Bitter Pilsner

When a corrupt agricultural inspector's murder exposes a systematic conspiracy to destroy family farms, former lawyer Mackenzie O'Brien Blake must protect her community's heritage before corporate criminals eliminate the evidence—and the witnesses. Just days before Thanksgiving, Mac thought her biggest challenge would be perfecting her brewery's seasonal menu with husband Travis Blake's heritage hop varieties. Instead, state inspector Jed Crawford turns up dead after threatening to shut down three family farms through fraudulent violations designed to force corporate buyouts. Armed with her legal expertise and Travis's brewing chemistry knowledge, Mac discovers that Crawford's "e;agricultural safety inspections"e; were actually systematic harassment targeting heritage operations for acquisition by AgriTech Solutions. But when the investigation reveals that someone used sophisticated hop extraction techniques to create lethal concentrations in Crawford's coffee, Mac realizes the killer had both the brewing knowledge to create the murder weapon and the desperate motive to protect generations of agricultural tradition. In small-town Hopefield, North Carolina, family farming becomes a matter of survival. With Police Chief Alexa Carlsbad coordinating the investigation and corporate operatives threatening the entire agricultural community, Mac must expose a fraudulent acquisition conspiracy before her neighbors lose everything their families built. But when the real killers are corporate employees eliminating liability while framing local farmers, solving this murder might destroy the authentic agricultural heritage she's fighting to preserve. The seventh book in the Brews & Blues Mystery series featuring Mac O'Brien and the Emerald Isle Brewery.