The bell above the door chimed as morning sunlight streamed through the flour-dusted windows. "The usual?" "Actually, no. I need two dozen of those maple pecan muffins for the book club meeting tonight." "Two dozen? That's quite a change from your single blueberry scone. Big turnout expected?" "Well, considering we're discussing Miranda Blackwood's latest mystery, and she happens to be dead in her own garden shed as of yesterday morning..." "Miranda's dead? But I just saw her Thursday. She came in for a strawberry tart." "Found her with a pair of pruning shears in her back. Rather poetic for someone who wrote 'Death in the Dahlias,' don't you think?" "That's horrible. Though she did have a talent for making enemies. Remember when she based that villain on the mayor's wife?" "Character assassination, she called it. Miranda always said the best mysteries write themselves from real life." "Speaking of which, weren't you two arguing about something last week? Right here by the coffee counter?" "About her stealing my grandmother's coffee cake recipe for her next book. But I certainly didn't kill her over it. Two dozen maple pecan, you said?" "Yes. Although given the circumstances, maybe make it three dozen."