Unfortunately, another Shavano chef, Brett Holmes, is making Roxy’s life difficult. The two of them worked together in Denver, and even then he was someone who wouldn’t take no for an answer. Roxy considers Brett a sleaze and a remnant of her miserable time in Denver, but he won’t leave her alone. When his requests move closer to threats, Roxy has enough. She and Brett have a shouting match in front of the vendors at the Shavano Farmers Market, which means half of Shavano gets the idea that where Roxy and Brett are concerned, there’s no love lost.

When someone whacks Brett with a skillet in his own kitchen a few days later, Roxy finds herself the prime suspect in his murder. A lot of people in town think she could well be the killer, including the new chief of police. Roxy has an alibi, but she knows she needs to investigate—Luscious Delights is in jeopardy since jam and murder just don’t go together.

Roxy’s investigation takes her to Denver and to some unexpected corners of Shavano. Meanwhile, her relationship with Nate heats up, along with her determination to find the real killer so that she can relax with her sexy chef and come back to the joys of jam making.

The Jam Queen of Shavano County is on the case, and she’s definitely got a lot of reasons to find the killer. Shavano and Roxy may never be the same.

About the Book

The Pepper Peach Murder
A Luscious Delights Mystery Book One
by Meg Benjamin

Published 16 January 2023
The Wild Rose Press, Inc

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Page Count: 265
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

Roxy Constantine is the jam queen of Shavano, Colorado, and she’s fine with it. Not that things couldn’t be better. Her social life is a bust, and she’s still recovering from a bad experience as a line cook in Denver. But things are looking up when she meets local chef Nate Robicheaux. Roxy would like to get closer to Nate, but she’s fending off the unwanted attentions of another local, Brett Holmes, who won’t take no for an answer. When Brett threatens to derail Roxy’s appearance on a national cooking show, the two have a very public fight. A few days later, Brett is found murdered in his restaurant kitchen, and suddenly Roxy’s a prime suspect. Now Roxy, Nate, and her other friends must find out the truth about Brett’s background and his murderer before the town of Shavano decides Roxy’s reign as jam queen is over for good.

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Excerpt

I rounded the last curve in the path, heading toward the parking lot. And stopped cold.

My truck, which had previously been cleanish if not immaculate, was now caked in mud. I looked like someone had taken handfuls from the nearby riverbank and thrown it full force at the truck’s sides. There were clumps on the doors, the windows, the fenders and all along the locking cover over the back. If it hadn’t been for the cover, the booth I’d left in the truck bed would have been splattered, too. I didn’t want to think about how hard that would have been to clean up.

But the pièce de résistance was the word smeared across the windshield: slut. Done in shades of grayish black. My stomach clenched tight as I stared, and my mind tried to make sense of what I was seeing.

Who? Who did this? The words kept echoing through my mind. Did people in town really think I was a slut? What had I done to make them think that?

Nothing. I took a deep breath, pulling myself together. This hadn’t been done by the citizens of Shavano, who probably had no particular opinions about my sex life, given that I didn’t have one. This was done by somebody with a grudge. And the most obvious person in that category was Brett Holmes.

About the Author

Meg Benjamin is an award-winning author of romance. Meg’s Konigsburg series is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Salt Box and Brewing Love trilogies are set in the Colorado Rockies (all are available from Entangled Publishing). Her new cozy mystery series, Luscious Delights from Wild Rose Press, concerns a jam-making sleuth based in the mythical small town of Shavano, Colorado. Along with contemporary romance, Meg is also the author of the paranormal Ramos Family trilogy from Berkley InterMix and the Folk trilogy from Soul Mate. Meg’s books have won numerous awards, including an EPIC Award, a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers, the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance Writers, and the Award of Excellence from Colorado Romance Writers.

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Giveaway Alert!

Meg Benjamin will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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