Debra SennefelderRezensionen

Thirty-something Hope Early is in crisis after a messy divorce & an embarrassing reality show appearance derailed her career. She returns to her picturesque New England hometown of Jefferson seeking refuge from her dysfunctional life and romance in the big city. In pursuit of a new life as a professional blogger & Internet influencer, Hope renovates a quaint, old farmhouse into a charming blogging laboratory and residence in which she lives with her all-too-adorable pets—Bigelow, Princess, & Poppy—while pursuing a romance with her former high school crush & current police chief Ethan. With her best friend Drew and her ragamuffin entourage of sister, studly boyfriend, and assorted townfolk, Hope decides she must solve the murder of the neighborhood’s crazy old harridan because the local police suspect Hope of being the murderer and—quite frankly—they’re too lazy and incompetent to figure it out for themselves.

So, once again we have a dimwitted amateur sleuth dating the local lawman…does the Mystery Writers’ Union actually make that mandatory now? That is just soooo trite!

Ethan really is a creep, but Hope is too stupid to figure it out. He uses her for free childcare, free meals, and free booty calls while his beloved ex-wife is off at rehab. All the while, Ethan can’t even be bothered to remember Hope’s name; I swear, if he had referred to her as ‘babe’ one more time, I would have thrown this stupid book through the window.

Hope really is an unbelievable piece of work.
When the town’s weird curmudgeon, Birdie, decides to start a petition to force Hope out of her newly renovated home, Hope loses her mind and her temper. But, why? No neighborhood petition is ever going to be able to force a resident out of a lawfully owned home; that’s just ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that Birdie has made enemies out of just about everyone in the community and has virtually no friends or allies. Hope knows that no one—No. One.—is signing Birdie’s bogus petition. So why does Hope flip out and make a colossal production out of absolutely nothing? Any rational person would just laugh at the ravings of the town’s eccentric loon and move on with life. That whole episode made Hope come across as slightly unhinged and more than a little dumb...

Which probably explains why she doesn’t hesitate to fling unfounded accusations all over town. Hope is incensed at being wrongfully accused of murder by the local constabulary, yet she herself goes around randomly accusing her friends and neighbors of committing the crime—then she wonders why they hold it against her? Ummm, that’s nothing short of stupid. And, at this point, I don’t even know how Hope would expect to live in Jefferson after all of her atrocious behavior.

But let’s not give Hope any credit for having the least bit of intelligence. Even when the actual murderer brazenly kidnaps her and holds her hostage, it STILL takes Hope a little while to figure out the identity of the killer. Unbelievable.

This series gets such glowing reviews, I really expected it to be semi-decent. But all I got was a cookie-cutter formula with a brainless sleuth who is so helpless she probably has trouble figuring out how to tie her own shoes.

amateur-sleuth, blogger, cozy-mystery, culinary, recipes, family-dynamics, family, foodie, friendship, friends, small-business, small-town, local-law-enforcement, murder-investigation, relatives, relationship-issues, relationships, custody-issues, unpleasant-relative, frenemy, superstitions, curse, Halloween, pet-cat, pet-dog, Connecticut, reporter, lawyers*****

The majority of the characters are a contentious lot and seem to look backward instead of to the future. However. The mystery is a good one that's well written and engaging.
Hope left NYC and is renovating her farmhouse in a small town in Connecticut. She is a food blogger, teaching a class on blogging at the local women's shelter, and an amateur sleuth (despite the protests of her boyfriend, the local police chief). Her lawyer is an ex-cop and a good friend. And then there's her sister. The publisher's blurb is a good hook, no spoilers here.
I requested and received an EARC from Beyond the Page Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

Mallory Monroe loves to say, "Welcome to The Cookie Shop," as customers enter her shop in Wingate, Connecticut. Purchasing the store from Aunt Glenna, Mallory is excited to continue offering her aunt's recipes, as her aunt is the one who instilled her love of baking cookies. Mallory has not only redecorated the shop but is offering her twist on baking by creating cookie bouquets for all occasions. However, there are unplanned and unexpected twists for Mallory when a spontaneous decision to surprise her boyfriend goes awry. During a conversation with Dugan Porter, a reporter with the Connecticut Chronicle, food blogger Beatrice Wright arrives in the shop accusing Mallory of stealing a cookie recipe. Mallory can't listen calmly to the accusations, and that's another tilt of the axis with more challenges to come in Mallory's life.

