Author: Chelsea Thomas
Genre: Mystery
Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9798395909923
Independently Published
218 Pages
$12.99; $5.99 Amazon
June 3, 2023
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
...was murder.
This time the dead body turns up at Pine Grove's new coffee shop. The adorable coffee shop, housed in an old train car, was eagerly anticipated by everyone in town. But the dead guy has tons of enemies, so there are plenty of suspects.
And Chelsea is one of them.
Chelsea's aunt Miss May is ready to help solve the mystery, just like she always is. And their bottle-blonde bestie, Tenny, never backs down from an adventure. But the local chief of police is determined to lock Chelsea up, and the killer sems determined to strike again.
Will Chelsea and the ladies solve the mystery in time? Or will Chelsea end up in jail...or worse?
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Chelsea thinks her old truck has finally died. So, she heads to the only car dealership in town, Adams Automotive. But when the owner, Scott Adams, is rude to her and she also observes him being rude to one of his employees, she and her aunt Miss May leave. When they are having coffee at a new local shop, Scott Adams is there also, and after a nasty conversation with the owner, he retires to a back booth. But not for long... he keels over from what appears to be a heart attack. But the ladies -- along with their best friend Teeny -- think he's been murdered, and want to investigate.
Which is exactly what the police don't want them to do. Especially Detective Wayne Hudson, Chelsea's fiancé, who wants to plan their wedding instead. Apparently, someone else doesn't want them to investigate either, when they receive a telephone call that is supposedly from a hospital doctor telling them the death was natural, as Scott had hereditary heart disease. But did he? And was the call legitimate? Of course, the only way they will know is if they investigate, right?...
To make matters worse, Chelsea's ex-fiancé Mike has moved to town with his new girlfriend Priscilla, and the last thing Chelsea wants is to see the dirtbag who left her at the altar. But she knows she can't avoid him forever, but she can try.
When the ladies start looking for people who might have had it in for Scott, they find there are plenty of suspects. But no one wants to seem to talk about him, not even his ex-wife. With little to go on, they keep plugging away, garnering what information they can from those who knew him. And when they get closer to the killer, they just might be too late...
I love this series and every time a new book comes out, I know that I must read it. I love all the characters (well, almost all; Sunny is not my favorite person -- or Chelsea's, if it comes to that). At any rate, I love the small town of Pine Grove, New York, where people live quiet lives (albeit with a side of murder now and then) and seem happy to do so. It would be delightful to visit the orchard, and pick out your own Christmas tree.
Chelsea and Miss May are not slouches in the amateur detective department, either. Teeny has more enthusiasm than actual logic, but she's fun to listen to. Between Chelsea and Miss May, they always come up with the right solution, even if it does take time to get there. But without time, what would we have to read? The plot is excellent, as always, and Chelsea is finally coming into her own, with no stuttering and actually being able to think fast when needed. She's a complicated woman, but aren't we all?
In the end, when the murderer is discovered, I figured it out a tad bit before Chelsea (but then again, I always say I read a lot of mysteries on top of watching true crime shows on TV), yet the climax is definitely worth it all, and I even read it twice. This is one of the best in the series, and highly recommended.
I received an advance copy of this book from the author and BookSprout, but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Chelsea Thomas's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/chelsea-thomas/
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