Intriguing - a cute cozy mystery that is the first in a series. Centered around Gram's Country Cooking School, Betts assists her grandma with teaching classes and catering food. When the body of a man grams was seeing is found in the maintenance room, all hell breaks loose. Grams is considered a suspect and briefly jailed. It's up to Betts to try and solve the crime - and hopefully before the big cookoff that brings all the tourists to town. She might be in more danger than she knows - but thankfully a cowboy comes to her aid as does her ex-boyfriend who has recently returned and become a cop. It was cute and quirky - but I could have done without the supernatural element. ( )

This is a great cozy series. Complete with cooking, ghosts, mysteries to solve and romance to boot. This is the second book I have read in this series, although it is the first in the series. Betts and Gram are teaching students to cook for an upcoming cooking contest when they discover a dead body in their cooking school. When Gram (Missouri Anna) is detained in the murder, Betts steps up to help. When a ghost appears to her she is a little shook up but comes to depend on him to help her clear Gram and find the real murderer. ( )

The first in the Country Cooking School Mystery series was fun but I had a bit of difficulty because one of the principal characters was a ghost and the interaction between Isabelle and her Grandmother and the ghost didn't fit right to the story, IMO. ( )

I realize that cozy mysteries are inherently unrealistic but I would like them to be probable enough that I can suspend my disbelief long enough to enjoy the book. The paranormal (in this case a ghost) is just too far across the line for me... I don't know why it is but although I can enjoy the supernatural in many books, I don't like it in mysteries.

The other strike against this mystery set in southern Missouri is my doubts about the historical accuracy of the "Old West" history of this town -- since when was 1912 the time of gun fights in the streets? I think that era was 50 years earlier (and further west). And newspapers of that time using the phrase "good guys or bad guys"... I checked on that one -- the use of the word "guy" to mean man, chap, fellow started in the United States in 1896, so in 1912 Missouri it would be possible (though IMO unlikely) for it to appear in a newspaper but it still jarred upon me.

The mystery was OK but not possible for the reader to solve ahead of the narrator. I did like the twist that Everett was Jenna's biological father & they were both descended from Jerome. & felt that the balance of personal life and sleuthing was good. ( )

I didn't have high expectations for this book - the synopsis didn't grab me. But I was pleasantly surprised once I started reading and didn't stop until I was through. It's a ghost story! It's a good first start to a new series, although I didn't warm up to the main character a whole lot. But I had the same problem with this authors other series, the Farm Fresh Mysteries. I've just recently read the third in that series and found the characters much more likeable and 3 dimensional than I found them to be in the first two. So I am confident this series' character development will evolve as well. I'm hoping for a bit more humour and a tiny bit less earnestness.

The plot of the murder was good, and I really enjoyed how it was all tied in with the ghost story. I especially enjoyed the friendship between the ghost and the main character, Bettes. I didn't guess the murderer ahead of time, but I don't recall there being a whole lot of clues either. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I'm really looking forward to the next one. ( )