I really love this series and the main characters in this stories are more than just people in a book. I have come to think of them as friends. They got together to try and lose weight, but have become best friends, who are there for each other not matter what and an amateur sleuth team that even has a book written about their first solved crime, even though the author has taken a lot of literary licence with the story.

In this book, James' dad, Jackson, and cooking teacher name Mila (Camilla) are getting married on Christmas Eve. Camilla's younger sister, Paulette Martine, is a celebrity baker and has come to town to make the cake for the wedding. It turns out that Paulette is obnoxious, rude and haughty and it doesn't take long for her to alienate most of the townsfolk in Quincey's Gap. When Paulette was found dead, with cake batter all over her face, it is deemed to be an accident, salmonella poisoning from raw eggs. Lucy, doesn't feel right with the accidental ruling so she and her supper club friends start to investigate. When there is another dead body, thinks heat up big time.

It seems like all of the friends had some sort of epiphany in this book that was really enjoyable to read about. There is a huge reveal of information in this book that will shake up the friends and family and I look forward to seeing where this leads. What I really enjoy about this series is that the lives of the characters are just as important as the mystery. James loves that not only is his father happy, but he now has a new mother in his life. The twins find some love interests as well as some of the Flab Five. Things are looking up for our friends and I am looking forward to the next book in this series. Once again, this is a re-release of an updated version of this book. ( )

James Henry,the head librarian for Shenandoah County Library, is preparing for the marriage of his elderly father to a sweet lady so when she says that her sister , the Diva of Dough, is coming to town to make their wedding cake, James Henry is sure that his waistline will be expanding. Expecting that his future stepmother's sister will be just as sweet, the reality is a different matter and when the Diva is murdered, no one is surprised. James Henry is in for multiple surprises before he and his Supper Club friends find the murderer.

Love this series, the characters are ones I can truly sympathize with regarding the problems of weight-control. ( )

Ellery Adams is one of my favorite cozy mystery writers. She is a very good writer, her characters are always fleshed out, and her plots are always on point. This one was no exception. I did have a couple of issues. One was the number of important secondary characters. There were so many. And being the 5th, and that I hadn't read the first four (this is on me, I know), I didn't know enough of their backstories to care as much as I should have about them. And I kept getting them confused. Also, I felt she got a little long winded in the end. That said, I really enjoyed the story, and I liked the characters a lot. I'd definitely like to go back and read the others in the Supper Club series, preferably in the right order. ( )

The Battered Body by Ellery Adams is the fifth novel in A Supper Club Mystery series. James Henry is the head librarian for Shenandoah County Library in Quincy’s Gap. His father, Jackson is getting married on Christmas Eve to Milla. James wants the newlyweds to be on their own when they return from their honeymoon, so he has been looking for his own home. After trying on his suit for the wedding, he notices that his weight has gone up considerably since Milla started cooking for the two men. James consults nutritionist, Dr. Ruth Wilkins and starts keeping a food journal. Now if he can just avoid the cheese doodles (and cake, cookies, the break room snack machine). At dinner about two weeks before the wedding, Milla announces that her sister is coming for the wedding and she will be making the cake. It turns out that Milla’s sister is Paulette Martine, a famous chef and “Diva of Dough”. Milla requests that James pick her up at the airport and warns him that Paulette can be “prickly” (that doesn’t bode well). Prickly turns out to be an understatement for the Diva’s attitude (rude, condescending, and critical are more accurate) and she estranges every person she encounters (unless there are press present). One morning James receives an early call from Lucy that the Diva has been found dead in the Widow’s Peak Inn kitchen covered in the cake batter she was mixing (what a waste of good cake batter). The Supper Club members are once again caught up in a murder. Can they whip up the killer and get the wedding back on track?

The Battered Body is an entertaining cozy mystery. I thought The Battered Body was well-written, it had a steady pace and good flow (smooth transitions between sections). I do recommend reading Carb and Cadavers before embarking on other books in A Supper Club Mystery series. It will help you get to know the characters, their backgrounds and relationships. There is quite a bit going on in The Battered Body. The Fitzgerald brothers are intelligent, caring men. The libraries Elf on the Shelf is missing, and they intend to get it back. Scott has a girlfriend, and it is putting a strain on the twin’s relationship. They need to find a lady friend for Francis. James is hoping to start again with Lucy Hanover, but there may be an insurmountable obstacle in their path to happiness. James struggle with dieting adds levity to the book. I thought the author did a wonderful job at portraying the struggle many people have when trying to lose weight (especially during the holiday season and when a famous chef is in town cooking/baking up a storm). Bennett Marshall, the postal carrier, is going to appear on Jeopardy and he is diligently studying. Murphy Alistair’s book is coming out soon and the Supper Club is dreading it. They know that Murphy will not be kind. It is pleasant to see the changes in Jackson Henry. He has certainly transformed since the first book in this series, though, there is still is some gruffness about him (adds to his charm). The mystery was well-crafted, and readers will be surprised at the end. It is not one that can be completely solved before the reveal (we are not given all the details until later in the book). I welcomed the delightful quote from Cicero which books lovers everywhere can relate to. The quote is “a room without books is like a body without a soul”. I am eager to read the next installment in A Supper Club Mystery series. ( )

This is the fifth book in The Supper Club series.

James. Lucy, Gillian, Lindy, and Bennett have weight issues to varying degrees. They felt that they should form a support group and decided to call themselves The Flab Five. But they seem better at solving murders in their community of Quincy Gap, rather than getting a grip on their weight issues.

The Battered Body begins with James busy with last minute plans for his father's, Jackson and Milla’s wedding. Milla sister, Paulette Martine-The Diva Of Dough, has agreed to come to Quincy's Gap and bake the couple’s wedding cake. But before the happy event can take place The Diva Of Dough is found dead in the kitchen of the B&B where she is staying, face down in a cake batter. From the time that the Diva arrived in town, she started alienating the residents of Quincy Gap and add to that she was not on speaking terms with her sister, Louise, or her daughter, Chole.

The members of The Flab Five agree that they need to start their own investigation so that Milla and Jackson can go ahead and get married. They have so many possible suspects that they are not sure whether they will be able they begin to wonder if they will ever be able to find the killer.

Also going on in Quincy Gap, James has found what he considers the perfect house and the Flab Five help him get the house ready to move into. James is also hoping to win back Lucy’s affection. But that might be easier said than done as Murphy Alistair’s “fictional book”, about the private lives of the residents of a small community. Bennett is about to put Quincy Gap on the map when he appears on Jeopardy. Plus there are a couple of romances that begin to blossom.

Once again Adams provides the reader with a well-plotted and told story with well-developed characters that you would want to be friends with.

I’m hoping that there will be more books in this series in the near future. ( )