When I had a few quibbles about the first Tish Tarragon mystery, Cookin’ the Books, I never thought the author Amy Patricia Meade would go on to write such interesting mysteries in the series. The fourth book, The Curse of the Cherry Pie, was an enjoyable mystery that reminded me of The Great British Bake Off. Now, with From Ladle to Grave, Meade has written a police procedural that combines a current investigation with a cold case. How does she include her amateur sleuth? Tish is hired as a consultant for the Sheriff’s Department.

Leave it to Tish to trip over a body in a cemetery. When Sheriff Clemson Reade is called, he recognizes the murder victim as his mentor, former Sheriff Gadsden Carney. Carney was found on Daisy Honeycutt’s grave. That was the one case that bothered him from his career. Although he was retired, he had started looking into it again almost twenty-five years later. Reade’s convinced someone connected to that earlier case wanted to keep Carney quiet.

When Sheriff Reade hires Tish to act as a consultant because she’s helped solve so many cases, all of her close friends hope Clemson and Tish will discover that they’re attracted to each other. But, each of them have reasons to be a little gun shy, so they’re taking it slow. But, they’re spending large chunks of the day together while Tish’s employees cover the cafe.

From Ladle to Grave is not an action-packed mystery. Instead, Clemson and Tish retrace the first investigation to find a killer. Years earlier, six-year-old Daisy Honeycutt was found murdered ,with a head injury, in her parents’ garage on the day of the their Fourth of July barbecue. Daisy’s father was Senator Benton Honeycutt. Her mother, Delilah, eventually confessed to the murder, and died in prison. Now, someone hit former Sheriff Carney in the head, and left the body at Daisy’s grave. The Senator and Delilah are both dead. Sheriff Reade and Tish reinterview everyone else who was present on the day of Daisy’s murder.

Meade does an excellent job misdirecting the reader, sending us to several people as possible suspects. I never suspected the actual killer. But, it was so refreshing to read about an amateur sleuth who did not set out by herself to confront a killer. She left messages for the police when she couldn’t reach Sheriff Reade, and he was the one she worried about.

If you like mysteries that rely on careful investigation and witness interviews, Meade’s From Ladle to Grave might work even if you haven’t read the previous four books in the series.

Amy Patricia Meade’s website is https://amypatriciameade.com/

From Ladle to Grave by Amy Patricia Meade. Severn House, 2021. ISBN 9780727890566 (hardcover), 224p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I read an galley so I could review it for a journal.