Tuesday, August 27, 2019

A Pie to Die For (A Bakery Detectives Cozy Mystery #1)

Author:  Stacey Alabaster
Genre:   Mystery

Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781530717606
Createspace Publishing
160 Pages
$7.99 Amazon
March 19, 2016




Rachael will do anything to protect her bakery from the evil Bakermatic Baked Goods Company, but does that include murder?  When a food critic dies after sampling a pie from Rachael's Bakery, she is quickly labeled the prime suspect.  When the police doubt her story of innocence, she has no choice but to find the real killer.  With carefree best friend, Pippa, Rachael sets out on a mission to save her bakery, but it could ultimately cost her and her best friend everything.
                   
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First off, I should have known from the cheesy blurb, but I didn't.  Evil?  Seriously?  Also, the woman was a blogger, not a critic.  They are two different things.  Anyway...

Premise:  A local food blogger, Colleen, tells Rachael (our protagonist) - whom Rachael dislikes and vice versa - that she has to try something from every stall at the food fair.  That same night she learns that Colleen has died, and she is brought to the police station for questioning.  She's told she's a suspect, and she points out that Colleen ate at every booth and is told they're aware of it.  Then she discovers that a rival business - Bakermatic - is telling everyone she's a suspect in the murder.

Excuse me, but isn't Bakermatic also a suspect?  How can she be targeted as a killer if the woman ate at every single booth before dying?  Don't the police in this town do their job?  ALL the vendors would be suspects.  The police would do an autopsy (except in this town, I guess) to see what actually was in her stomach and what the cause of death was.

Following is the reason why this was so ridiculous:

 

FYI:  How did they know she ate at Rachael's booth?  Who told them?  If it was a rival business owner, wouldn't they have to admit she bought their food, too?  Wouldn't the police be a teensy bit suspicious of that person?

None of it makes any sense.  Not even when she forced her best friend Pippa to take a job at the Bakermatic and convinces her to let her in after hours and, of course, they get caught immediately.  These two women are dumber than a box of rocks.  The police department is inept.  People in this town are willing to take Bakermatic's word for it that Rachel's is to blame and eat at their store without proof that she's a murderer?  I'd steer clear of anyone who was at the fair until the killer was actually named and arrested.

Speaking of Pippa, she's labeled a "free spirit."  Every time I hear those words, I think of irresponsible, and I'm never disappointed.  'Free spirit' means 'doesn't want to hold a steady job and is somewhat of a flake.'  I'm not fond of free spirits.   Anyway...

I gave up and skipped to the end and it didn't make any sense.  In the beginning Rachael states she pays her employees a living wage, but in the end her only employee is Pippa - and she just hired her.  So who are these imaginary employees to whom she was paying a living wage?  (However, to be fair, it may have been somewhere in the middle; but this book was so bad I couldn't make it past chapter two, and even that was too far.)

The author obviously has no idea what goes into a murder case except for the fact that there needs to be a dead body.  She has no idea how to structure the story so it's believable.  Details are important, and there aren't any here.  I don't even know what state this takes place in, or any anything about the characters that define them (except for the fact that Pippa has red hair).  Sorry, but I will never read this author again.

https://www.amazon.com/Pie-Die-Bakery-Detectives-Mystery/dp/1530717604/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2949739837

More on Stacey Alabaster's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/stacey-alabaster/

1 comment:

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