Queen of the Cookbooks

In the quirky Southern town of Cherico, Mississippi, a new library means an exciting new chapter for librarian Maura Beth McShay—and for the friends and book lovers known as the Cherry Cola Book Club…
 
The construction of Cherico’s cutting-edge library has been an epic struggle worthy of War and Peace. But the Grand Opening Ceremony is scheduled at last—for the Fourth of July no less—featuring lakeside fireworks and a concert by country singer Waddell Mack. Maura Beth has even devised a cooking contest among area chefs and aspiring Julia Childs to crown the Queen of the Cookbooks. Yet even Maura Beth’s careful plotting can’t prevent some glitches…
 
Between a furniture fiasco that requires some creative problem-solving, and front-desk clerk Renette’s major crush on Waddell Mack, there’s equal parts drama and comic relief. Once the ribbon has been cut and the delicious recipes are judged, the Queen of the Cookbooks will take her crown, and the Cherry Cola Book Club, along with Maura Beth and her staff, will have the library of their dreams. But it’ll take luck, loyal friendships, and the shared love of a powerful story to make this a truly happy beginning…
 
Praise for The Cherry Cola Book Club novels
 
“An intrepid librarian, a book club feast, and a cozy, heart-warming Mississippi mystery—what's not to love?” --Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
 
“Lee’s buoyant David-versus-Goliath tale zestfully illuminates a real problem confronting libraries and cities of all sizes.” --Booklist

Ashton Lee was born in historic Natchez, Mississippi, into a large, extended Southern family which gave him much fodder for his fiction later in life. His father, who wrote under the pen name of R. Keene Lee right after WWII, was an editor and writer in New York of what is now called pulp fiction. As a result, Ashton inherited a love of reading and writing early on and did all the things aspiring authors are supposed to do, including majoring in English when he attended The University of the South, affectionately known as Sewanee. While there, he studied Creative Writing under Andrew Lytle, then editor of the Sewanee Review, and a member of the Southern Agrarians in the 1920s.

Ashton lives in Oxford, MS, enjoying the amenities of a university town that many writers have called home. Readers can like Ashton Lee at: facebook.com/ashtonlee.net.