In Graves's delightful sixth Death by Chocolate mystery (after 2022's Death by Chocolate Chip Cupcake), candy store owner Brad Fairway's unsavory business tactics leave a bitter taste in the mouths of chocolatiers Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree and Ellie White. Brad's new shop is competing with Jake and Ellie's longtime local favorite for summer tourist dollars in the small village of Eastport, Maine, with Brad undercutting Jake and Ellie's prices and bad-mouthing their baked goods at the annual art fair. To complicate matters, Brad knows about Jake's past laundering money for the New York mob, which she'd prefer to keep under wraps. When Brad is found dead after a confrontation with Ellie, and the murder weapon is Ellie's gun, Jake sets out to find the killer and defend the life she's built for herself in Maine. Before long, she starts to worry she or Ellie could be next. A bevy of memorable characters complement the breezy, intriguing plot. Established fans and newcomers alike will be satisfied. Agent: Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May)

A rival's death brings nothing but trouble to a rural Maine baker. It's not all moonlight and roses for Jacobia Tiptree, known to Eastport's chocolate fans as Jake. Her father and stepmother are quarreling about his plans to move from the home they share with Jake into assisted living. Her son, Sam, and daughter-in-law, Mika, are having some yet-to-be-disclosed disagreement. And while drama dominates at home, there's also stress at work ever since Brad Fairway, whom Jake thinks she remembers vaguely from her days in New York laundering money for the mob, opens up high-end patisserie Choco's directly across Water Street from Jake and Ellie White's Chocolate Moose. But finding Brad shot to death in his shop proves no solution to Jake's business woes, since the local police immediately pounce on Ellie as their sole suspect. While Ellie waits to be thrown in the slammer, Jake searches frantically for alternatives, beginning with Brad's lady friend Babs Littrell, a local textile artist. Her investigation takes her into Eastport's art scene, where she meets a painter, a potter with a pet pig named Jillian, a virtual artist, and a cross-eyed Siamese cat who charms the pants off Jake's stepmom. What she doesn't meet is success, until an accidental encounter with the real murderer puts Jake's life in serious jeopardy. Offering a peek into the world of 21st-century fine art gives an extra shot of class to a standard shopkeeper cozy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.