Murder at Sweetleaf Café
By Julian Frost
A poisoned latte. Two suspects. One slow-burn chance at love.
Sweetleaf Café is Noah Garcia's safe place, the cozy Bluebonnet Falls business he built into a home, a refuge, and the heart of his community. But when feared food critic Martin Caldwell humiliates him in front of the morning crowd, then dies after drinking Noah's House Special latte, everything Noah has worked for is suddenly trapped behind yellow tape.
Eric Chu knows how murder plots are supposed to work. As a mystery writer with his own public history with Caldwell, he understands motives, misdirection, and how quickly suspicion can harden into a story people want to believe. He also knows he looks almost as guilty as Noah, which makes their uneasy alliance as necessary as it is complicated.
With the sheriff circling the easiest suspects and the town watching every move, Noah and Eric begin following a trail of missing evidence, secret payments, old grudges, gossip, and festival whispers. Bluebonnet Falls may look sweet from the outside, but its spring charm hides bitter secrets, and someone is determined to keep the truth buried.
The closer Noah and Eric come to the killer, the harder it becomes to ignore the trust growing between them. Clearing their names means risking their reputations, their fragile new connection, and perhaps their lives, but the real danger may be discovering that the one person they can rely on is the one they never expected to need.
Murder at Sweetleaf Café is a cozy MM murder mystery with amateur sleuths, small-town secrets, suspects-to-partners tension, café warmth, slow-burn romance, and a hopeful queer heart.
