Blue Moon Mystery Saloon

Sugar

A Novel by Kimberly Stuart, Skyhorse Publishing, February 2017.

* An e-galley was provided by Skyhorse Publishing and Edelweiss for an honest review.

 

Sugar by Kimberly Stuart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love books that make me laugh out loud. I also adore books filled with witty banter and cute but flawed characters. SUGAR, by Kimberly Stuart, has all those ingredients and more.

OCD-like Charlie Garrett is a masterful pastry chef in a swanky NYC restaurant. She's been promised the top pastry job there for years. So she's kept her mouth shut and put up with the jerk in charge of pastries waiting for her dream job to open.

Avery Malachowski, Charlie's ex from their culinary school days nine plus years ago, tricks her into accepting the head pastry chef position at his new restaurant in Seattle. At first she's reluctant to leave NYC, but he wears her down. She's excited to finally be in the same town as her best friend, Manda, who is married with three young kids.

Manda Hendrick shines as the best friend. She's funny, cute and open as a mom and friend. She's the ying to Charlie's yang, preferring relaxed, lighthearted interaction with her family and friends to a frantic tunnel vision on her main focus (like Charlie). I particularly enjoyed her silly conversations with her husband and children.

In Seattle Charlie meets Kai Malloy, a progressive diner owner who is as laid back as his name suggests. He is good for Charlie and keeps her from taking herself too seriously. He cares a lot for Charlie, even when she's being rude and too focused on her work. He's all about trust and enjoying life, while she's all about work, work and more work.

Pros: The story contains lots of great zingers and laugh-out-loud banter. There are well-developed and enjoyable, flawed characters who grow throughout story. The author used humorous ways to address serious issues, such as trust, disappointment, and job satisfaction.

Cons: I would've liked to know more about how Charlie felt about moving to Seattle and back again to NYC. And I didn't always like Charlie. She seems a little too critical of people and events swirling around her. Thankfully she grows more likable as the story continues, and she learns to relax a bit. And though there is a satisfying ending, the story wraps up too quickly.

Overall Message: Relax and take time to enjoy life, don't be afraid to trust your friends, and don't discount your instincts.

If You Like This, You Might Like: OPERATION BONNET and ACT TWO by Kimberly Stuart, THE TOTAL PACKAGE by Stephanie Evanovich, MY (NOT SO) PERFECT LIFE by Sophie Kinsella, THE BOY IS BACK by Meg Cabot, ON SECOND THOUGHT by Kristan Higgins


View all my reviews

Final Fondue

A Five-Ingredient Mystery (Book 3) by Maya Corrigan, Kensington, June 2016

Final Fondue by Maya Corrigan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

* An ARC was provided by the author for an honest review.

FINAL FONDUE, the third book in Maya Corrigan's Five-Ingredient Mystery series, is a lighthearted mystery involving romance, revenge, and chocolate fondue.

A bride, two bridesmaids, and the best man have rented rooms for the weekend in the Victorian house owned by Val Deniston's grandfather. The group is in Bayport, MD to scope out venues for the upcoming wedding. Their stay coincides with the town's Tricentennial Festival, a full weekend extravaganza of boating demonstrations, parades, fireworks and food booths. Val is involved in all facets of the festival and has little time to help Granddad with his guests. But she agrees to help her grandfather in the kitchen whenever she can.

After the festival's opening night fireworks, Val returns to the house to prepare the next day's breakfast. To take out the garbage, she has to venture through the dark back yard. First she spots fondue leftovers on the back porch. Then she stumbles across the body of a house guest. Once again a killer is on the loose in Bayport, and Val and her grandfather are on the case.

Could it be a spurned suitor? Or an old nemesis? Might it be the result of mistaken identity? Or a spur of the moment killing? These are just a few of the questions that Val and Granddad must answer before the murderer strikes again.

FINAL FONDUE contains interesting characters, feasible situations, and supporting subplots that provide convincing motives for why each suspect could be the killer. Throw in a haunted corn maze, cooking competitions, family dysfunction, and a few red herrings, and you have a tasty mixture that satisfies the mystery palate.

And don't worry if you haven't read the other two books in the series. This book can definitely stand alone. Though to get a better feel of the main characters and the story's location, you might want to read the books in order.