Cookies are my favorite treat, so it was easy to daydream of visiting Mallory's shop. Mallory loves to read mysteries while relaxing at home after a busy day, which is my favorite genre, too, and I loved that Mallory named her gray and white cat Agatha.

Reading the opening story of a new cozy mystery series also brings the delights of the names of the various businesses. For this series, charming business names are Heavenly Roast Coffee Café, Curls N' Waves (hair salon), Rock, Pop, and Jazz (the shop where Mallory purchased old vinyl), and Just One More Chapter (the bookshop where Mallory buys her mysteries).

The mystery is well written with multiple themes, intensifying the interesting storyline and creating red herrings. I didn't guess the end of the investigation. I'm not sure why I didn't warm up to Mallory right from the start, but as the story continued, I wanted everything to turn in a positive direction for her.

Cookie recipes are included at the end of the novel.

I look forward to reading more of this new series!

Hope Early is finally getting her life in order. She has a successful food blog, sold e-cookbooks, and is finally getting a physical cookbook published. She's even moving forward with renovating her barn for a kitchen where she can film her show and practice recipes. Everything seems to be going smoothly, until her boyfriend Ethan changes their Halloween plans...

The plans she had with him and his two daughters, where they were going to go trick-or-treating. It appears that his ex-wife, now out of rehab, has decided she wants the girls for Halloween, so Hope really can't do much. But her best friend Drew comes to the rescue when he wants Hope to help give out candy at his ailing Aunt Issy's home, which is reputed to be haunted. Hope loves both Drew and Issy, so she's happy to do so.

When Hope is cleaning up the front yard after the evening is done, she's greeted with an unwelcome surprise: there's a dead body dressed like a witch sitting on the lawn. Definitely dead. And no one seems to know who the woman is; not Hope, Issy, Drew, or anyone in town. So who was this woman, and why was she here? All Hope knows is that the woman has been following her for a couple of days, but that's all the information she has.

Then Drew and Hope find old letters in a box that's been stuffed in the walls of the home that Drew is renovating. Reading them, they find that they're connected to Issy's late husband. Does Issy know the source of the letters? She's too ill to ask, so they decide to keep it quiet for a while. But doing so could compromise the investigation. And when Drew's family members might be implicated in the murder, he asks for Hope's help. Even when the police warn her to stay out of it, she knows she can't. But could it lead to her own murder as well?...

This is the sixth book in the series, and I was taken by how good it was. Although I felt that it had a slow start, once the body was found, things began to pick up the pace. It was more a mystery-within-a-mystery, and I absolutely love it when that happens. Solving two mysteries at once is wonderful for the brain. And this was definitely a good book for that to occur.

Hope knows she has to ruffle feathers to get to the truth, but she forges ahead anyway. Poor Drew has
his own problems to sort out, so he's not much help in this one, but her sister is along for the ride. It's an interesting tale to be told, and clues go from one end to the other, but nothing seems to be giving the truth of the matter. Confusion, misdirection, intrigue and too many secrets abound in this mystery, yet it all works together well.

When we come to the end of the story and the killer is revealed, it was a surprise to me; but then again, it was supposed to be. It's a delightful narrative that pulls you right from the murder and keeps you from putting down the book until the end. Highly recommended.

