Ellie Chambers always wanted to be a writer. Now, she was a successful author, but it had come at a price. Two prices, actually.

The first was the fallout from a hastily-signed contract with Margo Rollings, the Publisher Who Wouldn't Die. And the second was Sam Price, her former writing partner and almost-fiance.

Sam Price had dreamed of being the next Hemingway, not the hack ghostwriter behind the popular "Lottie Long" cozy mystery series. But days spent with his dad as a carpenter in quaint Golden Grove, Iowa gave him little time for much else.

An unforeseen catastrophe, in the form of Margo Rollings, leaves Sam with the ultimate lose-lose proposition: write another book with Ellie, or face a ruined career. The result leads them into the deadly world of laser-guided rosary peas and spam cupcakes.

But can Ellie and Sam put aside their differences in order to save their careers, and is there a happily-ever-after waiting for them at the end?