If You Like This, You May Like: BY COOK OR BY CROOK and SCAM CHOWDER by Maya Corrigan, FOOD LOVERS' VILLAGE MYSTERIES by Leslie Budewitz, COOKBOOK NOOK MYSTERIES by Daryl Wood Gerber, FARMERS' MARKET MYSTERIES by Paige Shelton, CHARMED PIE SHOPPE MYSTERIES by Ellery Adams, SOUP LOVER'S MYSTERIES by Connie Archer

View all my reviews

Scam Chowder

A FIVE-INGREDIENT MYSTERY  (Book 2) by Maya Corrigan, Kensington Mystery, July 2015.

* An ARC was provided by Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss for an honest review.

SCAM CHOWDER, by Maya Corrigan, is the second book in the FIVE-INGREDIENT MYSTERY series and is perfect for fans of good food, small towns and lighthearted mysteries. The story is set in Bayport, a small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and stars Val Deniston as a 32-year-old former Manhattanite who now lives with her grandfather and manages the Cool Down Cafe at the Bayport Racket and Fitness Club.

The tale opens as Val cooks a chowder dinner for her grandfather and his guests from the Ambleside Active Adult Village. Though Granddad writes a food column in the local paper as the Codger Cook, he's mostly a hazard in the kitchen. So he's going to pass Val's meal off as one he prepared himself. Granddad has planned the dinner to corner a guest who he feels scammed his best friend, Ned, by taking off with his savings. But before Granddad can accuse Scott of any wrongdoing, Scott becomes sick while eating his chowder soup and goes home. Scott eventually dies from his illness, and Granddad becomes a person of interest in the death. Val gets involved in finding the real killer to prove her grandfather's innocence.

The thing I like most about SCAM CHOWDER is it's well-developed characters, who are unique and somewhat humorous. Val is adapting to life in a small town after losing her fiance and cookbook publicist job in Manhattan. She's juggling her attraction to two men, a deputy sheriff she meets during her research into the murder and another man with whom she has a frequently interrupted friendship. Her best friend/coworker at the cafe dresses too young for her age, and her grandfather passes himself off as a great chef when he can barely boil water. The story is peppered with several believable suspects and enough red herrings to keep readers guessing who the real killer is.

If you like cooking but don't want to take forever in the kitchen, try some of the five-ingredient recipes the author includes in the back of SCAM CHOWDER. Recipes include Waterman's Clam Chowder, One Ugly Spread, Crunchy Lime Chicken, No-Crust No-Fuss Spinach Pie, Dummy Rum Cake and Crumby Nut Rounds. And try your hand at answering the trivia questions similar to those posed by Val at  Ambleside Village's Brain Game night. You can find them in the back of the book, too.

Overall, SCAM CHOWDER is a fun mystery and a perfect read for a cold weekend in front of a warm fireplace or a well-deserved beach vacation. Just take time to relax in a cozy club chair or on a soft beach blanket and lose yourself in this lighthearted story by Maya Corrigan.

 If You Like This, You May Also Like: --- FOOD LOVERS' MYSTERIES by Leslie Budewitz, READ EM AND EAT MYSTERIES  by Terrie Farley Moran,  SUPPER CLUB MYSTERIES and CHARMED PIE SHOPPE MYSTERIES by Ellery Adams, MERRY MUFFIN MYSTERIES  by Victoria Hamilton

 

That Old Black Magic

A Piper Donovan Mystery by Mary Jane Clark, William Morrow, January 2014.

* An ARC was provided by Harper Collins/William Morrow and Edelweiss for an honest review. 

Mary Jane Clark's THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC is set around St. Patrick's Day in New Orleans. Wedding cake baker Piper Donovan wins a contest to apprentice with the renowned Bertrand Olivier, a philandering baker with an amazing creative flair. She's starstruck and vows to learn as much as she can from the baker while she's there.  Most of the action takes place on Royal Street in the French Quarter, where during her short stay Piper meets colorful local residents and shopkeepers pivotal to the story. Just after Piper arrives, murders start occurring within the same block as the bakery. A talk radio DJ trying to get higher ratings coins the murderer as the Hoodoo Killer. As usual, Piper winds up in the center of the murder investigation.

The story picks up about one month after the previous book in Clark's series, FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND, and a large plot point revolves around Piper's misadventure from that mystery and her resulting symptoms of possible PTSD. It's not necessary to read the previous book to understand why Piper reacts the way she does, as it's explained in this story. But while in New Orleans, Piper plays a small but significant role in a movie being shot in town in which her PTSD symptoms are amplified.

