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.
Fudge and Marriage
A Candy-Coated Mystery #13
Nancy Coco
Kensington Cozies
Welcome to Mackinac Island, Michigan, the summer playground for tourists who appreciate great fudge, like the kind that Allie McMurphy makes by hand. This is the perfect venue for a wedding, and it looks like most of the islanders have been invited to witness Allie and Officer Rex Manning tie the knot. If only it could be so simple, but this is a cozy mystery so of course there is going to be an unexpected death, but I was not expecting the family drama. A crazy amount of wedding drama…nope not a bridezilla, but there is a heck of a momzilla, and the rest of the bride’s maternal family is not any better. If their noses go any higher in the air, they are going to walk into something. It is hard to believe that Allie is from a blue-blood family because she is so down to earth. I have read most of the books in the series and I did not realize that she could have been a trust fund baby, but instead she followed her dreams and stayed true to herself.
All of the books are standalone mysteries, but it has been interesting and entertaining to watch Allie and the rest of the crew as the characters have developed and “grown”, especially Allie and Rex. Rex has learned that Allie is going to find bodies and that she is going to get involved, it isn’t an if it is always a when. In this case Allie starts sleuthing to keep Carol and Irma, two very sweet mature friends from the local “book club” aka the ladies who help Allie solve murders, from getting involved in the hunt for their friend Velma’s murderer. On the plus side, it does give Allie something to keep her mind off of the chaos that her mother is creating by adding to an already well-planned event. Allie’s BFF Jen, who is a professional event planner has everything well in hand. I am not sure if I was more enthralled by the mystery, clue gathering and suspect questioning or by the crazy family drama. One humorous aspect to the drama is that Allie’s Aunt Ginny is well aware of her niece's past adventures and she wants to be in on the sleuthing and is almost egging her on. Aunt Ginny was a great character for helping to add brevity in the midst of the drama. Oh, and Rex has some family drama of his own as well.
So many great parts to this cozy and they all work together like cogs in a machine to keep the story going with plenty of clues and red herrings and a very exciting ending. The characters are so well written that you adore the sweet ones and scowl when reading about the contrary ones, Ms. Coco does an excellent job of making the characters real and relatable. She also does a great job of including delicious recipes. I usually make one of her fudge recipes but this time I tried the Caramel No-bake Cookies which were easy to make and tasty to eat. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, Some Like It Fudgy.
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