A Half-Baked Murder

George’s debut, the first in her “Cannabis Café Mystery” series, is a cozy with all the necessary requirements—family members in trouble, a smart amateur sleuth, a charming small town, and a sense of community. Chloe Barnes leaves her fancy pastry-chef job and her cheating ex-fiancé in Paris and returns home to California to help her grandmother, who’s recently been diagnosed with cancer. While Chloe deals with her losses, she ponders how best to use her culinary talents. Then, seeing her grandmother’s struggle with the side effects of chemotherapy, Chloe decides to open a cannabis café, giving her a chance to create delicious concoctions that make people feel better. The brutal murder of a former high school classmate puts her plans on the back burner, and when Chloe’s eccentric aunt Dawn is named as a suspect, Chloe knows that it’s up to her to discover the truth. Narrator Chelsea Stephens adorns the novel with a variety of character voices and an enthusiastic presentation.