I don't prefer the author's method of making each scene a separate chapter, as sometimes it's hard to keep up with so many different points of view. However, this is Clark's writing style and probably what her fans expect from her stories.

I give this book four stars because of the complexity of the mystery and how Clark captures the vivacity of New Orleans, almost to the point of making the city a main character in the book. Red herrings abound, and most of the primary characters have motive and opportunity to be the killer. Clark's books aren't too light or dark and are enjoyable stories with just the right balance of action and dialogue, making them perfect to read over a weekend or at the beach.

If You Like This, You May Also Like:  Other PIPER DONOVAN MYSTERIES by Mary Jane Clark, DADDY'S GONE A HUNTING and I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN (Apr '14) by Mary Higgins Clark, REGAN REILLY MYSTERIES by Carol Higgins Clark, KINSEY MILLHONE MYSTERIES by Sue Grafton

Holiday Who-Dun-Its

In this crazy season of rushing about buying presents and donning our party apparel, good little mystery writers everywhere look forward to all the holiday cheer, colorful blinking lights, good times with friends, and...murder.  That's because along with the frolic and festivities come kung fu fighting the meek-looking granny for the hottest new toy, waiting in long lines to reach irritable sales people, and arguing with dear Cousin Carmine over who gets the last piece of pumpkin pie. It's a mystery writer's paradise! While most people let the anger percolate inside, those who pen mysteries can put it all on paper...and maybe rake in some holiday dough.

Should your thoughts turn to murder this holiday season, don't let your stress get the best of you. Relax, refresh and renew with these holiday-themed murder mysteries:

 

Anthologies:

Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke, Leslie Meier and Laura Levine

Candy Cane Murder by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier

Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop edited by Otto Penzler

The Gift of Murder edited by John M. Floyd

Sugarplums and Scandal by Lori Avocato, Dana Cameron, Mary Daheim, Cait London, Suzanne Macpherson and Kerrelyn Sparks

Dying in a Winter Wonderland edited by Tony Burton

 

Anne Perry Christmas Stories:

A Christmas Odyssey

A Christmas Promise

A Christmas Beginning

A Christmas Homecoming

A Christmas Secret

 

Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark Christmas Stories:

He Sees You When You're Sleeping

Silent Night

Deck the Halls

Santa Cruise: A Holiday Mystery at Sea

Dashing Through the Snow

The Christmas Thief

 

Margaret Maron Christmas Stories:

Rituals of the Season

Christmas Mourning

Christmas Corpus

 

Kate Kingsbury's Special Pennyfoot Hotel Mysteries:

Herald of Death

Mistletoe and Mayhem

Ringing in Murder

Slay Bells

Shrouds of Holly

No Clue at the Inn

 

Christmas Beasts:

Silent Night (A Raine Stockton Dog Mystery) by Donna Ball

Six Geese A-Slaying (A Meg Langslow Mystery) by Donna Andrews

Cat Deck the Halls (A Joe Grey Mystery) by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Santa Clawed (A Mrs. Murphy Mystery) by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown

 

Holiday Refreshment:

The Christmas Cookie Killer by Livia J. Washburn

Christmas Cookie Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery) by Leslie Meier

A Catered Christmas (A Mystery with Recipes) by Isis Crawford

Sweet Holidays (The Third Samantha Sweet Mystery) by Connie Shelton

Plum Pudding Murder (A Hannah Swenson Mystery) by Joanne Fluke

Sugar Cookie Murder (A Hannah Swenson Mystery) by Joanne Fluke

Holiday Grind (A Coffee House Mystery) by Cleo Coyle

The Diva Cooks a Goose (A Domestic Diva Mystery) by Krista Davis

 

Christmas in the United Kingdom: 

A Rumpole Christmas by John Mortimer

Kissing Christmas Goodbye (An Agatha Raisin Mystery) by M.C. Beaton

A Killer's Christmas in Wales (A Penny Brannigan Mystery) by Elizabeth J. Duncan

Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A Holiday Mystery by Agatha Christie

Queene's Christmas (An Elizabeth I Mystery) by Karen Harper

 

More Holiday Stories:

