Gingerbread Danger : An Amish Candy Shop Mystery by Amanda Flowers

Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The recipe review and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing. 

Gingerbread Danger
An Amish Candy Mystery
Amanda Flowers
Kensington

After reading this one I am never going to look at the board game Candyland quite the same again. Margo Rawlings has come up with yet another amazing idea for increasing tourism in the town of Harvest. Bailey King has a successful candy factory business that works hand in hand with the family Amish sweets shop. It is a busy time for Bailey between the grand-opening, wedding plans with Sheriff Aiden, parents coming from out of town, and Amish targeted burglaries. What appeared to be an unfortunate work related accident turns out to be more nefarious.

Bailey has come a long way since book one when she moved to Harvest from New York, stepped up to help with her Amish grandparents’ sweet shop, was willing to turn her back on a New York uptown chocolatier position, and found herself getting involved in multiple murder mysteries. Bailey’s family ties, with one foot in the Amish community and one in the “English” aka non-Amish make it easier for her to get answers to questions as the Amish feel more comfortable talking to her than with the police. As with the last eight in the series, Bailey cannot not get involved and thankfully her fiancé Aiden is well aware and just requests that she be careful. Believe it or not, suspects are few because the Amish are not known for violence and Zeph seemed like an unassuming young man who was still trying to figure out his place in world and the Amish community. Zeph's sister Lida has no idea who or why, but there are rumblings in the community about nefarious deeds and past problems. You find yourself drawn into the investigation with Bailey as she tries to figure out who had it in for Zeph and why does everyone want to blame Bailey for his "fall" off of the roof. 

On top of all the work needed to keep the Candyland event stocked and the usual holiday shoppers, Bailey welcomes her parents for a visit to town but starts to dread the visit when her mom hires Hampton the wedding planner, an especially odd man who seems way to invested. How is Bailey going to keep things sweet while sifting through clues that are leaving her sour. Baily has a quick mind and good heart. Thank goodness for the hijinks of Jethro the pig to keep it light hearted. Just imagine a pig coated in taffy, too bad it wasn't fudge, something much easier to clean up. Speaking of fudge, there is a wonderfully easy recipe for gingerbread fudge found at the conclusion of the mystery.       

 

You Feta Watch Out : Grilled Cheese Mysteries by Linda Reilly

Thank you to the authors, publishers, and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The recipe review and food pairing found on my Instagram feed are of my own doing.

You Feta Watch Out
Grilled Cheese Mystery
Linda Reilly
Beyond the Page Publishing
 

Book five of the Grilled Cheese Mystery series takes place at Christmas time and the Flinthead Opera House is hosting a production of Dickins’ ”A Christmas Carol.” The actor, Prescott Lennon, who was playing Marley is more of a Scrooge than Scrooge making it no surprise when he doesn’t make it to opening night. No one is really sure why Hannah Collier, the director, gave him the part since he wasn’t that good as an actor and he was a menace as a person.

There are plenty of suspects to choose from, starting with the widow, Honey, who was referred to as Honey Lemon by various cast members because of her sour personality. The understudy, Malachy Foster, has so much more talent than Lennon and he has big time acting aspirations. The makeup girl, Ashley Blanchard, may have been hit on by Lennon or just treated very poorly, and Jess aka Mrs. Fezziwig was definitely deflecting unwanted and outrageous overtures from Lennon. Lennon was a bit of a leach and a lot of a hack.  

Carly doesn’t take sleuthing lightly and is bound and determined to find out the facts but sometimes she oversteps or asks questions of the wrong people which can have negative results. It is refreshing to see a character who stops for a moment to think about what asking those pesky personal questions might mean for the person being asked.

In addition to suspects and holiday splendor, there are some amazing sandwiches that pair well with tomato soup. While I can’t imagine what a Fruitcake Brie cheese sandwich aka Scrooge’s Redemption would taste like, I enjoy making and trying Grant’s Festive Feta Appetizers.