Sunday, October 31, 2021

Death and Sweets (A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery Book 4)

Author:    Kathleen Suzette
Genre:     Mystery

Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:    9781719854085
Independently Published
136 Pages
$7.99; $2.99 Amazon
August 22, 2018

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Sweets can be deadly and when local bakery owner Stella Moretti becomes the next victim in Pumpkin Hollow, Mia Jordan is on the case.  Can she and her boyfriend, Officer Ethan Banks, find the killer before there's another victim?  Sweets can be deadly all right, but that's the way the cookie crumbles...

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Mia Jordan moved back home after ten years away and not being able to decide what to do with herself.  Now she's settled back into Pumpkin Hollow again, living on her own and working in her family's candy store.  She also has a new boyfriend in the form of Officer Ethan Banks, whom wasn't very nice to her in school but has turned out to be very nice indeed...

Once morning while passing Stella Moretti's bakery, she finds the door ajar and the lights off.  Calling for Stella, she finds her dead with a bullet wound to the chest.  Yes, the woman was cantankerous to everyone and hated Halloween, but she didn't deserve to die.  Now Mia and Ethan are back looking for a killer, and Mia doesn't want to believe it might be anyone she knows, but she also knows finding out could get her killed...

This is the fourth book in the series and I have been reading them because it's the Halloween season and I like to 'read the season.'  While I have enjoyed the books thus far, I am beginning to dislike Mia.  She seems to have a 'holier than thou' attitude to others.  I do agree that you shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but it's not her place to correct anyone who does.  It is not her place to make others feel guilty for having the feelings they do.  Maybe people should correct her for her attitude a few times and it will change.  Just sayin'

Anyway, the other thing that bothers me is the fact she mentions how Boo is her cat, but she allows him to live outside?  What kind of cat caretaker is she?  Cats that live outside have a shorter life span and catch more diseases.  Cats are easy to care for, and being inside they are happier, given enough toys and places to scratch and climb.  I've been a pet owner (cats, dogs, fish, turtles, birds, etc. -- you name it, I've probably owned it) all my life, and all my cats have been indoor cats and lived to ripe old ages.  This always bothers me in books, but I won't ding the author for it; that would be unfair.  This one is just my opinion.

Anyway, while Mia is looking for suspects, the victim's husband Vince is at the top of the list, since he doesn't seem to be mourning his wife very much; but there are others, including Stella's sister Daisy, who wasn't happy about Stella purchasing the bakery and then not participating in the Halloween season.  But did either of them have a reason strong enough to kill Stella?  Mia doesn't know, and neither does Ethan.  But both of them are pursuing the matter...as well as pursuing their new relationship with each other, which is moving along nicely.

When we come to the end of the book and discover the murderer, the clues were all there all along, but you need to look for them and read the words.  While I didn't think it was a strong enough reason for murder, who knows what goes on in the mind of a killer?  Still, this was a quick read and I will probably continue with the series.



More on Kathleen Suzette's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/kathleen-suzette/

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