Shakespeare's Christmas (A Lily Bard Mystery) by Charlaine Harris

Indigo Christmas (A Hilda Johansson Mystery) by Jeanne M. Dams

The Alpine Christmas (An Emma Lord Mystery) by Mary Daheim

Poison to Purge Melancholy (A Pat Montello Mystery) by Elena Santangelo

A Wee Christmas Homicide (A Liss MacCrimmon Mystery) by Kaitlyn Dunnett

Holly and Homicide (A Domestic Bliss Mystery) by Leslie Caine

Christmas is Murder (A Rex Graves Mystery) by C.S. Challinor

Let There Be Murder (A Ministry is Murder Mystery) by Emilie Richards

Murder is a Girl's Best Friend (A Paige Turner Mystery) by Amanda Matetsky

Snow Angel (A Chloe Boston Mystery) by Melanie Jackson

Aunt Dimity's Christmas (An Aunt Dimity Mystery) by Nancy Atherton

Fleece Navidad (A Knitting Mystery) by Maggie Sefton

A Holiday Yarn (A Seaside Knitters Mystery) by Nancy Goldenbaum

 

And there you have it! Lots of murder mysteries to savor by the fireside on a cold winter night.  Enjoy the holidays with friends and family, and don't forget to pamper yourself and read.

Next Friday:      WINTER CHILLS, THRILLS AND MURDER 

A Taste of the Nightlife

A Vampire Chef Mystery, by Sarah Zettel, Obsidian, July 2011

Chef Charlotte Caine and her vampire brother, Chet, own Nightlife, a restaurant that caters to vampires, paranormals and their guests. They've worked long hours and gone without a full salary to overcome anti-vampire sentiment and build their business into a must-go-to place to see and be seen in New York City. So they are thrilled when NYC's best undead dining critic, Anatole Sevarin, shows up one evening to sample their menu. One good review from Sevarin, and Nightlife could be catapulted into the top-tier of Big Apple restaurants.

Their excitement is quickly extinquished when a spurned warlock threatens one of the diners with a handball of fire and sets off the sprinklers, drenching tables, chairs and guests with fire retardant. But that is just a warm-up to what they face the next morning when Charlotte returns from a successful early morning trip to the farmers market. Juggling grocery bags and keys, she enters the restaurant and discovers the warlock's body sprawled on the floor near the host station with two bite marks in his neck and Chet nowhere to be found. Now she must rely on both the charismatic vampire dining critic and the warlock's gorgeous cousin Brendan to help find her brother, solve the murder and save her restaurant's reputation.

This is a delightful story with lots of fun dialogue and surprising twists and turns. The protagonist, Charlotte Caine, is smart, witty and dedicated to protecting her brother. She blames herself for Chet's transition to vampire life and has looked out for him since their parents fled to the Southwest. She is a creative chef and cooks to relieve stress, to the enjoyment and benefit of her roommates, Trish, a midtown attorney, and Jesse, a makeup sales consultant.

This is the first book in a new series that I hope will continue for several years. The book's characters are not your typical, every day vampires and warlocks, and the story is fresh and fast-paced. Kudos to the author for this quirky and entertaining book. I'm already saving up my pennies to purchase the next book in the series, Let Them Eat Stake.

 * The next book in the series, Let Them Eat Stake, will be released in April 2012.

PROTAGONIST: A 30-year-old, intelligent and witty, female chef and owner of Nightlife, a restaurant catering to vampires, paranormals and their guests

ACTION: Struggles in a dark alley, fight for life in a bright kitchen

LOVE INTERESTS: A charismatic and handsome vampire, a gorgeous and caring warlock

ROMANCE: Great kisses and lots of electricity

QUIRKINESS: Vampire dining critic, transitioned brother, vamp tramp

INTERESTING TIDBITS: Inner workings of an upscale restaurant's kitchen, big city restaurant staffing issues, who visits NYC early morning farmers markets

FUN FACTOR: Lighthearted, witty dialogue, cute jokes, funny situations

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MAY LIKE: Wishcraft Mysteries by Juliet Blackwell, Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, Bewitching Mysteries by Madelyn Alt, Ophelia & Abby Mysteries by Shirley Damsgaard

 

Sweet Revenge

A Lady Arianna Regency Mystery, by Andrea Penrose, Obsidian Mystery, April 2011

SWEET REVENGE is a cozy mystery set in Regency England involving chocolate, illicit drugs and an old aristocratic scandal. Lady Arianna Hadley will do anything to find her father's murderer and see him punished for his crime. So she forms an uneasy alliance with Alessandro De Quincy, the Earl of Saybrook, and transforms herself from a chef and a street urchin to a wealthy widow in search of sensual diversions...all to ensnare her prey and avenge her father's death.  Lord Saybrook searches for the same criminal to uncover a treasonal money-making scheme that could ultimately impact England's position against Napoleon.

