It's November and Maggy Thorsen, co-owner of the Wisconsin gourmet coffeehouse, Uncommon Grounds, is in South Florida at an annual crime-writers' conference with her beau, local sheriff Jake Pavlik, who is due to speak as a 'forensics expert'. Maggy's pledge to behave solely as a tourist becomes trickier than she anticipated when the conference's opening night event turns out to be a re-enactment of Agatha Christie's classic, Murder on the Orient...

"There's a chill in the Wisconsin air and it's a shot in the arm--or 'triple shot' in this case--to Uncommon Grounds, the Brookhills coffeehouse owned by Maggy Thorsen and real estate maven Sarah Kingston. Not only is their relocation to the town's historic train station a success, the store's autumn drink, a 'Triple Shot, fully-leaded Espresso', is taking off, fueled by hefty doses of caffeine and sugar. All seems well, if a little jittery, in Brookhills...

"Coffeehouse owner Maggy Thorsen's dinner with fiancé Sheriff Jake Pavilk's parents takes an unfortunate turn when Jake's mother falls ill. Driving home alone at midnight, Maggy barely avoids a terrified Chihuahua crossing the highway ramp in front of her car. She rescues the pup, intending to return "Mocha" to her owners the next morning. But when Maggy arrives at the Satterwite house, she finds the Satterwite's dog-sitter, Arial--her partner Sarah's...