Typical cozy fare with a dollop of moonlight mist.
Spooky delights don’t discourage a murderer in small-town Wisconsin.
Black cats and scary pumpkins are just some of the confections Emily Westhill is cooking up this year at Deputy Donut, the shop she owns with her father-in-law, Tom. But Richmond P. Royalson the Third turns up his New England nose at these Midwestern pastries. The only one he’ll order is the Boston Scream doughnut, although he insists on calling it by its proper name: Boston cream. Still, the doughnut is obviously the high point of his blind date with Cheryl, a member of the Knitpickers, a knitting club for seniors. After ordering three dozen Boston Screams for his birthday party over the weekend, Rich leaves Emily’s shop, returning later that afternoon with a younger, snazzier gal for another date at Deputy Donut. Terri Estable, his new squeeze, is actually an old flame, and it looks like she and Rich may have hit the jackpot. She’s clearly been helping Rich set up for the party when Emily and her assistant, Nina, deliver the doughnuts to his mansion on Lake Fleekom, although when they arrive she’s out canoeing. Which is lucky for her, since the two bakers discover Rich’s body, conked to death with an oversized skillet. The murder brings detective Brent Fyne to the scene, stirring up all of Emily’s mixed feelings toward her late husband’s partner. She really doesn’t need to investigate the murder of a man she just met, but between Brent, the moonlight on the lake, the lure of solo kayaking, and her own natural curiosity, Emily just can’t seem to stick behind her stove.
Typical cozy fare with a dollop of moonlight mist.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2556-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A little humor, a little romance, a little detection, but no solid takeaway.
Murder disrupts a bookstore’s grand opening in Winthrop, Washington.
Tess Harrow is going all out for the launch of Paper Trail, the painstakingly renovated bookshop on the site of her father’s old hardware store. Not only has she scheduled her latest novel, Fury Under the Floorboards, for release the night of the store’s launch party, but she’s allowed her daughter, 15-year-old Gertie, to plan a menu of tasty treats, including sushi-grade tuna flown in fresh that morning from Seattle. So she’s less than thrilled when her mother, mega-diva Bernadette Springer, shows up even earlier than the fish with her boyfriend, Levi Parker, in tow. Parker is famous all over Instagram, accused of murdering two women in New York and one in Detroit, although no one’s been able to make the charges stick. But this time, he’s the one who ends up in the morgue. Relieved as Tess is that her mother won’t be Parker’s next victim, his death derails the plans for her gala reopening big-time. First, journalist Mumford Umberto ditches his plans for an extended interview with Tess in favor of covering the crime. Next, podcaster Neptune Jones sets up shop down the street, drawing away the huge crowds that Tess expected at Paper Trail. Worst of all, Sheriff Boyd, who Tess keeps hoping will declare his feelings for her, invites Neptune to stay at his house and help him crack the case. Tess spends so much energy grieving the injustice of it all that she barely has time to solve the mystery, even when it looks as if her mom is a prime suspect. Although Berry’s dialogue is crisp and funny, her scattershot plotting may leave some readers wishing for a bit less.
A little humor, a little romance, a little detection, but no solid takeaway.Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781728248660
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A character-driven tale whose Christmas cheer pretty much edges out the feeble mystery.
The merriment you’d expect between Thanksgiving and Christmas is stifled by murder in Lighthouse Cove, California.
The star of the season is the Cliffs Hotel, a marvelous restored Victorian mansion overlooking the ocean. Building contractor Shannon Hammer and her crew are working on plans for a Christmas Fun Zone on the grounds highlighted by a carousel and of course Santa. Shannon is close to Bill and Lillian Garrison, who own the Cliffs, and their children, who all work there except for the eldest, Logan, who is in the Navy. Logan’s stunning but awful wife, Randi, is a close friend to Shannon’s archenemy, conniving backstabber Whitney Reid Gallagher, who ruined Sharon’s long friendship with Arabella Garrison. Soon after Logan surprises the family by leaving the Navy and taking a job as community director for Homefront, a community supporting veterans, cracks quickly appear in long-standing family relationships, and it’s clear that Logan and Randi’s marriage is on the rocks. Shannon is enjoying a fancy pre-Christmas dinner at the Cliffs with her fiance, popular author MacKintyre Sullivan, and their circle of friends when the lights go out. When Shannon goes to check the circuit breakers with Mac and their friend Police Chief Eric Jensen, she finds Randi with her throat slashed. The fact that one of Shannon’s pink tools was used to do the deed makes her determined to find the killer. Luckily, both Shannon and Mac already have some experience as sleuths, and there’s no shortage of people who hated Randi.
A character-driven tale whose Christmas cheer pretty much edges out the feeble mystery.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9780593637647
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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