Cooking

Maddie Day: Four Leaf Cleaver

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When looking for a murder mystery chock full of southern charm, look no further than Maddie Day’s Four Leaf Cleaver, the eleventh installment in her Country Store series. The main character and investigator is Robbie Jordan, owner of the local B&B Pans ‘N Pancakes. In an effort to give her B&B some publicity, Robbie is hosting a Saint Patrick’s Day themed cooking competition known as Holiday Hot-Off. From the start, the whole business shapes up to be more complicated and involved than Robbie had expected. From the staff of the show not getting along, to their manager and star Tara O’Hara being demanding and rude, Robbie is more than ready for it all to be over before it even begins. However, what no one expected was for the abrasive Tara O’Hara to be found dead in her upstairs room at Pans ‘N Pancakes on the morning of the big event. read more

Deborah Crombie: A Bitter Feast

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I don’t think there was a book I was more excited to read this year than this one and happily, I wasn’t disappointed.  It’s been three long years since the last novel, The Garden of Lamentations, and I have missed Crombie’s perceptive take on human nature.  It’s character that dominates her novels.  Characters are the alpha and omega of her writing, and this book is no exception to the rule.

I have to say I nearly swooned when I discovered the book was set in the Cotswolds.  There can be no more English village-y type setting, and contemporary writers from Erin Hart to Elizabeth George to G.M. Malliet have taken this classic setting and run with it.  There’s a depth to Deborah Crombie’s writing that sets her apart, and it percolates through every detail of her novels, from setting to plot to whatever she has chosen to examine in a particular book. read more

Cozy Queens: Denise Swanson & Heather Blake

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The second in a new series from the talented Denise Swanson, and a wrap up to a favorite series by Heather Blake, by our reviewer Cathy Akers-Jordan.

Leave no Scone Unturned, Denise Swanson.

Former corporate executive Danielle (Dani) Sloan helps solves murders, when she’s not busy running her catering business, that is. Set in the college town of Normalton, IL, Dani is busy selling lunches to students and catering private dinners as a personal chef. She can’t help it that she keeps getting involved in murder cases or the fact the she’s attracted to the campus head of security, Spencer Drake. read more