To Err Is Cumin

One person’s treasure is another’s trash. . .

Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, wants nothing more than to live a quiet life for a change, running her shop and working with customers eager to spice up their cooking. But when she finds an envelope stuffed with cash in a ratty old wingback set out on the curb, she sets out to track down the owner.

Pepper soon concludes that the chair and its stash may belong to young Talia Cook, new in town and nowhere to be seen. When Boz Bosworth, an unemployed chef Pepper’s tangled with in the past, shows up looking for the young woman, Pepper refuses to help him search. Then Boz is found floating in the Ship Canal, only a few blocks from Talia’s apartment. Suddenly, free furniture no longer seems like such a bargain.

When Pepper goes hunting for Talia, she discovers a tangled web of connections threatening to ensnare her best customer. Edgar couldn’t possibly be part of a corruption scheme in the restaurant supply business, could he? Or is he another potential victim?

Between her quest for an elusive herb, helping her parents remodel their new house, and setting up the Spice Shop’s first cooking class, Pepper’s got a full plate. Dogged by a sense of obligation to find the rightful owner of the hidden treasure, she keeps on showing up where she’s not wanted, asking probing questions.

One mistake, and she could find herself cashing out. . .