Piper Prescott, newly divorced, put
everything she got from the divorce into an upscale spice shop in
Brandywine, Georgia hoping to turn her life around. It's the grand
opening and a major attraction is the most famous chef in town. He
makes wonderful meals, but he also has a temper. He agreed to prepare
a roast and demonstration the preparation for Piper's opening, but
she's not quite sure he'll show.
On the morning of the opening, she goes
to the Tratoria, his restaurant, to retrieve some Juniper berries she
gave him to use to prepare the roast for the cooking demonstration,
and finds the chef on the floor in a pool of blood. Now the question
is who killed him and the new police chief thinks Piper is a likely
suspect.
This is a typical cozy mystery: female
character trying to turn her life around; forced into sleuthing to
clear her name; sexy police chief who seems to have it in for her;
troublesome teenage daughter; dumb ex-husband; but an interesting
setting in a small Southern town.
Piper could be a strong character.
She's gutsy, wants to make a success of the shop, and not be beholden
to her rather dim ex, CJ. However, her internal monologue is rather
excessive. She makes stupid errors, like finding the knife outside
the Tratoria, dropping it, and then not admitting what she's done.
This leads to all sorts of misunderstandings with the new police
chief, who acts incompetent.
I thought the author tried to hard to
give Piper a reason to become involved in the murder. The dropping of
the knife is transparent. Unless you enjoy banal dialog, it doesn't
lend much to the plot. On the positive side, the plot move along.
However, the author doesn't make enough of the interesting small
town. The spice shop is a good setting, but in my opinion, the author
could have done more to exploit it with information about spices and
perhaps a few recipes.
If you enjoy cozy mysteries with a
romantic element, you may like this one.
I reviewed this book for Net Galley
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