Assault and Pepper is the first in the Spice Shop Mystery series by Leslie Budewitz. It's set in Seattle, in the Pike Place Market. The descriptions of the area are wonderful, and I got a chuckle over the conversation of how to pronounce Sequim! Pepper is starting a new life as a shop owner. She loves to cook, and work with spices so when the small spice shop came up for sale, she jumped on it. She has a loyal and experienced crew, too, who love coming up with new blends for the season, for holidays, for meats, salads, beverages and so on. (There are recipes at the back). All is going well until a new to the area panhandler, known as Doc is found dead in front of her store. Who was he, really? Finding that out made for a good start to this series.

Reading Hermit With Dog