Rating: Good
Source: NetGalley
Description: Maintaining good personal relationships with their suppliers is one of the secrets of the Cackleberry Club Café’s success, so Suzanne doesn’t mind going out to Mike Mullen’s dairy farm to pick up some wheels of cheese. She’s looking forward to a nice visit with the mild-mannered farmer before heading back to their hectic kitchen.
But when she arrives, Mike’s nowhere to be found. The moaning of his cows leads her to look in the barn, where she discovers a bloodcurdling sight—the farmer’s dead body. Apparently not everyone was as fond of Mike Mullen as the Cackleberry Club.
Churning with grief and outrage, Suzanne, Petra, and Toni vow to find the farmer’s murderer—but as they get closer to the truth, the desperate killer gets whipped into a frenzy and plans to put the squeeze on them...
Genre: Mystery - Cozy
Why I Picked This Book: I had read a book in another series by Laura Childs recently and really enjoyed it so I thought I'd give this series a try.
My Impression: This was a straight up old school cozy mystery. We have Suzanne, restaurant owner and true amateur detective, an off page murder, a small town, and lots of quirky characters. The mystery itself is solid. There are lots of suspects but only shady motives and it took me awhile to get the who, why, and how figured out.
Suzanne's an amateur detective with her only law enforcement connection being her talent for falling over dead bodies. Like a lot of amateur detectives in cozy mysteries she has more than her share of nosiness and sometimes crosses into over the top busybody territory. She's also a bit on the perfect side with a wildly successful restaurant and a tendency towards always being right. If you're a cozy mystery reader I think all this falls within normal levels and didn't affect my enjoyment too much. There are a lot of side characters that I enjoyed getting to know and I especially enjoyed the interactions between Suzanne's business partners, Petra and Toni.
Overall, this was an entertaining cozy mystery that was well constructed. Even though it wasn't perfect it was still a lot of fun and I'd love to stop by the Cackleberry Club for breakfast! While this is the 7th in the series I had no problem jumping in here!
Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: I would! I enjoyed this one and am looking forward to reading more of her other series as well
Would I Recommend this Book?: Yes! If you enjoy cozy mysteries this is a solid read.
Love these titles! Glad this was a good one and a solid read. I haven't read a cozy in a bit but I have a few waiting to go... maybe this winter I can get through a few of them.
ReplyDeleteYou always make me want to pick up a cozy. I love that she has a talent for falling over dead bodies. I will have to keep this author in mind.
ReplyDeleteThis author is on my list to try! :)
ReplyDeleteLove the title! It does sound fun :D
ReplyDeleteI love the titles on this series they sound like really fun cozies to curl up with this winter.
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