A.L. Herbert

As the owner of Mahalia’s Sweet Tea, Halia Watkins is famous in Maryland’s Prince George’s County for her down-home cuisine. But when she has the chance to showcase her talents on national TV, she becomes the star of a murder mystery that’s too hot to handle....

A high school reunion takes a deadly turn in the second in A. L. Herbert's fresh and inventive series set within the bustle of a top soul food restaurant - the first cozy mystery series with a predominantly African-American cast....

Halia Watkins has her hands full cooking, hosting, and keeping her young cousin from getting too sassy with customers. Having fast-talking entrepreneur Marcus Rand turn up in her kitchen is annoying enough when he's alive - but finding his dead bodyon her ceramic tile is much worse....

Mahalia's Sweet Tea boasts the most flavorful soul food in all of Prince George's County, Maryland. But as events at the beauty industry's leading trade show turn ugly, owner Halia Watkins needs to bite into an unsavory new item on the menu - murder....