Author: Lena Gregory
Genre: Mystery
Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781960511584
Beyond the Page Publishing
188 Pages
$14.99; $5.99 Amazon
March 19, 2024
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Never one to let a day off work go to waste, cafe owner Gia Morelli and a friend head out for a blissful kayaking trip through the local national forest. But the peacefulness of the day is soon shattered when they come across Cole, her head cook, standing over a dead body. Worse still, the victim was a lifelong enemy of Cole's, and clues found on the body point to the cook as the culprit. When the police take Cole in and subject him to an intense grilling, Gia vows to do everything she can to prove his innocence.
As even more incriminating evidence surfaces -- including when the murder weapon itself is found hidden at the cafe -- Gia knows she's up against someone brutal enough to kill and devious enough to frame Cole for the deed. With the police ready to make an official arrest and wrap up what they consider an open-and-shut case, Gia turns for help to an old friend who's not above breaking the law himself. Because ifs he can't find the killer, Cole may go from serving up hot dishes to serving a life sentence...
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Gia Morelli is working the day at her cafe when her friend and waitress Savannah tells her that a man wants to see her. When she goes to the front, he complains about how bad the meal was. No matter what she offers, he continues his rant, and when her cook Cole comes to the front, he makes derogatory remarks to him about his cooking, and leaves. Gia later finds that the man, Rusty, is an old enemy of Cole's and Rusty's never happier than when ruining businesses so he can open the same ones in the same area.
When Gia discovers that Rusty wants to open a cafe down the street, she's dismayed. But later, while kayaking with her friend Trevor, they see Cole and his friend Cybill on the shore and Cybill looks distressed. When they reach her, they find that Cole found Rusty's body -- and now Cole is the main suspect in his murder. Determined to prove Cole innocent, she and Savannah set out to find clues they can give to Gia's fiancé, a homicide detective and Savannah's cousin. But doing this might be harder than they think, since the widow isn't talking, and neither is anyone else -- for now.
Sifting through clues as they can, Gia enlists help from a computer hacker, and what she discovers only makes things more tangled. Will she be able to untwist the lies long enough to find a killer? Or will she finally meet her end?
This is the seventh book in the series and just as good as all the others. Ms. Gregory is a talented writer who is able to pull you into the story and experience life with the characters. While never having been to Florida (not sure if I want to, either, after all the critters show up), I still get an idea of the area and how Gia's life is progressing; she's happy in her new life -- until murder slows her down.
When she finally starts putting things together, she's sure she has the end result locating a killer, until an unexpected situation arises that puts her back at square one. While I knew the killer before Gia did, this did not diminish my enjoyment of the story at all. I loved how it played out, and in the end, we get an epilogue that gives us something to look forward to in the next book. Recommended.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Lena Gregory's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/lena-gregory/
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