Mystery writer Leslie Budewitz presents her latest book in the Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries Thursday at Third Place Books

Leslie Budewitz
Photo by Nicole Tavenner

Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in two light-hearted mystery series: Food Lovers Village Mysteries, set in Jewel Bay, Montana and the Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle.

Suspense Magazine calls Assault and Pepper, first in the Seattle Spice Shop Mysteries, “the perfect recipe for a few hours of pure enjoyment” and “a first-rate story.”

New York Times bestseller Laura Childs says of Leslie’s Food Lovers Village Mysteries, set in Jewel Bay, Montana, “Small town charm and big time chills.” Death al Dente, the first Food Lovers’ Village mystery, won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Leslie is also a lawyer. Her guide for writers, Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure, won the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction, making her the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction.

Leslie’s short stories have been published in Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, and elsewhere, and recognized in Best American Mystery Stories of 2009. She served as 2015-16 president of Sisters in Crime, and is currently the Montana representative to the board of the Rocky Mountain chapter of Mystery Writers of America.

A native Montanan, she lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their gray tuxedo cat, an avid birdwatcher.

Chai Another Day is the 4th book in the Spice Shop Mysteries, following Assault and Pepper, Guilty as Cinnamon, and Killing in Thyme.

The Spice Shop Mysteries are set in Seattle, where Pepper Reece and the crew at Seattle Spice in the venerable Pike Place Market explore secrets of the past and the present.

Seattle Spice Shop owner Pepper Reece probes murder while juggling a troubled employee, her mother’s house hunt, and a fisherman who’s set his hook for her.

As owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece is always on the go. Between conjuring up new spice blends and serving iced spice tea to customers looking to beat the summer heat, she finally takes a break for a massage. But the Zen moment is shattered when she overhears an argument in her friend Aimee’s vintage home decor shop that ends in murder.

Wracked by guilt over her failure to intervene, Pepper investigates, only to discover a web of deadly connections that could ensnare a friend – and Pepper herself.

On Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 7pm, Leslie will appear at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park to chat about Chai and autograph the copies of her book that were purchased from Third Place.

Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, upper level Town Center, intersection Bothell and Ballinger Way NE in Lake Forest Park, 206-366-3333.