Book ~ "Americanos, Apple Pies, and Art Thieves" (2017) Harper Lin

From Goodreads ~ It’s almost Thanksgiving and Fran is baking her family’s famous apple pies for the café. While pie fever spreads through Cape Bay, a world-famous artist holds a special art show in the town’s modest museum in honor of his late mother, who grew up there.

Louis Cliffton’s paintings are encrusted with valuable gems and gold. At the opening night, the centerpiece of the show is stolen. When Fran investigates the case, she receives threats, and someone follows her home and vandalizes her café. 

What kind of thief would do this? A crazy outsider - or someone from her very own town?

Francesca is in her mid-thirties and worked in New York for many years in PR.  She moved back home to run the family Italian café in a small town in Massachusetts when her mother passed away a couple months ago.

Famous artist Louis Cliffton is having an art show in the town because that's where his mother was from.  In fact, she had worked at Fran's café years ago when her grandparents had owned it.  The first night of the show the splendid painting of his mother was stolen.  Fran was so taken with the painting (it brought back feelings of missing her mother) that she's determined to find out who stole it.

This is the fifth in the Cape Bay Cafe Mystery Series (I've read the first four) by this author ... it works as a stand alone (you don't have to read the others to know what's going on).  It is written in first person perspective in Fran's voice.  The "whodunnit" and ending came together really quickly and I was okay with this one.  It was a quick light read and is a "cozy mystery" so there is no swearing, violence or adult activity.  I find the writing of Fran and Matty's relationship unbelievable.  They are both in their mid thirties yet at one point she "soaked up enough of his love" that she felt she could get through the new few minutes without burying her face in his chest again.  I kid you not!

There are recipes at the end.