Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780593100448
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
May 5, 2020
⭐⭐⭐
When Chef Charlie Cooke is offered the chance to leave San Francisco and return home to Elkview, Alaska, to take over her mother's diner, she doesn't even consider saying no. After all -- her love life has recently become a Love Life Crumble, and a chance to reconnect with her roots may be just what she needs.
Determined to bring fresh life and flavors to the Bear Claw Diner, Charlie starts planning changes to the menu, which has grown stale over the years. But her plans are fried when her head cook Oliver turns up dead after a bitter and public fight over Charlie's ideas -- leaving Charlie as the only suspect in the case.
With her career, her freedom, and life are all on thin ice, Charlie must find out who the real killer is, before it's too late.
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Charlotte "Charlie" Cooke runs her parents' diner, the Bear Claw, in Elkview, Alaska. She's been there since her relationship broke up in San Francisco, but she's determined to make a new life for herself and has been doing so; even going to far as to inheriting Eggs Benedict "Benny" the cat while her parents travel. Unfortunately, every time she tries to make a change to the menu, as she has today - her chef Oliver leaves in a huff and it takes awhile for him to return.
But he hasn't returned today, and no one - not even his girlfriend - knows where he is. It isn't until Alaska State Trooper Cody Graham, known to everyone as merely "Trooper" tells her that Oliver has been found - dead. But with the smallest police force around - consisting of Trooper, one deputy and a receptionist - he "deputizes" Charlie and reporter Chris Doucette to help in the investigation, as long as they don't do anything dangerous and only ask questions.
But for some reason, Oliver's sister isn't saying much, except for a bombshell about him that no one expected, which only raises more questions. Now Charlie needs to stay on her toes and watch her back unless she wants to wind up in a casket next to Oliver...
This is the first book in a new series and as such it carries promise. I thought it was written well and I enjoyed the plot, but I didn't rate it five stars because there were a few things that bothered me, which I will add in a spoiler below so as not to ruin the book for others:
Aside from these things, which might not even bother others (but I am a great stickler for details) I did enjoy the book. The dialogue was witty and entertaining, with a bit of flirting going on between Charlie and Chris. I did know who the murderer was from the moment that person stepped onto the page, but it wasn't difficult to figure out. It did take until the end to discover the motive for killing Oliver, but while it might have been understandable, it didn't seem really strong. I also would have liked to have known Oliver a bit before he died -- he was just words on a page, so I couldn't get invested enough to really care anything about him.
In the end, I felt this was a good beginning to a new series, and I always give a pass to a new series because it takes time for true character development. I will gladly read the next in the series, as the book shows promise.
https://www.amazon.com/Mousse-Murder-Alaskan-Diner-Mystery/dp/0593100441/ref
More on Elizabeth Logan's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/elizabeth-logan/
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