Death of a Cookbook Author is the tenth book in the Hayley Powell Mystery series written by Lee Hollis. There are lots of laughs, some adult language, but no graphic violence or sexually explicit situations. The story moves along at a steady pace, the mystery is interesting and well plotted, and the characters are well developed. There are twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading light, cozy mysteries.

Hayley Powell is the food columnist for the Island Times in Bar Harbor, Maine and she humorously writes about her memories of past events and includes tasty recipes in her column. Penelope Janice is a cooking and lifestyle specialist on Flavor Network’s top-rated TV show and Hayley idolizes her. Hayley jumps at the chance to attend the book signing for Penelope’s latest book, Making Magic Out of Leftovers, and ecstatic when Penelope asks her to be a last minute guest and participate in a celebrity potluck contest that will be filmed for an upcoming show at her home in Seal Harbor over the Fourth of July weekend. Shortly after arriving at Penelope’s mansion, Hayley overhears a heated argument between Penelope and Conrad, her husband of twenty-six years. The topic of the argument was Penelope’s assistant and suspected ghostwriter, Lena Hendricks. Hayley gets food poisoning after the first night’s dinner and believes she overhears Conrad and a woman she assumes is Lena plotting Penelope’s murder. Hayley calls her brother, Randy, and asks to talk to his husband, Sergio Alvarez, Bar Harbor’s Chief of Police, who agrees to meet her there and speak with Penelope. Penelope is skeptical and Conrad denies the allegation. The following morning, Carol Kay, another guest chef, finds Conrad’s body at the bottom of a cliff. Sergio believes it was an accident since Conrad had been drinking excessively, but Hayley doesn’t agree. Since Penelope refuses to cancel the scheduled activities, Hayley decides to use the time to try to figure out what really happened.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Hayley Powell is a food columnist for her local newspaper. She gets the opportunity to participate in cookbook author, Penelope Janice's Fourth of July cook off at her estate. She is beyond excited as Penelope is her idol. But things don't go as planned. Hayley gets food poisioning the first night there and overhears a man, who she believes is Penelope's husband, and a woman plotting a murder of who she thinks is Penelope. When Hayley tells Penelope what she overheard, Penelope doesn't believe her. Did Hayley really hear a murder plot or was it a fever induced hallucination? Things get even more complicated when Penelope's husband is found daed at the bottom of a cliff. Now Hayley has to find out if his death was an accident as everyone believes, or if it was murder like Hayley suspects. She teams upwith Bruce, the crime reporter for the paper after an attempt on her life and another possible murder occurs. The two try to piece together what happened.

This was a great edition to this series. It is a little different from her previous books. Hayley's children are not in this book anc we only see her two best friends briefly. However, everything I love about this series was still there. Hayley is still the same person even with different background characters and I found that I didn't miss Mona and Lindy as much as I thought I would. I loved seeing Hayley and Bruce team up together and I hope we see more of them together. The mystery was well done. I was not expecting who the killer was. I can't wait to read the next book.

I received this book from net galley in exchange for an honest review.

Enjoyable, entertaining Maine mystery! Although much of protagonist Hayley's life has changed throughout this series, she's still Hayley, and I appreciate that. I love her humor, her realistic imperfection, her personality, and her drive for finding truth and justice. In Death of a Cookbook Author, she's staying at a celebrity chef's summer "cottage" with several other cooks, competing in a competition and being filmed for a tv show. There are quite a few secrets and hidden agendas among the household, and Hayley has no qualms about making people upset in her quest to find the truth. This was a fun read, a good mystery with a hint of romance, and some delicious recipes! This is one of my favorite series, though I definitely think it stands alone for those who are new to the series. Great for lovers of mystery, cooking, and Maine!

I happily received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.