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Baker Girls #3.5
Pies, Lies and a Last Goodbye
A missing horse. An absent heartthrob’s disappearing wife. A catering gig making pie for highflying gamblers.
Monica’s got her fingers in too many pies, all of them leading to trouble.
Tristan Dumont, the hunky millionaire and very married horseman asks Monica for a favor. Keep an eye on his beloved appaloosa till he gets back in town. As usual, she jumps to please him without thinking twice.
When Tristan’s horse and then his wife go missing, social media starts to hum with gossip that Monica was the last to see both victims alive.
Things continue to spin out of control, like the wheels on her beloved hot pink Fiat, and Monica has more on her hands than baking pies for a derby.
Can Monica clear her name and save the innocent victims before Mr. Dumont returns home? Because the game is rigged and Monica is in danger of losing all that she cherishes most.
Monica’s got her fingers in too many pies, all of them leading to trouble.
Tristan Dumont, the hunky millionaire and very married horseman asks Monica for a favor. Keep an eye on his beloved appaloosa till he gets back in town. As usual, she jumps to please him without thinking twice.
When Tristan’s horse and then his wife go missing, social media starts to hum with gossip that Monica was the last to see both victims alive.
Things continue to spin out of control, like the wheels on her beloved hot pink Fiat, and Monica has more on her hands than baking pies for a derby.
Can Monica clear her name and save the innocent victims before Mr. Dumont returns home? Because the game is rigged and Monica is in danger of losing all that she cherishes most.
93 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 22, 2019
30 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
Maria Grazia Swan
35 books207 followersMaria Grazia Swan was born in Italy, but this rolling stone has definitely gathered no moss. She lived in Belgium, France, Germany, in beautiful Orange County, California where she raised her family, and is currently at home in Phoenix, Arizona—but stay tuned for weekly updates of Where in the World is Maria Grazia Swan?
As a young girl, her vivid imagination predestined her to be a writer. She won her first literary award at the age of fourteen while living in Belgium. As a young woman Maria returned to Italy to design for—ooh-la-la—haute couture. Once in the U.S. and after years of concentrating on family, she tackled real estate. These days her time is devoted to her deepest passions: writing and helping people find happiness.
Maria loves travel, opera, good books, hiking, and intelligent movies (if she can find one, that is). When asked about her idea of a perfect evening, she favors stimulating conversation, spicy Italian food and perfectly chilled Prosecco—but then, who doesn’t?
Maria has written short stories for anthologies, articles for high profile magazines and numerous blogs tackling love and life. She engaged her editorial and non-fiction skills for Mating Dance Rituals for Singles Who Weren't born yesterday. Her romantic suspense novels Love Thy Sister,Bosom Bodies and Italian Summer are available at Amazon.com.
Her new series, published by Gemma Halliday is also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the first book is title Gemini Moon
Website: http://www.mariagraziaswan.com
Contact Maria: mariagswan@gmail.com
-or- touch base with her on Facebook.
As a young girl, her vivid imagination predestined her to be a writer. She won her first literary award at the age of fourteen while living in Belgium. As a young woman Maria returned to Italy to design for—ooh-la-la—haute couture. Once in the U.S. and after years of concentrating on family, she tackled real estate. These days her time is devoted to her deepest passions: writing and helping people find happiness.
Maria loves travel, opera, good books, hiking, and intelligent movies (if she can find one, that is). When asked about her idea of a perfect evening, she favors stimulating conversation, spicy Italian food and perfectly chilled Prosecco—but then, who doesn’t?
Maria has written short stories for anthologies, articles for high profile magazines and numerous blogs tackling love and life. She engaged her editorial and non-fiction skills for Mating Dance Rituals for Singles Who Weren't born yesterday. Her romantic suspense novels Love Thy Sister,Bosom Bodies and Italian Summer are available at Amazon.com.
Her new series, published by Gemma Halliday is also available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the first book is title Gemini Moon
Website: http://www.mariagraziaswan.com
Contact Maria: mariagswan@gmail.com
-or- touch base with her on Facebook.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 21, 2021
A short but good between the numbers addition. It's always fun to meet with Monica, Kassandra and Brenda. I enjoyed the mystery and the very unique solution.
May 31, 2021
An impossibly naive real estate agent is asked by her hunky and married neighbor to check on his horse now and again while he is in Paris. She agrees...and then his wife disappears.
Then the horse disappears, while our sleuth is trying to work, and help her aunt with her catering business.
Meandering, and our sleuth overthinks everything to the point it becomes annoying.
Then the horse disappears, while our sleuth is trying to work, and help her aunt with her catering business.
Meandering, and our sleuth overthinks everything to the point it becomes annoying.
December 20, 2019
“Remember, we have to look at the venue for the Kentucky Derby party in the morning. We need to appear at the top of our game. You are the other B in B& B Catering. Make me proud.”
