Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780425259566; 9781541402102
Berkley Publishing
287 Pages
$7.94; $21.09; $7.99 Amazon
July 7, 2015
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In an attempt to wood tourists to Jewel Bay and cheer up the townies, Erin Murphy, manager of the specialty local foods market known as the Merc, is organizing the First Annual Film Festival, filled with classic foodie flicks and local twists on favorite movie treats. But when her partner in planning, painter Christine Vandeberg, is found dead only days before the curtain rises, Erin suspects someone is attempting to stop the films from rolling.
To make matters worse, Nick- Erin's brother and Christine's beau - has top billing on the suspect list. Convinced her brother is innocent and determined that the show must go on, Erin has to find who's really to blame before Nick gets arrested or the festival gets shut down. But the closer she gets to the killer, the more likely it becomes that she'll be the next person cut from the program...
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Erin Murphy is helping Christine Vandeburg with the First Annual Jewel Bay Film Festival for the locals. Erin is going to meet Christine at her studio and finds Zayda George, a local high school girl involved with the festival, sitting on the steps, looking shocked. When she finally enters the studio she finds Christine mortally injured by a gunshot, and calls the police.
But who killed Christine? Zayda or her brother Nick, who said he was tracking wolves but instead was closer than he admitted? When it looks as if Nick is the main suspect - it turns out he’s inherited everything Christine owned - then Erin knows she needs to find the true killer before her brother is wrongfully imprisoned.
But it doesn’t help that he won’t talk to anyone about where he’s been or what he’s been doing and that the only other suspect is teenaged Zayda. So Erin takes it upon herself the to find a killer before a killer finds her....
This is the third book in the series, and as such, is a bit of an improvement over the first two, but I still wasn't very impressed. The book was an easy read - I finished it in a few hours, but there are still things that bother me. For one, the way Erin eats, she should weigh over 300 pounds by now. She's always eating pasta and candy/cookies, etc.; and drinking - a lot. Liquor adds calories. Paninis are fattening. Lattes. I've never read that the woman ate a salad (sans dressing) to counter all the fattening food she eats.
I also still don't get why she calls her mom Fresca (not to mention it's the name of a soft drink and I can't help thinking about that every time she says the name). I'm pretty sure everyone in town knows they're related, and who cares if the tourists don't? WHAT is the big deal about using Fresca instead of just calling her mom? I don't see it. I also don't get why she needs to investigate murders. She seems to think that she's more perceptive than the police. I get the fact that cozies are about amateur sleuths, but Erin rather turns me off by insisting that she can't be with a man who won't let her poke around in murder investigations. What man would be comfortable with his wife/girlfriend doing so if it put her life in danger?
Anyway, the book was interesting, just not intriguing. We do learn a little more about her brother in this book, and find out the answer to a question that's been plaguing the family for years. All in all, a nice little cozy that's not too involved, and I will read the next in the series.
This is the third book in the series, and as such, is a bit of an improvement over the first two, but I still wasn't very impressed. The book was an easy read - I finished it in a few hours, but there are still things that bother me. For one, the way Erin eats, she should weigh over 300 pounds by now. She's always eating pasta and candy/cookies, etc.; and drinking - a lot. Liquor adds calories. Paninis are fattening. Lattes. I've never read that the woman ate a salad (sans dressing) to counter all the fattening food she eats.
I also still don't get why she calls her mom Fresca (not to mention it's the name of a soft drink and I can't help thinking about that every time she says the name). I'm pretty sure everyone in town knows they're related, and who cares if the tourists don't? WHAT is the big deal about using Fresca instead of just calling her mom? I don't see it. I also don't get why she needs to investigate murders. She seems to think that she's more perceptive than the police. I get the fact that cozies are about amateur sleuths, but Erin rather turns me off by insisting that she can't be with a man who won't let her poke around in murder investigations. What man would be comfortable with his wife/girlfriend doing so if it put her life in danger?
Anyway, the book was interesting, just not intriguing. We do learn a little more about her brother in this book, and find out the answer to a question that's been plaguing the family for years. All in all, a nice little cozy that's not too involved, and I will read the next in the series.
https://www.amazon.com/Butter-Dead-Lovers-Village-Mystery/dp/0425259560/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2317870530
More on Leslie Budewitz's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/leslie-ann-budewitz/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2317870530
More on Leslie Budewitz's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/leslie-ann-budewitz/
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