Quiche of Death (A Sugar and Spice Mystery Book 3)

Author:  Mary Lee Ashford
Genre:   Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781516105090
Lyrical Underground

154 Pages
$15.95; $7.19 Amazon
July 21, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

At Sugar & Spice Community Cookbooks, the friends and business partners have secured a tasty new commission:  producing a cookbook for the Abbott family.  The Abbots have made their fortune in quiches, and Sugar and Spice have been invited to a weekend gathering where all the siblings, along with crusty matriarch Marta, will be in attendance.  But it's soon clear that this trip will come with a hefty slice of drama.

Theo, the only grandson, arrives with his flaky fiancée, Collette, who quickly stirs up trouble...and is found dead the next day.  As the investigation unfolds, secrets -- and recipes -- are shared, and Sugar and Spice realize just how messy and murderous the situation may be.  As another family member falls ill, can they solve the case without getting egg on their faces...and a target on their backs?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Sugar Calloway lost her job, she and her friend Dixie Spicer opened their own business.  Sugar was once an editor for a large magazine, and Dixie is a baker, and they've found their niche creating cookbooks for people.  They've been asked to spend the weekend at a B&B owned by one of the Abbott family, and to create a cookbook for everyone in the group.  The Abbotts started with a recipe for a delicious quiche, and have continued with other recipes to create a fortune in frozen foods.  But Sugar and Dixie just don't know what they've walked into...

When the family gathers for an informal dinner, the only grandson, Theo, shows up with his fiancée Collette and her small French poodle, who causes havoc at the dinner table.  It's apparent that the matriarch of the family adores Theo, so nothing is said.  But the next morning while out for a walk, Sugar stumbles across the body of Collette, who's been killed with an arrow.  Now she's up to her ears in suspects, and finding a killer isn't going to be easy, especially when you're trying to cook a murderer...

This is the third book in the series, and I have not read the first two, so I was a little leery of what to expect.  I did like the blurb, though, so I thought I would continue.  While the book starts out a little slow, it soon gathers momentum and draws you into the story.  There is a bit of background on the two main characters, but as I said, this is the third, so it's not gone into detail; yet there's enough where you don't feel left behind in what is going on with them.

The women have created their business by deciding to put cookbooks together for others using recipes, photos, and stories -- which is a different background from other cozies, so that was a plus for me.  When the story gets rolling, we discover that this family makes other dysfunctional families look normal.  There are family dynamics behind the scenes that Sugar catches onto quickly, and she and Dixie can't wait to leave the premises.  But when something unexpected happens, it makes Sugar determined to figure out what's really going on.

I liked the way the tale was written, and even though it's not even close to suspenseful nor a thriller, I have to say that I honestly didn't figure out the murderer until Sugar did, which is a very nice thing.  The ending was a true surprise all around; and I enjoyed the story so much that after finishing it I went and bought the first two and plan to read them soon -- and hope to see that the next in the series will be coming forth soon.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Quiche-Death-Sugar-Spice-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0855Q9JFW/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3450862723

More on Mary Lee Ashford's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/mary-lee-ashford/

Antiques Swap (A Trash 'n Treasures Mystery #9)

Author:  Barbara Allan
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; also in Paperback and ebook
ISBN #: 9780758293046
Kensington
256 Pages
$18.63 Amazon; $7.99 Paperback
April 28, 2015

Five Stars

It happened at Serenity's swap meet, right after Brandy Borne and her ever-more eccentric mother Vivian finished shooting the pilot for their very own TV show, Antiques Sleuths.  Brandy just, well, lost her balance and fell...into the helpful arms of an old flame, local tycoon Wesley Sinclair III.  But did Brandy's innocent slip lead to the murder of Wesley's wife, Vanessa?

Sure, Vanessa was furious that she caught Brandy in Wesley's embrace.  And she did storm off threatening dire consequences for her humbled husband.  So when Vanessa turns ups very dead, the local tongue-wag is that Wesley may have permanently dethroned the queen of his castle.  But Brandy--along with her notoriously nosy mother and their sleuthing shih tzu Sushi--is determined to dig for the whole truth.

Each new clue points in a different direction.  What about this suspicious Club of Eight, a super-secret high-society bridge group that supposedly has very liberal rules about "partners"?  When a key witness joins the dead list, Brandy and Vivian know they've got to crack this case before the remorseless killer puts an end to their antiquing days--forever!

********

On a nice summer day Brandy Borne and her mother Vivian are attending a local swap meet, wrapping up the final taping of their proposed television pilot for Antiques Sleuths.  With Vivian off on a jaunt, Brandy indulges in a local treat under the shade of a tree, and is soon joined by an old boyfriend, Wesley Sinclair III.  After eating, they both stand, and Brandy takes a misstep, falling into Wesley.  However, it is just at this moment that Mrs. Sinclair, Vanessa, spies them and creates a scene, accusing Brandy and Wesley of having a tryst.  While Wes tells her not to worry about it and he will sort it out, Brandy still feels bad that she caused trouble.  

