CHOCOLATE A LA MURDER

A wine and chocolate fest brings plenty of business and a chocolate-dipped murder to San Benedetto, California.

Maddie Kosloski has added a Magic of Chocolate exhibit to her paranormal museum and is feeling good about the museum and life in general, with her best friends, Adele and Harper, always on hand to help. All is ready except for the delivery of chocolate from Reign, the local artisanal chocolate store. Tired of waiting, she decides to go pick it up only to find a man covered in chocolate lying on the floor, and her best efforts at CPR don’t work. The first officer on the scene is Detective Laurel Hammer; a bully in high school, she still hates Maddie, especially since Maddie has been dating Detective Jason Slate. The dead man is Atticus Reine, co-owner with Orson Malke of the chocolate shop, which has gained a great reputation. Maddie has never been able to pass a murder by (Deja Moo, 2018, etc.), and this time is no different even though it's difficult for Jason to have his girlfriend as witness and sleuth. Although she dearly loves her friends, she and Harper are being driven crazy by Adele, whose wedding plans are constantly changing as problems arise and she nitpicks every decision. Still, Maddie finds time to speak to Orson and his wife, Lola, and Atticus’ wife, India, who all worked in some capacity at Reign. There is also one employee they fired who was picketing when Maddie arrived, but he is not first on her list of suspects—especially once Tilde, the bookkeeper at Reign, is murdered and Maddie herself has a few suspiciously narrow misses. Although there are only a few serious candidates, Maddie must winkle out the truth before she becomes the next victim.

Driven by its quirky characters, this series offers plenty of whimsy but not much mystery.