As the weather turns crisp, Jayne O’Shea and the other villagers prepare for the last big tourist draw of the season: the autumn equinox festival. It’s a time to enjoy a bounty of food, the company of others, and the ever-popular cooking competition. Events in the baking division, however, turn from friendly to fatal when one of the contestants, a beloved nationally known chef, is found dead in the woods.

As all eyes turn to one of the villagers as the killer, Jayne knows that what’s seen on the surface isn’t always the truth, especially in Whispering Pines, and digs deep to clear the name of one of their own.