The Solace of Bay Leaves is the fifth Spice Shop mystery, featuring Pepper Reece, a forty-something single city girl. When her life fell apart at forty, after she stumbled over her husband, a Seattle police officer on the downtown bike beat, and a parking enforcement officer practically plugging each other's meters, and the law firm where she worked as an HR manager imploded in scandal, taking her job with it, Pepper never expected to find solace in bay leaves. But season after season, as the new owner of Seattle Spice in the Pike Place Market, Pepper faces danger head-on, determined to work for justice, protect those she loves, and live a spicy life.