But the next day Brandy is confused when Vanessa calls her to apologize - and ask her to come over because Wes has a beer sign collection he wants to get rid of and thinks Brandy and her mother could buy them for their shop.  So Brandy dutifully complies; leaves shortly after with a promise to return after checking the value online (in order to make a qualified offer), and returns with Vivian in tow - only to find Vanessa dead.  

When Wes denies to the police that he wanted to sell his sign collection, it appears Brandy is the logical suspect, having been seen arguing with Vanessa.  But Brandy is cleared shortly after, and the next logical suspect is Wes himself.  Yet Brandy isn't sure Wes murdered his wife, and Vivian, of course, wants to find out the truth, even as Brandy has promised her boyfriend, Tony, a local cop, that she will stay out of the investigation.

But when Vivian is attacked, Brandy makes it her personal mission to find out the truth.  A truth that will bring her to see that there is more than meets the eye, that Wes and Vanessa were involved in a bridge club that may not have the members playing bridge at all:  that all eight members have a lot to hide and a lot to lose if the truth comes out.

Ms. Allen never disappoints, and this newest is no different.  This latest entry in the Trash 'n Treasures mysteries is done very well indeed.  Brandy is her usual voice of reason, and Vivian is her usual over-the-top drama queen (but I think Vivian may be getting a tad forgetful - it was Bugs Bunny, not Daffy Duck, who said "He don't know me very well, do he?") who definitely needs not a caregiver, but a keeper.  

And when the answer does finally come, it comes from an unlikely source, which allows Brandy and Vivian to put the pieces together so the puzzle can be complete.  Although I had my suspicions all along, the way each piece is connected to the other makes perfect sense in the end.  What pleases me most is that although this is a book series, you do not have to read the previous one; it can be read as a stand-alone (although it is such fun to read that you might want to pick up any previous ones you've missed).  Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Antiques-Swap-Trash-Treasures-Mystery/dp/0758293046/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1321090019

Antiques Chop

Author:  Barbara Allan
Genre:   Mystery

Three Stars

 

Brandy Borne and her dramatically ditzy mother, Vivian, are stars of the new reality show, Antiques Sleuths.  The season opens in a perfect location - a quaint old house echoing with the unsolved whispers of a 60-year-old axe murder.  But when the show's producer meets a similarly grisly end, Brandy and Mother must chop around for clues, axe the right questions, and get the edge on a murderer's mysterious motives.  Otherwise our sharp-witted sleuths may face cancellation-on the cutting room floor!

 

********

 

Okay, I know I've said this before, but does any author ever read the blurb on the back of the book?  Brandy and her mother do not have a new reality show; they are asked to start one, but before it can even get off the ground, the producer is indeed murdered, so there's no question of cancellation at all.  That being said, I will add the book is well-written, and the plot is nicely knitted together, in the fact that I wasn't sure who the killer was until the very end.  This is what you definitely want in a mystery.  I felt that there were really no clues to point to the killer until about then anyway.

 

Brandy and her mother are approached with the idea of a reality show based on their past experiences with solving murders.  The producer decides the best place to host the show would be an old murder house in town, which they can turn into an antiques shop and use while the show is not filming.  It sounds ideal to Vivian, and Brandy, as usual, just goes along with it.  When the producer is murdered practically the next day and a friend of theirs is accused of doing it, Brandy and Vivian feel the only way to clear him is to find the killer themselves.

 

It was Brandy's son Jake who found the body, dismembered; and what I don't get, is the fact that he's like 'it's no big deal,' through the rest of the book.  He's not traumatized; he has no bad dreams; he acts like it's an every day occurrence to see this and just goes on with his day-to-day life.  I know kids are resilient, but really?  Not even one teeny tiny nightmare?  Nothing?  Just go on a picnic and go hiking?

 

I didn't like the fact that the book read like you were watching a documentary: Brandy, her mother, and her son Jake are all narrating as if we're sitting in a room with them and they're telling their story to a police detective or something.  (Right along with notes from their editor).  Some people might enjoy that, but I don't.  I also wasn't too pleased with the ending.  Brandy's choice in men sucks, and she needs to get a dating service or something.  I don't like Brian at all, he doesn't really even seem to like Brandy all that much. 

 

But in the end, if you enjoy this series, you'll probably read this and the next book.  I myself just don't really care for the style in which it is written, nor the ending,  and that is why I felt I could only give it three stars.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Antiques-Chop-Trash-Treasures-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00IV1JYCU/