The Carroway Island Pie Scandal

On Carroway Island, even a pie contest can become a matter of civic honor. It is 1988, and the residents of this isolated Chesapeake Bay community are preparing for what should be a harmless church-supper pie contest. But when a Baltimore getaway is announced as the grand prize, neighborly competition quickly gives way to secret recipes, wounded pride, whispered suspicions, and enough good intentions to create one magnificent scandal. Mayor Harold Pike is determined to keep the affair respectable. The Ladies Auxiliary intends to keep it organized. Haddie Mercer knows better than to expect either. And Captain Elijah Bailey, the island's unappreciated garbage-scow captain, is about to discover that a man can spend years hauling away everyone else's rubbish and still be blamed when something precious disappears. As accusations spread from the fellowship hall to the waterfront, Carroway's residents take sides, old grievances rise to the surface, and the truth becomes harder to locate than an honest judge at a pie table. Filled with eccentric islanders, Chesapeake Bay atmosphere, affectionate humor, and the kind of storytelling in which fact and folklore comfortably share the same chair, The Carroway Island Pie Scandal is a heartwarming tale of pride, pies, and the considerable trouble caused by good intentions. Welcome back to Carroway Island, where everybody knows your business, nobody agrees on the facts, and no scandal is ever allowed to go to waste.