Monica Baker is in a pinch again. She and Brenda have Signed on to do a Kentucky Derby themed dinner for twenty...but...little do they know exactly what it entails. Brenda’s new “beau”, Bob, is helping by doing background checks, Brenda’s planning the menu. However, Monica thinks something’s off, and can’t figure out what’s going on, she calls it her “need to analyze”. Everywhere she turns, she runs into things that force alarms to go off. And, it’s forcing her heart and her head to stop waging war and work together to help Tristan Dumont and his horse Tache, not to mention the reputation of B&B Catering, on the up and up.
Leave it to Author Maria Grazia Swan to have us looking all over the place to find out the solution to yet another mystery. It’s so nice to sit and chat and figure out what’s going on. With Maria, all bets are off. I love her characters no matter who might be served up as long as you save room for Brenda’s pie. Highly recommended 5/5
Monica Baker is in a pinch again. She and Brenda have Signed on to do a Kentucky Derby themed dinner for twenty...but...little do they know exactly what it entails. Brenda’s new “beau”, Bob, is helping by doing background checks, Brenda’s planning the menu. However, Monica thinks something’s off, and can’t figure out what’s going on, she calls it her “need to analyze”. Everywhere she turns, she runs into things that force alarms to go off. And, it’s forcing her heart and her head to stop waging war and work together to help Tristan Dumont and his horse Tache, not to mention the reputation of B&B Catering, on the up and up.
Leave it to Author Maria Grazia Swan to have us looking all over the place to find out the solution to yet another mystery. It’s so nice to sit and chat and figure out what’s going on. With Maria, all bets are off. I love her characters no matter who might be served up as long as you save room for Brenda’s pie. Highly recommended 5/5
July 7, 2024
This is a pretty short story, so my review will be very short. I found it pretty interesting and intriguing. A young woman seemed like she was trying to find herself. Her life was both simple and complicated at the same time. She was staying with her aunt while trying to make it as a realtor after being divorced. She got a side job to watch the horse belonging to her heartthrob, although she wasn't ready to admit it. Things seemed to be going well until he left the country and things started to go south. Her aunt who had a catering business thought she got the gig of lifetime, but as she got deeper into it, it was much more complicated than she expected. She asked her niece to help out, but not in the usual way. At the event things got messy and she was lucky that the police arrived to save the day. Then as she was recovering, her friend who had asked her to watch his horse came back into the country and the story ended with lots of questions left unanswered. The End.
September 5, 2023
Even though this book left me hanging, I enjoyed reading about Monica and Brenda Baker, and the recurring characters in Pies, Lies, and a Last Goodbye. Monica, realtor at Desert Homes Realty in Phoenix, is still pining for handsome Tristan Dumont. He is a wealthy married client of the company she works for. When he travels out of the country, he asks Monica to keep an eye on his Appaloosa, Tache. Meanwhile, Brenda is getting ready to cater a Kentucky Derby themed party. Also, Mrs. Angelique Dumont disappears and her whereabouts are unknown. There is never a dull moment where the Baker girls are concerned. Once again, Maria Grazia's writing kept me turning the pages and kept me entertained from start to finish.
June 4, 2021
This is the 3.5 story in the series. The main character is Monica. She has moved back home and lives in a guest house by her Aunt. When a guy she has a crush on asks her to check up on his horse, she couldn't be happier. But then the Mrs of the house goes missing and Monica is the last person to see her. Then the horse goes missing as well and once again she is the last person to see the horse. Monica isn't sure what is going on but knows she has to figure this out and fast. Can she do it?
May 26, 2021
I hadn’t read any of the series and that could be the reason I didn’t get into the storyline. I did enjoy the way the Monica was basically talking to herself. Was quite amusing, but her fixation for a married man was a bit unreal.
July 13, 2021
Great quick story. A little jumbled together with some consistency issues. A seasoned caterer like Brenda would have done more due diligence before signing a contract. Seems a lot was left in the air. Good idea about the horses. Rich people are definitively weird!
August 25, 2022
A delightful little story in the Baker Girls series. This one finds Monica horse-sitting for a real-estate client/friend who goes on a trip, and 'helping' to find a horse thieving ("borrowing" they called it!) band.
September 28, 2023
I don't like books that keep referring to other books in the series and leave you hanging at the end. Series can be written to stand alone and are so much more enjoyable. The story line is ok but lacks some magic. The dog is just a great big loveable Great Dane.
December 31, 2024
A missing horse, a missing wife, a catering gig that isn’t all it appears to be, and Monica finds herself in trouble as possibly the last person to see both the horse and the wife.
A fun, quick read!
A fun, quick read!
June 16, 2021
Seriously, a cliffhanger.
This book wasn't that great to begin with, but that ending.
No. I won't be reading anymore of your books.
This book wasn't that great to begin with, but that ending.
No. I won't be reading anymore of your books.
November 14, 2023
Great book.
I like the book short and to the point. I would recommend everyone to read it. Great book! Baker girls cosy mystery is good.
I like the book short and to the point. I would recommend everyone to read it. Great book! Baker girls cosy mystery is good.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews