A Deputy Donut Mystery Book 9
Author: Ginger Bolton
Genre: Mystery
Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496749611
Kensington Cozies
304 Pages
$17.95; $9.99 Amazon
November 26, 2024
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As the weather cools down, business heats up at Deputy Donut Cafe for owner Emily Westhill. But is a stubborn tabby cat, a mysterious new employee, and a murder case with a baker's dozen worth of suspects too much to manage?
With mouthwatering treats selling fast in October, Emily is delighted to welcome her assistant's younger sister, Hannah, to help at the donut shop while taking a semester off from college. But Hannah's talent for dishing powdered pastries without dropping a crumb attracts some unusual customers, as two admirers with opposite personalities begin to show up during her shifts -- much to her older sister's disappointment...
Real trouble comes after hours in the dark forest surrounding Emily's lakeside house. Emily follows a trail of her freshly-made beignets -- just like those purchased by the two admirers -- to a dead body. And while the victim may have burned a few bridges, there's no way to sugarcoat the discovery of Hannah's hairclip at the crime scene. Now. as suspicions fall on her own employee and unsavory rumors swirl around town, it will take far more than a sprinkle of good luck for Emily to learn the truth and expose a killer with a very deadly craving...
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Emily Fyne, newly married to Detective Brent Fyne, owns Deputy Donut Cafe with her late husband's father, Tom Westhill. They've got a new special of beignets, and everyone who tastes them loves them; so, they sell out fast. Her employee Hannah is taking a break from school to work there with her older sister Olivia, so all seems well.
But one day two young men enter the cafe with a tiny dog, and no one seems to know who she belongs to -- at least until another shop owner is heard calling for her. But there's been chaos already, with Emily's cat Dep taking umbrage at the dog's presence, and letting everyone know it by escaping himself. Once Dep is corralled and everything goes back to normal, Emily learns the two men -- Zachary and Joshua -- are known to Hannah, and both seem to be interested in her.
This doesn't sit well with Olivia, who likes Zachary, but isn't happy that Hannah seems to favor the unknown (up until now) Joshua. Then there's another altercation at the cafe between two men and a woman, and another man who enters trying to sell 'deals' to the customers. Once Emily has the cafe back to order, she wonders if it can get any worse.
It does, when she discovers a dead body on a trail not too far from her lakeside home -- along with one of Hannah's hairclips. Once she discovers the identity of the man, she wonders if Hannah or her friends had anything to do with it; even putting this idea out of her head doesn't do much good, as she finds out there are plenty of other suspects who wanted the person dead. Now she's on the trail of a killer, and hopes she can find them before someone else is slain...
This is the ninth book in the series, and I have read them all. I love the story lines, and the characters, and especially little Dep, who has his own say in the murders and solving them. A pretty smart cat (but then, I favor cats and know that most of them are!). Emily is trying to prove Hannah innocent, but her detective husband Brent has to look at the evidence, and the hairclip could point to her involvement. It rankles Emily, but she knows that it does look incriminating. But Olivia didn't want Hannah to hike that trail -- for good reason -- so why was she there when she is claiming she wasn't?
Now Emily is looking to find out who had the best reason for the person's demise, and she does find clues along the way, which she passes on to Brent, just as she should. It makes their life together flow easily, and you can see that they love and respect each other, which is the main thing marriage should do for people. It's realistic, and I like it.
There are clues throughout, but they aren't easy to find. I didn't know the murderer until Emily did, and that's a very good thing, as I read a lot of mysteries and far too often, I discover the killer the minute they step on the page. In this one, she hid the person well, which gave an element of surprise that I truly enjoyed.
In the end, the reasons for the murder were no more than it should be, as the mind of a killer is always hard to decipher, nor would I want to. What I want is what this mystery gives us: secrets, lies, intrigues, and a lot of action. Kudos to Ms. Bolton. I look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended.
I received an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Ginger Bolton's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/ginger-bolton/
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