The coffee is hot. The suspicion is hotter. Welcome to the *Small Town Mysteries* collection.

Noah Garcia built Sweetleaf Café to be a sanctuary. After years in the service, all he wants is to roast the best beans in Texas, chat with his regulars, and keep the parts of his life he can't share safely locked away.

Eric Chu came to Bluebonnet Falls to disappear. A mystery author suffering from writer's block and big-city burnout, he spends his days in the corner of Noah's café, observing the world from behind his laptop screen.

They are strangers sharing the same space?until the morning the most hated food critic in Texas walks in, orders a latte, and drops dead after one sip.

With the café turned into a crime scene and the town gossip mill branding them as partners in crime, Noah and Eric are forced into a reluctant alliance. Noah has the local connections; Eric has the analytical mind. Together, they must navigate a web of small-town grudges, secret business feuds, and missing delivery drivers.

But as the investigation forces them into close quarters?from rain-soaked stakeouts to late-night baking sessions?the friction between the protective barista and the prickly writer sparks into something neither of them expected.

They need to find a killer to save their lives. But they might just find a future worth dying for.

Murder at Sweetleaf Café is the first book in the Small Town Mysteries series?a collection of standalone cozy mysteries featuring different couples, quirky neighbors, and justice served with a side of romance.