THREE TREATS TOO MANY

Restaurant rivalry heats up when an Alabama chef is murdered.

Sarah Blair, a law firm receptionist who’s going partners with her twin sister, Emily, and Emily’s boyfriend, Marcus, in farm-to-table restaurant Southwind, couldn’t care less about councilwoman Anne Hightower’s concerns about developing Wheaton’s entertainment district through a cohesive plan. While Sarah waits for city building inspector Louis Botts to get around to checking out Southwind, pushy Jane Clark is cleaning up across the street with rival farm-to-table Jane’s Place, courtesy of a menu full of vegan treats from the saucepan of wunderkind chef Riley Miller. Riley soon buys the farm, but Jane continues to make beaucoup bucks at the table. When inspector Botts fails to appear, Sarah becomes alarmed as the police zero in on Anne’s son, contractor Jacob Hightower, as the prime suspect in Riley’s murder. Jacob rides with the Wheaton Wildcats, a motorcycle club composed largely of veterans and veterinarians with a healthy dose of senior citizens thrown in for fun. Riley, who liked to hitch a ride with whichever Wildcat had the biggest bike, ditched Jacob early on for someone with more RPMs. Even though her boss at the law firm, Harlan Endicott, agrees to represent Jacob, Sarah fears that the conservative attorney will be no match for Wheaton’s finest. Her investigation, accompanied by the obligatory pleas from her friends to leave sleuthing to the professionals, has all-too-foreseeable results

Even the vegan fare blazes no trails.