Bridget “Bunny” MacBride’s career as a celebrity chef is taking off! When her domestic diva boss suggests that she’s ready to move on from 15-minute cooking segments to hosting a show of her own, she’s eager to sign on the dotted line. What she doesn’t realize is that the “spirits” in the Food and Spirits title of her new show isn’t an allusion to alcoholic beverages but to actual ghosts.

Bunny has been recruited to provide the cooking portion of a ghost-hunting/travel/cooking show mashup. Inspired by the Scottish tradition of the Dumb Supper, her task is to whip up a meal both delicious and familiar enough to tempt restless spirits into converging around a table where they’ll be filmed by Brett Bloom and his team. Brett is the former host of another smash show on paranormal phenomena and came up with this unique angle on the subject. They’ll be joined on-camera by psychic medium Giff McGrady, whose job is to channel the ghosts who are lured to dinner.

Bunny thinks this is all a terrible idea and deeply regrets signing the ironclad contract before getting all the details. It is some small consolation that the show’s first location is Bramsford Manor, a haunted castle in Bunny’s native Scotland. Bramsford is home to the legend of Ann Copeland, a young bride who disappeared on her wedding night during a game of hide and seek. Rumor subsequently had it that she’d used the game as a ruse to run away with her lover. Fifty years later, however, her still-grieving husband found her skeleton—adorned in her bridal clothes and wreath—in a long-overlooked chest carved with mistletoe. The heavy lid had slammed shut over poor Ann, trapping her in a terrible death on what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. Her ghost is said to haunt the manor still.

Fast-forward to the 21st century when the prohibitive upkeep on the historic home has forced its owners–Sir Charles Wallingford and his sister, Morgan Wallingford-Green–to open it to paying guests. The more publicity that they can drum up for the castle and its ghosts the better. But when the cameras start rolling and the delectable menu that Bunny has thoughtfully designed is finally served, the unimaginable happens. A distracted Bunny is drawn away from the table and finds a fresh corpse in the infamous mistletoe chest itself. With her own boning knife sticking out of the victim’s heart, Bunny will have to turn to the most formidable person she knows for help in clearing her name of murder: her clairvoyant Grandma Ella. Will they be able to figure out who really did it before anyone else dies and more restless spirits join the ones already haunting Bramsford Manor?

I loved the premise of this book as well as its ties to Darci Hannah’s prior series–both of which I adore. I didn’t quite like Bunny as much as I do the heroines of Ms. Hannah’s other books, but I’m definitely looking forward to reading more of her adventures. Bunny’s carefully guarded secrets can make her feel a little standoffish to both the other characters of this novel and to the reader, but I have every faith in this author’s ability to make me fall in love with Bunny the way I already have with Lindsey and Whitney, the protagonists of the Beacon Bakeshop and A Very Cherry mystery series respectively.

There were seven recipes included here for the delicious food and drinks described in these pages. I decided to try out this one:

Cornbread Muffins with Honey Butter

Ingredients

For the Muffins:

1 ½ cups fine cornmeal

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup butter (1 stick) softened

2 eggs

1 tablespoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups whole milk

For the Honey Butter:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

⅓ cup honey

3 tablespoons pure maple syrup

½ teaspoon sea salt (or less)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine cornmeal, flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and continue beating until well blended. With the mixer on slow, add half the dry ingredients and half the milk. Continue until the batter is combined.

Grease and lightly flour muffin cups. Fill each muffin cup three-quarters full, leaving room to expand. Bake 12-15 minutes or until muffins are done. Remove from oven and let cool. Muffins are best served warm and slathered with honey butter. Leftovers can be stored in a zip-lock bag and refrigerated.

Make the honey butter: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat softened butter until it’s light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Drizzle in the honey and the maple syrup. Add the sea salt. Whip the mixture for five more minutes until nice and fluffy. Put in an airtight container and refrigerate leftovers.

I think there was a mistake here, and we should be using baking powder instead of baking soda because a tablespoon of soda is a lot for this amount of flour and meal! Not being an expert baker, I figured the quantity might have something to do with the cornmeal, so I cautiously used only a little over two teaspoons instead of the full tablespoon. Honestly, I should have used much less. The corn muffins are delicious (and the honey butter is a dream!) until the metallic aftertaste of too much baking soda hits. The muffins rose well, but I’d definitely recommend using baking powder instead of soda here.

Next week, we head back to the United States to whip up a dessert while investigating a spooky season murder. Do join me!

See also: Cooking the Books: A Very Woodsy Murder by Ellen Byron