Monday, November 11, 2019

The Chocolate Shark Shenanigans - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads:  The Chocolate Shark Shenanigans (A Chocoholic Mystery #17) by JoAnna Carl

Rating: Good
Source: Publisher 

Description:  When a house near Lee and Joe's home goes up for sale, the couple teams up with Lee's aunt and uncle, Nettie and Hogan, to buy it, remodel it, and resell it for a sweet profit. But after the owners of the house, the Baileys, accept their offer, a local developer, Richard "Spud" Dirk, suddenly swoops in with a higher one, and it seems their dreams might be snatched away.
Lee, never as passionate about the plan as her husband and uncle, is anxious to get back to focusing on managing TenHuis Chocolade. But when a long-hidden gun is found behind a pipe in the Baileys' basement, she begins to suspect a mystery is afoot. And when Spud turns up dead in the Baileys' carport a few days later, it becomes clear there's something rotten at the foundation....

To solve the murder, Lee will have to strip away layers of secrets--that is, if someone doesn't level her first....

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  The title caught my attention - Shenanigans is an underused word - and the plot sounded fun.

My Impression:  This was as fun a read as the name suggested!   The pacing was quick, the characters were likable, and the chocolate mentions were divine.  It was so easy to dive into this book without having read the others that I could've believed this was the first book in the series.  I liked that Lee was a little bit of an outsider here and everyone around her knew a lot more about events from the past then she does.  It puts the reader on equal footing with her which was nice. 

The mystery was fun and I always enjoying diving back into long kept secrets.  It did feel a little rushed at the end and I didn't feel like all the threads and threats were fully explained.  I also didn't quite understand the thing with Lee mixing up words.  However, these were pretty minor issues and it didn't mess with the flow.  I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this read.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Absolutely!  I'm looking forward to exploring series more.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you enjoy cozy mysteries this is a fun book and an easy place to start the series. 

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

5 comments:

  1. I'm like you - the word shennanigans is SO much fun:)). Glad you enjoyed this one so much, Katherine:))

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  2. Sounds good and maybe the things you were a bit mystified by were in previous books.

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  3. It's certainly a fun title for a book!

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  4. I am glad you enjoyed this one, Katherine. I like the title too! I will have to check this series out.

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