I was given an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

How the Murder Crumbles by Debra Sennefelder is a lighthearted cozy mystery. Mallory Monroe enjoys baking and decorating cookies. She has traded in the big city for a small town. Mallory has fond memories of summers spent in Wingate, especially the summer she received her first kiss. The cookie descriptions will have your mouth watering. There are recipes for a couple of them at the end including the controversial Almond Meltaways. The mystery has the unpleasant Beatrice Wright ending up dead and Mallory finding her body. Beatrice was a disagreeable woman who managed to annoy the majority of the town’s residents. This leads to a lengthy suspect list. It can be confusing trying to keep all the suspects straight. The guilty party can easily be identified and with the reason why long before the reveal. Mallory runs around town asking questions in a not-so-subtle manner. I thought someone who had worked in advertising would be a better schmoozer. Mallory manages to anger several people during her investigation (not good for a fledgling business). There are a couple of incidents along the way, but they do not deter Mallory. Personally, I kept hoping Mallory’s cantankerous employee, Claudia, would find herself in the killer’s crosshairs (there is always the next installment). The mystery is neatly wrapped up at the end. I had trouble getting into How the Murder Crumbles. The story is a slow starter. The pacing was choppy throughout the book. I also found there to be too much repetition of key details (the bakery, the cousin, details regarding the mystery). The majority of the characters are superficial and there are so many of them. There is some romance as well. Mallory breaks up with one fellow and soon has feelings for another. I thought it was a little quick. I liked Mallory’s cat, Agatha. Mallory’s best friend, Kip, is a friendly, upbeat individual as well as a good baker. He is a good friend and there for Mallory in her time of need. How the Murder Crumbles was just okay for me (as you can tell). How the Murder Crumbles is a cookie centric cozy with a mean Queen Bea, a cookie controversy, a lethal rolling pin, an unkind cousin, a two-timing suitor, a cuddly cat, an attractive detective, and a probing baker.

3.35 stars

Calling all cozy mystery fans (and some traditional mystery fans, too): Here is a series starter for your summer enjoyment. Read my full review here.

Publication is expected June 20.

#NetGalley #DreamscapeMedia #HowtheMurderCrumbles

Great start to a series! The main character was super fun. She knew she was doing borderline dangerous things, instead of being portrayed as the ingenue, and I always appreciate that. I really enjoyed the secondary characters, especially her new relationship with her exes girlfriend and am looking forward to reading the next in the series.

new-series, first-in-series, recipes, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, murder, small-business, small-town, bakery, baker, Connecticut, friendship, sisters, relatives, extortion,*****

Fine start to a new series. Mallory left her job in advertising to buy into the bakery her aunt used to run and loves it. The first nasty is finding her boyfriend in a liplock with another woman. Then the town diva accuses her of using a recipe that her aunt had stolen from her (as if!). Then she finds that woman's body and becomes a "person of interest". AND THEN...
Well, no spoilers here. Trust me, this is a fine read and a good set-up for a series of cozy mysteries.
I requested and received an EARC from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you! 01/28/2023
06/08/2023 I requested and received a free temporary audio copy from Dreamscape Media via NetGalley! Voice artist Ellen Quay has the kind of convincing delivery and enthusiasm to make a book even better!

Hope Early is a very busy person. Creating and cooking new recipes for her food blog, teaching a blogging class at the local library, and getting involved in yet another murder, she doesn’t have much time for herself.

Hope’s high school friend, Devon, is back in town, with her true-crime podcast, to investigate the disappearance of her mother twenty years prior. She plans to turn the town upside down and shake it until she gets her answers. When she turns up dead, it is up to Hope to find those answers. Someone in town has been keeping decades-old secrets and they don’t want them to come out.

This is another great mystery from this author. The clues add up bit by bit and lead in an interesting direction. She also does a fantastic job of letting the reader in on the nitty-gritty of blogging and social media presence. Those touches, along with mouth-watering descriptions of the various recipes and dishes Hope tries out on her friends and family make this a must read.

This is book four so there is a bit of history in the story and between the characters. I do think it reads well as a standalone, but it would be worth it to start at the beginning just to get the flair and of course the recipes, several of which are included at the end of the story.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this book! This is the first book I read by Debra Sennefelder. I definitely want to read more of her books.
The setting of a consignment shop was original and I love the part it played in the mystery. I also enjoyed the references to fashion, (and I am not a fashionista). I like her characters. I enjoyed reading their interactions. Kelly, the main character, has returned to her hometown. She has some relationship issues to work on, (for instance her sister and a high school friend), and they are well handled. I really liked the way the author wrote these, nothing rushed and not completely resolved. It felt realistic. I also like the way the love interest didn’t hijack the story. The mystery was the story as it is suppose to be. There is a psychic, who may or may not be the real thing, but, so far, no ghosts or things like that. That was refreshing and original, for me. The mystery was done well. It kept me interested as every time I had to put it down, I was eager to return to it. It was, for me, one of those books you get to the end and are forlorn, thinking, “now what?” I wanted to know the ending but was so sad because it was..the end. I’m looking forward to more books in this series.
I almost forgot! Thank you to Goodreads and the author for the opportunity to read this book. I won it in a Goodreads Giveaway. The opinions expressed in this review are mine and based upon what I read.

