Happy National Puzzle Day! Puzzles are a wonderful way to pass the time and have something beautiful when you finish. I like vintage looking puzzles. The puzzle currently on my wish list is the Cobble Hill Nancy Drew. It contains the covers of Nancy Drew books. Do you like working on puzzles? A Grave Search by Wendy Roberts is out today. It is the second book in Bodies of Evidence series. Plain as Day by Laura Bradford will be out on March 13. It is An Amish Mystery short story (ebook only).
Survival of the Fritters by Ginger Bolton (aka Janet Bolin-A Threadville Mystery series) is the first book in A Deputy Donut Mystery series. Emily Westhill co-owns Deputy Donut with Tom
Westhill (her father-in-law) in Fallingbrook, Wisconsin. Emily has been a widow for three years and
gave up her job as a 911 operator after the death of her husband. Emily greets the Knitpickers (a group of women
who meet at Deputy Donut) and their newest recruit Lois Underlaw. They are missing Georgia Treetor who runs the
local doll hospital. At the end of the
day when no one has heard from Georgia, the Knitpickers along with Emily head
to Georgia’s home to check on her. They
find the kitchen is a disarray and Georgia dead. It turns out that Georgia was killed on the five-year
anniversary of her son’s murder. It is
the one case Emily’s husband, Alec was unable to solve. Are the cases linked? When Lois’ nephew, Randy becomes a prime
suspect, Emily starts nosing around for clues.
Thanks to Emily leaving her fingerprints all over the crime scene,
Detective Brent Fyne (Alec’s old partner) is taken off the case. Yvonne Passenmath from Wisconsin Division of
Criminal Investigation is brought in to handle the case. This does not bode well for Emily since
Yvonne dislikes her. Emily soon uncovers
a connection between the deaths. Follow
Emily as she follows the clues to uncover a killer in Survival of the Fritters.
Survival of the Fritters is
nicely written, the characters are developed (with room for growth in future
books) and there is a clever, adorable cat.
The author took the time to set the stage for the book which I appreciate. I found that the pace varied throughout the
book (sometimes steady and other times it was slower). I did find there was repetition especially
regarding the handsomeness of some of the men (especially Detective Brent
Fyne). The stage is set for a possible
romance between Emily and Brent in the future if Emily is willing to move on
after the death of her husband. You
could feel the chemistry between Emily and Brent (it was palpable). Another example of reiteration is Emily would
uncover details of the mystery. She
would then discuss them with Lois and then repeat the details to Brent. These sections felt like filler and were
unnecessary. These discussions went
along with the speculation over who could have committed the crime. I would have liked more investigation and
action (instead of the case being rehashed multiple times). The mystery was interesting (nicely developed)
and there were some good clues. I
believe many readers will be surprised by the identity of the killer (avid
mystery readers should have it solved out before the solution is
revealed). I was not a fan of DCI Yvonne
Passenmath. There seems to be a trend to
have unlikeable cops in cozy mysteries and I hope it ends soon. Yvonne resents Emily for taking Alec away
from her (there was nothing between them) and dislikes Tom for not promoting
her when he was chief of police (she was lacking in skills and everyone is
amazed that DCI hired her). There are
some delectable donut descriptions in the book and recipes are included at the
end. I am giving Survival of the Fritters 3 stars. The next book in A Deputy Donut Mystery series is Goodbye Cruller World (to be published on August 28). Survival of the Fritters will be available on Tuesday, January 30.
Thank you for reading my review. On Tuesday I will be featuring Biscuits and Slashed Browns by Maddie Day. May you have a incredible day (you deserve it). Take care and Happy Reading!
Kris
The Avid Reader
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