Gretchen Rue

A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue is the debut of A Lucky Pie Mysteries. I liked the basic premise of a tourist island that is cut off from the world for the winter (I wanted to start off with something positive). I found the book to be dominated by cooking and baking. There are paragraphs with Este describing in detail what she is cooking or baking (it takes up at least forty percent of the book). There are too many characters introduced in the beginning (information overload). The bad guys were overdone (remind me of cartoon villains). The mystery was very simple (and it is pushed into the background). There is a lack of suspects. Este does very little sleuthing (she is too busy cooking, baking, and flirting). Este thinks about the investigation repeating the suspects and clues. The reveal was anticlimactic (extremely). Magic is a subtle element in the story. I thought A Pie to Die For lacked depth. There were lots of different elements, but all of them were superficial. The story plods along to the end with no excitement (plenty of sandwiches, soup, and pie). As you can tell, I could not get into A Pie to Die For.… (mehr)

A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue is the first book in the new Lucky Pie Mystery Series. I hate giving any book less than four stars, but I just couldn’t justify eeking it up a star. I’ll start with the positives though, because there were many.

I love that it takes place on an island in Michigan that basically gets cut off from the mainland during the winter. The characters were well developed. I loved Nora, the little gray kitten. I really enjoyed the main character, Este’s, relationship with the town’s sheriff, Tom. While Tom did warn Este to stop investigating, he actually listened to her.
And I really liked all the baking she did throughout the book, at her shop and also at her house, and she was actually at the shop often and doing work. The recipes at the end look like things I would try and she makes it super easy to make pie dough.

No for the first bummer, which I could have overlooked since it’s first in the series and I would hope it would progress more in future books, and that is, the premise of the lucky pies. We don’t exactly find out how this ability came to be, but there is the possibility that she’ll find out some information from her father or Grampy in future books, so that’s fine. Although she knew she made some lucky pies during the book, we never see any results of any of them. I would have liked to have read at least one or two instances when something good happened to one of the people who stopped by her shop and got a lucky pie.

And for the biggest thing, was how often Este went over the suspects and motives. I know it happens all the time in cozies, but Rue mainly had Este going through the information in her thoughts. Not much talking with friends about it, which would have made it a bit more interesting. I found myself skimming a lot in this book when that started happening, and I would say it’s about half of the book.
Now I could have even overlooked this, but it’s not her first cozy series, so that’s not great that she did this.
And I realized the other reason why I didn’t enjoy it was because there really was not that much dialogue in this book, just a lot of Este thinking her thoughts.

I would give book two in the Lucky Pie Mysteries a try, just to see if we find out more information about the pies or see some islanders seeing their luck turn, or if there was more dialogue and less going over the clues. But if not, then I would have to go onto other series, since there are so many out there.… (mehr)

Phoebe Winchester has the good fortune of inheriting both a thriving bookshop and a fat orange tabby from her aunt Eudora. OK, it's not good that beloved aunt Eudora shuffled off this mortal coil, but c'mon, who wouldn't love a bookstore, creaky old mansion, and furry bundle of purrs handed to them out of the blue? Phoebe has also inherited something else from her deceased aunt -- some witchcraft powers. Aunt Eudora's talents were mostly used in crafting special tea blends that were discreetly sold to people who appreciated her gifts. Phoebe has discovered that, in moments of peril, she's able to literally stop time in order to extricate herself from the danger. However, she has no control over when this happens or how to summon it. When she hears of an estate auction that might include books she can use as inventory at her store, she jumps at the chance to attend. Unfortunately, when she arrives at the site of the auction, she discovers Bob the cat, who spends his days curled up by the fire at the bookstore, has stowed away in the car. She decides to leave him there as she attends the auction, only to spot him out of the corner of her eye just as she places the winning bid on the books. As she attempts to track him down, she discovers that he has stumbled upon a crime scene. Phoebe decides to investigate, along with her old friend and former police officer Rich, who might just become more than an old friend.

The story was slow-paced but enjoyable. I really loved reading about all of the yummy teas and baked treats that were on offer in the bookstore and the bakery next door (thankfully, there are some recipes included at the end!). Bob the cat made frequent appearances and charmed everyone who met him. This is the second book in the series, so I look forward to reading more of Bob's adventures (and salivating over the Earl Grey shortbread!) in the future!… (mehr)