Mashed Potato Murder, The: A Cozy Mystery of Lumpy Clues and Buttered-Up Lies

?? Chef and comfort food restaurateur Tater Smith is catering the town's annual Harvest Homecoming Dinner when the dinner's wealthy sponsor—a notoriously difficult food critic—is found dead in her kitchen, face-down in a massive bowl of mashed potatoes. The police suspect a kitchen accident, but Tater notices the potatoes have been deliberately undercooked and the victim's review notes contain coded messages about restaurant sabotage. With her restaurant's reputation getting mashed and the culinary community in an uproar, Tater must whip through the evidence to save her business. Assisted by her kitchen crew and the handsome food scientist analyzing starch content, Tater uncovers a scheme involving potato substitution, dairy contamination, and a plot to undermine local restaurants. From suspicious lump patterns that reveal intentional undercooking to dairy proteins that don't match her recipe, every spoonful tells a story. But when Tater discovers the victim was systematically contaminating ingredients to force restaurants to fail health inspections, she realizes the killer is protecting food safety more comforting than any home-cooked meal. With the homecoming dinner approaching and the real saboteur still mashing lies, Tater must smooth out the truth before her own restaurant gets permanently smashed.