Beauty and the Deceased by Debra Sennefelder is a 2021 Kensington publication.

Kelly is thrilled when her cousin, Becky, comes to visit for the summer. Becky’s beauty business is on the verge of a big buyout worth a lot of money.

Before the deal can be sealed, though, Becky’s body is found on the beach. While Kelly has inserted herself into police investigations before, much to the chagrin of the local authorities, this time it’s personal, and she’s not going to back down until she discovers who the murderer is…

This fourth installment in the Resale Boutique series is a real puzzler! Kelly encounters several viable, potentially dangerous suspects along the way, while she also copes with her uncle and his connection to her best friend.

I have enjoyed this series from the beginning, but I thought this episode was especially well-done. The pacing is still very brisk, but the plot is very tight, and it was hard to decide on who the killer was. I was surprised, to be honest. Kelly also shows some backbone and maturity here in her confrontation with her uncle. I’m very curious to see how that thread plays out in the next installment.

Overall, this is a very good addition to this light-hearted cozy mystery series. I’m looking forward to touching base with Kelly and the gang again-hopefully soon!

Hope Early, after a less than stellar turn as a competitor on a baking reality show, a divorce, and leaving her publishing career in New York City, has moved back to her little home town of Jefferson, Connecticut, and is making her living as a successful food blogger. With her family, as well as old friends and new, nearby, the future is looking good.

Then she attends the book launch of friend Audrey Bloom. Audrey is a gardener, with a profitable career writing about gardening, and this launch party is also a tour of her own garden. Hope's sister, Claire, a real estate agent, also attends, against Hope's advice. Claire wants Audrey to list her house with Claire; Audrey has no obvious reason to sell. It's potentially contentious.

Someone else unexpected turns up--Claire's biggest rival, Peaches McCoy, another real estate agent, who has been poaching listings from other agents, including Claire.

When Peaches is discovered dead in Audrey's husband's home office, Claire immediately becomes the prime suspect. The police detective in charge of the investigation is, though, strangely and aggressively hostile, starting off by rather smugly telling Hope that her friendship with the police chief, Ethan Cahill, going back to school days, isn't going to stop him investigating his prime suspect. Which, outside the context of the conversation in the book, doesn't sound inappropriate, but he's also, as the story goes on, actively resistant to any evidence that might suggest anyone other than Claire could have a motive.

I really liked Hope, Ethan Cahill, another of Hope's friends, Drew, who is a local reporter, and a few other characters. The hostile police detective, on the other hand, is both unlikeable and a cliché. Claire is also not very likeable, and more than a little short-sighted about what is and isn't in her own best interests.

And with the detective so obviously set on railroading Claire, it's bizarre that everyone keeps haranguing Hope about her decision to do some investigating herself, without suggesting any alternative other than trusting the detective who wants to railroad Claire. Yet at the same time, Hope is a terrible choice as an investigator, because she alienates pretty much every potential witness or possible suspect she speaks to.

Overall, though I like Hope and her friends, the story overall is frustrating and annoying.

I bought this audiobook.

When I dive into a Food Blogger Mystery by Debra Sennefelder, I know I’m in for a lot of action. The Corpse in the Gazebo has Hope so busy with her baking blog, sponsors, teaching a class, taking care of the chickens, and more that it makes me wonder what Sennefelder’s day to day life is like. It’s been said to write what you know, and if this is true, then Sennefelder is a very, very busy woman!

Besides getting a glimpse into a blogger’s life (and how much work there is!) with fantastic recipes that are also shared at the end, this time Hope is investigating because she’s the one that all the clues are pointing to. But Sennefelder’s wonderfully developed characters are there to assist Hope in her crime solving. All of the series core characters are wonderful, but I’m a bit partial towards Jane because of her wisdom and patience and Drew because of his sass. And, of course, we can’t forget Ethan, the boyfriend/chief of police. I really appreciate that Sennefelder doesn’t have him constantly telling Hope not to investigate. And in The Corpse in the Gazebo he even pulls back from his job to help.

As for the mystery, Sennefelder always supplies the reader with lots of suspects and red herrings. I did suspect the murderer earlier on because of a thing that was mentioned that just really stood out, but that didn’t take away anything from the story, especially since there are so many other crimes going on…. that may or may not be relevant to the murder.

Another fantastic addition to the Food Blogger Mysteries, and since my husband and I have started @shidycakes on Instagram, I’m going to try out the Orange Creamsicle Cupcake recipe at the end of the book and maybe a couple of others too!

amateur-sleuth, blogger, cozy-mystery, culinary, family-dynamics, foodie, friction, friendship, law-enforcement, lawyers, murder, murder-investigation, pets, read, small-business, small-town*****
It was no real feat to guess who the murder victim would be as the woman was a nasty piece of work.
Hope left NYC and is renovating her farmhouse in a small town in Connecticut. She is a food blogger, teaching a class on blogging at the local women's shelter, and an amateur sleuth (despite the protests of her boyfriend, the local police chief). Her lawyer is an ex-cop and a good friend. And then there's her sister. The publisher's blurb is a good hook, no spoilers here. Great characters and lots of twists and red herrings as well as plenty of family and friendship. An excellent cozy!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

How to Frame a Fashionista by Debra Sennefelder is a 2020 Kensington publication.

Kelly is discovering that business ownership can be one challenge after another. Although, her fashion boutique/consignment shop was doing okay, it looks like she’s going to need a new roof. The fun just never stops.

However, Kelly does have a new client, a popular wellness/fitness blogger, named Tawny, who is ready to unload some of her designer belongings. Kelly soon realizes that Tawny has a connection to her arch nemesis- Serena Dawson. When Tawny is murdered, Serena becomes the prime suspect. Despite their history, Serena has the nerve to ask for Kelly’s help in clearing her name…

Meanwhile, Kelly struggles to come up with the cash for a new roof, as she begins to have doubts about her lawyer boyfriend, Mark, all while continuing to dodge her uncle and his constant pressure on her to sell the shop.

This episode in the “Resale Boutique’ series is jam packed with revelations and developments. Kelly is certain, despite her experiences with Serena, that she didn’t murder Tawny.

This means that, although she knows she’s going to catch grief from Mark, and his sister, who is a member of law enforcement, and not a big fan of Kelly’s, she is still going to do whatever it takes to find out who the real murderer is.

Kelly’s character is a hoot! While she has some silly thoughts at times, there’s more depth there than appears on the surface. I think of her as a character still in development.

The story has a brisk pace, which kept me on my toes trying to guess who the killer was. The mystery is well-balanced with Kelly’s personal life and business woes. This is a fun, light, cozy mystery, and I’ve enjoyed all three of the full- length novels in the series- so I’ll definitely be back for more!

3.5 stars½

A fun and lively mystery!

Kelly’s consignment shop is struggling, so she is hoping the Black Friday sales will give the shop a much needed financial boost. The shop gets more attention than Kelly bargained for though, with the arrival of a beautiful sequined evening dress once owned by one of the “Long Island Ladies”, a wildly popular reality show.

Initially, Kelly is excited by the acquisition, but unforeseen trouble ensues, when one of the show’s former co-stars shows up to a party wearing the dress, a a juicy cat fight erupts. But, when one of the women turns up dead, Kelly is forced to investigate- despite detective’s warnings not to get involved…

Fashion and reality shows! The premise sounds like some good fluffy fun- right? Well, okay, yes, it is a light, zany book- but if you enjoy a good whodunit- the mystery is tight and solid.

The recurring characters are still in development, this being only the second installment in the series, but the personalities are forming nicely, and Kelly is very easy to root for.

The pacing is quick, and the dialogue is smart, which kept me turning pages, surprised by how quickly I’d finished the book!

Overall, this is a fun series, an easy read, and delightfully entertaining. Can’t ask for more than that!

Hope Early has had a rough time lately. Her career as a magazine editor ended. Then she flopped on a reality baking show in NYC and got a divorce. Now she's back home in Jefferson, CT, trying to put her life back together. Her food blog, Hope at Home, is becoming popular and she's starting to feel a bit better about her life. The Jefferson Garden Club is having a spring garden tour at Audrey Bloom's home. Audrey writes books about gardening and has a new 5-book series coming out on the different growing seasons. The spring tour is a big deal for Audrey, and Hope wants to help her friend make it special. Relationships between some of the garden club members is strained after the town lost its listing in the Top 25 Community Gardens in Connecticut. And local real estate agent Peaches McCoy shows up uninvited. Peaches is unpopular because she's been buying up area farmland and properties for development into subdivisions. She and Audrey are at odds over many local issues including the development projects. But, Peaches' drive and personality have caused many people to dislike her. In fact, someone at the garden tour disliked her enough to kill her. Hope discovers the real estate agent dead in the study after the tour. Who hated the woman enough to bash her head in with a rock? Unfortunately, Hope's sister Claire is the number one suspect. When a second killing casts more suspicion on her sister, Hope jumps in to do some amateur sleuthing. She knows her sister didn't kill anyone, and Hope is determined to discover who did.

This book is a great start to a new cozy mystery series! I enjoyed the story from beginning to end. The ending caught me a bit by surprise. I love it when a cozy doesn't end the way I think it will. The mystery is nicely paced, and had some twists and surprises. I like Hope as a main character. Her friendship with the cute Chief of Police has some hints at upcoming romance. The background theme of blogging is interesting and current. Throw in some quirky, fun side characters and a dog and you've got a great cozy mystery! Plus, there are some yummy recipes included at the back of the book.

The Uninvited Corpse is Debra Sennefelder's debut novel. She will have another book, Murder Wears a Little Black Dress, coming out in January 2019. It's the first novel in the Resale Boutique Mystery series.

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

Debra Sennefelder has another perfect ensemble with How to Frame a Fashionista, book three in the Resale Boutique Mysteries. There is so much going on in this book, we finally get to meet the Dragonista who fired Kelly from her job in Manhattan, Kelly is continuing with her self-growth, we find out more about Ariel’s accident, and Sennefelder drops another huge bomb when it comes to Ariel, Kelly’s friend from high school. And, of course, Kelly solves a mystery with a lot of help from her friends.

The Who Dunnit was a bit easy for me to solve, but I didn’t know the entire motive right away. But, as always, there’s much more to cozies than just solving the mystery. And Sennefelder does an excellent job with the character development, outfit details, and as mentioned before, there is a whopper of a twist in How to Frame a Fashionista.

Another great book in the Resale Boutique Mysteries, and while it can be read as a stand alone, it’s always more fun to start at the beginning, and in this series the first book is Murder Wears a Little Black Dress.

Murder Wears a Little Black Dress by Debra Sennefelder is a 2019 Lyrical Underground publication.

Cute, fun and zany!

With her dream job as a Manhattan buyer circling the drain, Kelly Quinn relocates to Lucky Cove to take over her grandmother’s consignment shop. Her plans for the shop are in jeopardy, however, when a customer tries on a ‘little black dress’ and claims the dress triggered visions of a murder.

Desperate to salvage the shop’s reputation, Kelly is determined to find out what is going on- but things turn deadly serious when the psychic’s look alike cousin is found dead, and Kelly becomes a suspect. But it also looks like Kelly might be in the killer’s line of fire…

A fast-paced cozy mystery, with a mild paranormal element, presented with a chick-lit format is a winning combination for this first in a series novel.

This is a very light, easy, quick read- and a very nice way to de-stress, and have a little fun while you are reading!

The Corpse Who Knew Too Much by Debra Sennefelder is the second book that I’ve read in the Food Blogger Mysteries and it was wonderful catching up with Hope, Jane, Drew, Claire, and the rest of the gang. This is book number four in the series and if you haven’t read any of the other books, Sennefelder gives you enough background and references to previous cases that you won’t be lost. Although with any series, starting from the first book is always a great idea so you can watch the characters grow and be privy to insider information. The Uninvited Corpse is book one in the series in case this is a new series to you.

Hope is going non-stop all of the time and is dealing with a lot; creating new recipes for her blog and all the things that come along with maintaining a blog, running a class at the local library, learning to do podcasts, remodeling/decorating her older farmhouse, working on her relationship with the town sheriff and his daughters, and solving not one, but three murders! It’s no wonder she’s finally hired an assistant to help with the administrative parts of her blogging business and someone to help around the house and with her chickens. And besides solving three murders she also figures out who’s been stealing small objects around her house. I’m tired just thinking of having to handle all of that.

