Lovingly detailed descriptions of food overpower the mystery in this cuisine- and character-driven cozy.
When Little Bo Peep is murdered, a group of amateur sleuths wonder if the sheep was the real target.
Having solved several cases in Arborville, New Jersey, Pamela Paterson and her pals in the Knit and Nibble group are no strangers to murder. Pamela, her reporter friend, Bettina Fraser, and the older, more conservative Nell Bascomb are all attending a Halloween celebration when some teens find the body of a woman dressed as Bo Peep with yarn wrapped around her neck. Nell thinks the victim is her neighbor Mary Lyon, who she knows had made the costume for her husband, Brainard, to wear while she accompanied him as the sheep. But the dead woman was not the prickly, unpopular Mary, who, after a fight with Brainard, gave away the Bo Peep costume and went alone as the sheep. Which woman, ask Pamela and her friends, was the killer really after? After identifying Mary as the more likely target, each of them uses her own skills and local knowledge to track down clues and interview the people who had most reason to dislike her. The subsequent murders of Mary and her husband leave no doubt that the first death was a matter of misidentification and make it ever more difficult for the sleuths to separate the sheep from the goats in a herd of possible killers.
Lovingly detailed descriptions of food overpower the mystery in this cuisine- and character-driven cozy.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2365-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Variations on a theme that works a lot better at the beginning.
A group of friends who share the same name shifts gears to solve the murder of one of their own.
Even though she was warned by Brian, her ex-fiancé, that it would take ages for her to find a new community when she moved from Vermont to Minneapolis after dumping him, Sarah Jones has discovered a group of friends she fits in with perfectly, and not just because they’re being Minnesota nice. Her new buddies haven’t sought out Sarah because of her skills as a personal trainer—she’s the new director at LifeSport Fitness—but because of her name. The robust group of friends all share a common moniker, whose cultural frequency has led to shared lifetimes of misdirected mail and emails, and now is the common denominator in the social group dubbed “The Sarah Jones Project.” The group’s members range in age from a boisterous, troublemaking 17 to a very determined 69. Each of the Sarah Joneses is nicknamed with her age in order to differentiate group members, something that’s especially helpful when they’re all on the same text chain. The newest Sarah Jones, aka Thirty, hits it off immediately with Twenty-Seven, and is particularly relieved that Twenty-Seven is okay after hearing the news that a local Sarah Jones has been murdered. As the group resolves to unravel the mystery of what’s happened to their fallen member, Thirty is the obvious person to lead the charge because of the interest of a new FBI agent who seems to want to help her.
Variations on a theme that works a lot better at the beginning.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9780593335536
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Foodies and mystery lovers will come for the red herrings and stay for the cheese.
It starts with a food fight and ends with murder.
Carly Hale’s dream of opening a restaurant specializing in everything grilled cheese has finally come to fruition. When her part-time helper, Grant Robinson, quits his job at Sub-a-Dub-Sub, his irritable ex-boss, Ferris Menard, naturally blames Carly. Both owners have entered the Halloween festival food contest, and tensions run even higher after Menard accuses Carly of trying to ruin his business and somebody paints a skull on her car. The announcement of the winner is held up by the discovery that the ballot box has been stuffed. The next morning Menard is found dead. Though there’s a steak knife in his chest, it turns out that he was dead before he was stabbed. Chief Holloway, who’s familiar with Carly’s sleuthing skills, warns her off, but the framing of her boyfriend, Ari Mitchell, for the murder guarantees that she’ll ignore the chief’s advice. Perhaps unwisely, she hires Menard’s daughter, Holly, who needs a job while the sub shop is closed. Carly learns a lot more about Menard’s background as a lifelong resident, including the high school bullying and the divorce that made him plenty of enemies. One of her best customers is a retired teacher who keeps leaving her unusual poems of encouragement. Could her knowledge solve the case?
Foodies and mystery lovers will come for the red herrings and stay for the cheese.Pub Date: July 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72823-835-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
