Sweet Tea & Sin at Sunset: A Cozy Mystery at Ivy Ridge (A Picnic & Peculiar Mystery Book 3) (Picnic & Peculiar Mysteries)
By Danyelle Scroggins
Welcome back to Ivy Ridge, where the sunsets are beautiful, the sweet tea keeps flowing, and everybody knows something they probably shouldn’t.
In Ivy Ridge, the tea is sweet, the neighbors know everybody’s business, and some sins have been steeping for decades.
Retired FBI agent John Ivy came to Ivy Ridge expecting quieter days, peaceful sunsets, and enough distance from his old career to finally enjoy retirement.
Apparently, murder didn’t get the memo.
When a beloved golden retriever named Beau is found dead near Sunset Pond, John hopes the loss is nothing more than a heartbreaking tragedy. But when Beau’s owner, Charles Whitaker, is discovered beneath the old oak, the peaceful community John calls home becomes the center of a murder investigation.
And the deeper John looks, the further into the past the mystery reaches.
Old love letters tied with faded ribbon. A broken engagement. Two women connected to the same man. Decades-old heartbreak. A missing dog collar. And memories that change depending on who’s doing the remembering.
Then another cup is poisoned.
With Chief Malcolm Broussard following the evidence, John searching for the truth, and Birdie Mae Baxter gathering information one slice of pound cake at a time, the secrets of Ivy Ridge begin slipping into the light.
And then there’s Queen Sugar.
She can’t tell John what she knows, but the old dog keeps noticing things everyone else seems to miss. John has spent a lifetime trusting evidence, yet this case may require him to remember that discernment sometimes whispers long before understanding arrives.
Because murder rarely begins with a weapon.
Sometimes it begins with an old wound.
A little jealousy.
A little bitterness.
A heart that keeps something far longer than God ever intended.
Sweet Tea & Sin at Sunset is a warm, witty, faith-filled Southern cozy mystery filled with friendship, humor, old secrets, second chances, an observant dog, and a retired FBI agent discovering that solving a crime and understanding the human heart are two very different things.
Some secrets don’t stay buried.
Welcome back to Ivy Ridge, where the sunsets are beautiful, the sweet tea keeps flowing, and everybody knows something they probably shouldn’t.
In Ivy Ridge, the tea is sweet, the neighbors know everybody’s business, and some sins have been steeping for decades.
Retired FBI agent John Ivy came to Ivy Ridge expecting quieter days, peaceful sunsets, and enough distance from his old career to finally enjoy retirement.
Apparently, murder didn’t get the memo.
When a beloved golden retriever named Beau is found dead near Sunset Pond, John hopes the loss is nothing more than a heartbreaking tragedy. But when Beau’s owner, Charles Whitaker, is discovered beneath the old oak, the peaceful community John calls home becomes the center of a murder investigation.
And the deeper John looks, the further into the past the mystery reaches.
Old love letters tied with faded ribbon. A broken engagement. Two women connected to the same man. Decades-old heartbreak. A missing dog collar. And memories that change depending on who’s doing the remembering.
Then another cup is poisoned.
With Chief Malcolm Broussard following the evidence, John searching for the truth, and Birdie Mae Baxter gathering information one slice of pound cake at a time, the secrets of Ivy Ridge begin slipping into the light.
And then there’s Queen Sugar.
She can’t tell John what she knows, but the old dog keeps noticing things everyone else seems to miss. John has spent a lifetime trusting evidence, yet this case may require him to remember that discernment sometimes whispers long before understanding arrives.
Because murder rarely begins with a weapon.
Sometimes it begins with an old wound.
A little jealousy.
A little bitterness.
A heart that keeps something far longer than God ever intended.
Sweet Tea & Sin at Sunset is a warm, witty, faith-filled Southern cozy mystery filled with friendship, humor, old secrets, second chances, an observant dog, and a retired FBI agent discovering that solving a crime and understanding the human heart are two very different things.
Some secrets don’t stay buried.