The Art Critic's Last Forgery

After Gypsy Lee Miller learned who killed the local handyman, she thought things in Bay View Harbor on the Chesapeake Bay would calm down. Not so much.

 Marcus Pinter has visited the Bay View Harbor Bakery many times since Gypsy Lee and her cousin Linda opened it last year. He talked them, as well as Maggie at the Inn she may or may not own, into hanging pictures drawn by local artists. If they sell one, he and the artist have a payday. That's why he often badgers Gypsy Lee and Linda to display more pictures – for a small commission.

 Marcus writes a blog and considers himself more of an art critic than an artist. Observations, in his blog ArTique, are not always popular.

 Though the artwork he provides to the bakery brings customers, Gypsy Lee and Linda aren't pleased that his booth of local paintings is next to the bakery's at the Bay View Harbor Spring Festival near the boardwalk. But he doesn't appear the second day of the festival. His partners Lorenzo and Camilla are mildly concerned but not alarmed. Then Gypsy Lee discovers a ransom note among the muffins, tulip-shaped cookies, and scones.

 Later, Marcus' body is discovered in a shed only Linda and one other have a key to. That's not good, and she clearly did not like him. He talks a big line, but how good an artist is he? But exactly whose art is it he wants to display, and why has Marcus been so anxious to promote it? When his reputation starts to unravel, the spotlight on the bakery gets even brighter.

 Cover description: On a table in the bakery, overlooking the harbor, are small framed drawings, a croissant, and a jar of paint brushes.