The Legend of Acorn Hollow

The locals insist that Acorn Hollow was the real inspiration for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." But is that a blessing...or a curse? As the Hudson Valley's best garden-to-table home cook, fiercest Italian matriarch, and most dogged reporter, Rita Calabrese has many reasons to look forward to fall. Her garden is bursting with the ingredients for chicken cacciatore, apple crisp, and pumpkin cheesecake. Her son is starring in the local community theater production. And Acorn Hollow is at its most festive as it celebrates "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which the townspeople insist was inspired by their own bucolic hamlet.

But as the fall foliage peaks, so does the drama. First, a series of mysterious accidents befall the actor portraying Ichabod Crane. While most of the townspeople are willing to chalk it up to the supernatural antics of the headless horseman, the police have a far more mortal suspect in mind: Rita's son, Vinnie.

Then the notorious "black widow" of Acorn Hollow offers Rita tantalizing new clues about a pair of cold-case Halloween disappearances bearing the hallmarks of the original legend, right down to the smashed pumpkin by the old stone bridge. In exchange, the widow asks Rita to cater her funeral-and she's already set an exact date.

As the clock ticks down to the appointed date, Rita cooks up a fabulous funeral feast. But she begins to suspect that the widow is cooking up something of her own, and it just might be an elaborate trap to catch a killer...

Featuring drool-worthy fall and Italian recipes!