Strangled Eggs and Ham (A Country Store Mystery #6)

Author:  Maddie Day
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496711250
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$7.99; $5.99 Amazon
June 25, 2019

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While Robbie scrambles through breakfast orders for her expanding clientele at Pans 'N Pancakes, tempers run as high as the sticky August heat in South Lick, Indiana.  Real-estate developer Fiona Closs plans to build a towering luxury resort at one of the most scenic hilltops in Brown County, and not everyone can see the sunny side of the imposing proposition -- including Robbie's furious Aunt Adele, who doesn't waste a minute concocting protests and road blockades.  When tensions boil over and a vocal protester is silenced forever at the resort site, Robbie ditches the griddle to catch the killer.  But if slashed tires are any indication, she'll need to crack this case before her own aunt gets served something deadly next...

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Roberta "Robbie" Jordan owns Pans 'N Pancakes, a restaurant serving breakfast and lunch, in South Lick, Indiana.  She's had it for a little over a year, and is happy with the way her business is growing.  Right now her new bed and breakfast has only three guests - a married couple and Gregory DeGraaf, an attorney who's on vacation.

When Gregory hears about a developer in town who wants to plan a new resort that will change everything from traffic and noise, he wants to help the group who's protesting, which includes Robbie's aunt, Adele.  But when Robbie's friend Lou, who's been getting close to Gregory, finds his body - and he's been murdered - now the police are looking to find a killer, and one who might not yet be done...

This is the sixth book in the series, and I have read them all.  Unfortunately, I also believe that it's the weakest.  While I still enjoy Robbie and the rest of the characters, it's almost as if the author decided that because she couldn't find a decent "role" for characters to play, she'd find ways to keep them out of the picture.  For example, Robbie's boyfriend Abe is MIA in this book, being out of town for a conference.  He works on telephone wires.  What kind of conference would take him out of town for a week?  (No offense to people who are linemen; without them we wouldn't have phones, etc.; and it can be dangerous at times).  I also found it odd that a woman in her thirties has never heard the term "cherry picker" before nor knew what it was.

Then, it bothered me that some things were never explained, which I will put in a spoiler below so as not to ruin the book for those who haven't read it yet:

What happened with the police finding about Wayne's affair? Did he have an affair with Gregory's ex-wife? It was mentioned, but that's as far as it went. Then, why was Gregory killed? Just because he was representing the group didn't seem reason enough to murder him, and they weren't doing anything illegal by wanting to build a resort, so why murder the man? Why try to kill Adele? Were they going to murder every protester even though they'd already been turned down? Wouldn't it have made more sense to go after the people who actually DID turn them down instead?

I also didn't understand why Mike was so angry with Robbie.  Robbie had nothing to do with the protests against the resort, and she had no influence with anyone.  Maybe if Mike were angry with Barb I could understand it, but anger-by-proxy because Adele is her aunt?  Seriously?

In the end, I already knew who the killer was, but I still felt a bit disappointed in this book compared to the others.  Hopefully in the next book things will get back to their groove.

https://www.amazon.com/Strangled-Eggs-Country-Store-Mystery/dp/1496711254/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3314015839

More on Maddie Day's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/maddie-day/