But with giving Hope so many responsibilities, Sennefelder uses it to write a great cozy since there is always something happening. And while everything is going on, Sennefelder is continuing to have her main characters grow and make sure the new ones are well developed. And I feel like Sennefelder has really stepped up her game when it comes to including Hope making new recipes fitting seamlessly into the story, as well as all the yummy recipes at the end of the book. There’s a couple of cookie recipes that I know I will be trying out soon.

As far as the mystery went I was guessing for quite a bit of the book. Towards the end, one of the characters makes a comment that stuck out so I knew they were involved, but I wasn’t exactly sure as to the why. And I really enjoyed how Sennefelder incorporated a true crime podcast into the book since they are so popular and it seemed to give the cozy a bit of a darker feel. Not that it isn’t a true cozy, it just has a bit more menacing creepiness behind it.

Another excellent addition to the Food Blogger Mysteries and the cozy genre!

cozy-mystery, culinary, family-dynamics, friendship, small-town, small-business, law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth, murder

Hope left NYC and is renovating her farmhouse in a small town in Connecticut. She is a food blogger, teaching a class on blogging, and an amateur sleuth (despite the protests of her boyfriend, the local police chief). Twenty years ago the mother of two of Hope's friends disappeared and now one of those girls has returned and is determined to find out what happened to her mom. What she finds out gets her killed and Hope takes up the cause while snow storms keep causing havoc in the area. Great characters and lots of twists and red herrings as well as plenty of family and friendship. An excellent cozy!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

What Not to Wear to a Graveyard is a novella and the third book in the Resale Boutique Mysteries by Debra Sennefelder. I greatly enjoyed the other two in the series, Murder Wears a Little Black Dress and Silenced in Sequins, so I was happy to see book three coming out… and even more excited because it’s a Halloween cozy, and I love me some Halloween.

I enjoyed the cozy in novella form. While I love reading cozy mysteries my two complaints are love triangles that keep going on and when the sleuth keeps repeating the clues over and over. But with a novella there’s no time for the repetition of clues and the author has to get straight to the point.
On the other hand there wasn’t as much time to get in depth into the characters, but if you’ve read the previous books you already know them pretty well. So while this is book three in the series, I think of it more as book 2.5.

Even if you didn’t read the previous books, Sennefelder did a good job with her descriptions of the characters and you won’t be lost. I did notice her descriptions of the outfits weren’t as numerous or as vibrant as past books, which is one of the reasons why I enjoy the series so much. But I did love the nods to Sennefelder’s own pets in the story and that made this book even sweeter.

There were also some inconsistencies in the story regarding it being daylight and then suddenly dusk or mentioning that summer was only a little ways away when it’s October… what happened to Winter and Spring?!? ;) But since this was an ARC, the editor may catch some of these things before it gets published.

All in all, another great story in the Resale Boutique Mysteries and I’m looking forward to more of Kelly and friend’s adventures.

Hope Early moved back to her hometown after losing her husband and her job, and losing on a television reality show. Now she's moved into a farmhouse, raises chickens, and makes her living with her home and cooking blog. Things seem to be going well, at least until she goes to a friend's book signing party...

While there, she finds that her sister Claire's nemesis, real estate agent Peaches McCoy, has arrived uninvited and is rude to everyone. When Hope finds Peaches murdered in the study of her friend Audrey's home, that's bad enough. But when Claire is the prime suspect for the murder, that's worse. And when Hope decides to investigate trying to find out who the killer is, things go completely downhill. Now she's in the sights of a killer, and Claire's next home might be a prison cell. If Hope doesn't figure this out soon, both Early girls are going to be losing their lives in one way or another...

This is the first in a new series, and I really would have liked to enjoy it. But there were things unexplained (which I will explain later) and my thoughts on the plot, which I will explain first:

First off, Hope is a horrible investigator. She goes to peoples' homes and just starts looking around, without trying to be subtle, but subtlety isn't her strong point, since she just goes around asking everyone if they killed Peaches - which, of course, makes them dislike her, and honestly I don't blame them. Who would like someone who walks up to them and accuses them of murder? Of course they're going to think she's trying to find someone else to take the rap for her sister, who's the suspect.