Each chapter begins with a segment of an old journal that highlights an historical fact about chocolate followed by a modern recipe using chocolate. Both intrude on the flow of the story, and after the first chapter, I waited to read the rest until I'd finished the whole book. The journal entries, set in the 1700s, might have blended okay with the book's historical setting. However, the recipes specify oven temperatures and the use of electric mixers and wax paper, quickly lifting me from early 19th century England into the 21st century USA.

Without the interruption of the journal entries and recipes, the story moves along nicely. Lady Arianna is an appealing protaganist, who has been on her own since she was 15, doing whatever needed to survive. She enjoys delving into complex mathematical puzzles and changes roles quickly and easily. Her wary partner, Lord Saybrook, is a former army intelligence officer with a wounded leg and an addiction to opium. They mistrust each other but know it's crucial they work together to achieve their goals.

In spite of the intrusive journal entries and chocolate recipes, Sweet Revenge is fairly well-paced with intriquing storylines, intelligent characters and interesting dialogue. If you like to learn more than "whodunit" in your mysteries, then make sure to save space in your library for this cozy, the first in a new series.

* The next book in the series, The Cocoa Conspiracy, comes out in December 2011.

PROTAGONIST:  Independent, 20-something, good at disguises 

 ACTION:  Story never bogs down, medium-paced

LOVE INTEREST: The earl

ROMANCE: She's no virgin, but gets no action either

QUIRKINESS:  Men "lever up" from their chairs,  Spanish and French phrases, fondness for mentioning "cajones"

INTERESTING TIDBITS:  The history of chocolate, recipes for chocolate food and drink

FUN FACTOR:  A few amusing characters

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MAY LIKE:  Molly McQuire Mysteries by Rhys Bowen, Being Jane Austen Mysteries by Stephanie Barron, Lady Emily Mysteries by Tasha Alexander

Cookie Dough or Die

A Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery, by Virginia Lowell, Berkley Prime Crime, April 2011

A little store in Chatterly Heights, MD that specializes in cookie-cutters is the setting for this first book in a new cozy mystery series. After residing in Baltimore for twelve years, newly divorced Olivia Greyson is back in her hometown and living in an apartment over her new business,The Gingerbread House. Along with her best friend, Maddie Briggs, she enjoys managing her shop, baking cookies, offering baking lessons and throwing special events to entice more customers into her store.

Olivia's contentment is short-lived, however. Early one morning her business mentor and good friend, Clarisse Chamberlain, is found dead at home. Sheriff Del Jenkins thinks it's a possible suicide. Olivia thinks it's murder, and begins her own investigation to prove it. But when it's discovered that Clarisse left Olivia a tidy sum of money and a pricey antique cookie-cutter collection, Olivia becomes a suspect. Then the town's nosy postman winds up in the hospital, the only clue to his critical condition an empty cookie bag from The Gingerbread House. Suddenly Livie's search for Clarisse's killer becomes personal.

Things move at a slower pace in Chatterly Heights and in this story too. If you like Miss Marple mysteries and want a pleasant, small town story with familiar characters and an easy to follow plot, make sure to add this book to your To Buy list.

* The next book in the series, A Cookie Before Dying, comes out in December 2011.

PROTAGONIST: 31-year-old, divorced, shop owner

CRITTERS: Spunky, a rescued Yorkie

ACTION: Small town, slower-paced

LOVE INTEREST: The sheriff

ROMANCE: Very little for protaganist, more action for best friend

QUIRKINESS: Drives a green 1972 Valiant, mom's a constantly busy, 4'11”, flower child

INTERESTING TIDBITS: Valuable cookie-cutters, versatility of cookie-cutters

FUN FACTOR:  Some funny parts

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU MAY LIKE:  Miss Marple Mysteries by Agatha Christie; Booktown Mysteries by Lorna Barrett; Victoria Square Mysteries by Lorraine Bartlett; Cardmaking Mysteries by Tim Myers and Elizabeth Bright