Travelling from Boston to New York to appear on a cookery show seems the height of fame to our heroine. Her island home never feels far away though, as Olivia Redmond, heir to the Redmond Meats wealth and an estate on Mount Desert Island, meets her in the studio. Olivia owns a pet potbellied pig ironically called Pork Chop. She's also accompanied by her Argentine trophy husband. I quite enjoyed seeing the roles reversed. A recipe for bacon- wrapped jalapeno-stuffed chicken thighs follows, with the comment that it's much easier to eat a pig if you don't know it beforehand. Olivia, back on the island, offers Hayley good money to write a recipe blog. But when Hayley turns up at Olivia's home she finds the lady lying dead in the garden.

Hayley is not a suspect, but her poor pig may be the only witness. This leads to some unlikely scenes such as an animal communicator trying to read Pork Chop's mind, and we meet other animals like a horse and dog. The local people are friendly but the deceased seems to have been mercurial, snobbish and dictatorial, so there's a good potential for enemies. I know it's easier to think of someone unsympathetic being murdered, but a wealthy snob does seem something of a caricature.

The recipes continue to be interjected. Bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin, anyone? Blackberry moonshine cocktail to follow? Tasty as these are, and in context, the snippets and musings from Hayley's newspaper column do break the flow and intensity of the story. This makes DEATH OF A BACON HEIRESS a very light cozy mystery, with more emphasis on character and setting than on crime or forensics. If you've been following the series I'm sure you'll be thrilled to get another toothsome chapter in the life of the food writer. Lee Hollis is the pen name for brother and sister team Rick Copp and Holly Simason.

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