Then, she's a blogger who never blogs. As in never. She states as how she's making her money from it, but she never goes on her computer to do so. She spends her time making food for people to get information or ask forgiveness or going to snoop.

Her sister Claire is completely dense. She lives and breathes real estate, ignores the fact she's a murder suspect, and rarely mentions that she's married with two kids, one of whom we meet in one sentence only - her husband is out of town on business (we learn he has his own business but don't know what he does) and Claire has dinner at Hope's a couple of nights while her husband's gone, then tells us how much she loves her kids. Loves them so much she eats at Hope's without them? Never spends time with them? Never talks about them? Sure, sure...

Things I would have liked explained were how did Hope lose the top prize? How did she lose her job? We get that her husband cheated, but somehow she lost her job as a magazine editor? How did her husband get everything she owned if she were the one cheated on? Why would a woman hold a grudge since grade school over something so ridiculous? If there's more to it, shouldn't we have been told what that is? None of this is explained, and should have been.

But the kicker - and the thing that may keep me from reading any more in this series which will depend upon the second book - is the ubiquitous 'love triangle'. Never interesting, always frustrating, and as I've said many, many times before, if it were a man stringing along two women, you'd think he was a dog, so why is it okay when a woman does it? It isn't. The way it happens isn't even believable. So if it develops in the next book I can tell you that I won't finish the book and will not read any more in the series. For that alone, this book was a disappointment. I do hope that this isn't going to become one. I also hope that Meg doesn't become the 'evil nemesis'. I really loathe that in books.

When the murderer was discovered, it might have been a surprise, but by the end of the book I really didn't care since there were so many slow parts with things that just weren't relevant to the murder, and the subject kept coming up about her failed career and reality show with no details about how they ended and why. Details count.

short, small-business, small-town, pets, amateur-sleuth, family, friendship, murder, murder-investigation, cozy-mystery*****

Longer than a short story yet shorter than a novella this fun little read is perfect. There's the mystery of the missing dog, then the mystery of the murdered high profile woman, and then there's the mystery of who is terrorizing the boutique owner/sleuth. Good friends from the past are both helpful and daunting. A nice read!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley.

I was first introduced to Debra Sennefelder via book three in her Food Blogger Mysteries and enjoyed it, so I wanted to give her Resale Boutique Mysteries a read. The first one in the series, Murder Wears a Little Black Dress, was really good. So when I saw she had book two, Silenced in Sequins, coming out I jumped on the chance to read it, and it’s as good as the first one!

I don’t watch reality TV, but I can see the appeal, to be able to watch other people with lives crazier than yours can make you appreciate what you have. And getting a glimpse into rich people’s parties and homes is always appealing. Robin Leach took us on tours of the rich and famous years before reality TV became so popular. Even with not watching reality TV, Silenced in Sequins, was still a blast. And the way Sennefelder weaved in the deal that Kelly made with the TV star, Wendy, was the perfect set-up to make sure Kelly’s business continues to thrive in future books.

Besides the main mystery, there is a smaller mystery that involves Kelly’s grandma and a trip to Vegas. I was very pleased with how it turned out because I wasn’t looking forward to this dragging on in future books.

And talking about a thing that often drags on in Cozy Mysteries… the romance aspect is still being handled well in the Resale Boutique Mysteries. It’s progressing a bit, with a giant monkey wrench being thrown in for good measure. I think it’s excellent how Sennefelder was able to combine the usual lead detective’s annoyance with the amateur sleuth into the romance storyline.

Although I knew the murderer early on, I didn’t know what the motive was until the end. And Sennefelder gives you enough suspects that could make guessing the killer difficult. I hope to see some of the suspects as recurring characters in future books. I could see Wendy becoming more friendly, and having her as a friend could mean more outrageous parties for Kelly and her friends.

As with book one, Silenced in Sequins, adds just the right amount of details on clothes and accessories. This is a Fashion Cozy after all! Although I’m not much into fashion it was still enjoyable reading about the different outfits and the way Sennefelder described them made it easy for me to picture them.

I’m looking forward to what mystery Kelly finds herself solving next, and highly recommend this series.