Mashup Murder

Brit Sterling's got startup baggage. After three failed Silicon Valley ventures, the 33-year-old tech entrepreneur retreats to the sleepy coastal town of Portugal Bay to buy City Bakery from her beloved childhood mentor, Mabel Franchetti, creator of the legendary Flannuffin that made City Bakery the town's crown jewel.

She never counted on finding Mabel dead in her own kitchen just hours before learning the secret recipe. And Brit definitely didn't plan on becoming the prime suspect.

With surfer-turned-detective Sean McGowan convinced of her guilt and the bakery sale crumbling, Brit faces losing everything—including her freedom. Complicating matters: her growing attraction to the detective trying to arrest her and lingering feelings for her ex-boyfriend. Using entrepreneurial skills to parse clues like market data, Brit uncovers shocking truths about her mentor including an illegal gambling ring, money laundering, and the possibility that the famous Flannuffin recipe was never Mabel’s to begin with.

As suspects emerge from those closest to the bakery—including Brit's outrageous Aunt Glow, a cagey wedding cake designer, and an ambitious food vlogger—Brit realizes someone wants justice for a decades-old betrayal. She must solve the murder to clear her name before becoming the killer's next victim. But even then, Brit faces an impossible choice: proceed with purchasing a baking empire built on stolen recipes, or find a way to honor the true creators of the Flannuffin while building the authentic business she's always dreamed of creating.

Mashup Murder explores what happens when entrepreneurial problem-solving meets small-town secrets—because sometimes the most compelling mysteries are hiding in plain sight.