Murder Made to Order: An All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery and Giveaway!

Welcome to The Avid Reader! I am a stop on the Great Escapes Murder Made to Order Virtual Book Tour. Lena Gregory is the author of A Bay Island Psychic Mystery series and An All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery series.  Ms. Gregory lives in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island with her husband and three children.  While growing up, she spent many lazy afternoons at the beach and in her yard where she would curl up with a book.  Lena still loves reading, but she now has the added pleasure of creating her own stories.  Readers can find Lena Gregory  on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Bookbub and Pinterest.

Murder Made to Order by Lena Gregory is the second book in An All-Day Breakfast Café Mystery series.  Gia Morelli has been settling into her new life in Boggy Creek, Florida when she receives a startling letter from Marcia Steers, the president of the city council.  It seems that the building for the café is zoned residential and Gia will have to close the café.  Before Gia can act, a nervous Marcia stops by and schedules a meeting with Gia for Monday.  Before their meeting can take place, Gia and Thor stumble over a dead Marcia half submerged in muck in the woods.  Captain Hayes and Detective Quinn Hunter quickly arrive, but after a disagreement, Captain Hayes tosses Quinn off the case.  Following the clues, Gia finds that the issue regarding her café started twenty years ago and can be related to the death of Savannah Mill’s mother.  But someone is not happy with Gia’s snooping and attempts to shut her down permanently.

Murder Made to Order can be read alone.  Everything a reader needs to know is included in this installment in the series.  Murder Made to Order is easy to read and has a steady pace throughout.  I thought Murder Made to Order was an improvement over Scone Cold Killer.  Gia is settling into life in Boggy Creek, but she has doubts when the future of her café is in jeopardy.  One of my favorite characters is Earl.  He was the café’s first customer and has been a loyal customer as well as friend ever since.  There are many cozy moments in Murder Made to Order.  Cooking, visiting with Savannah, spending time with Quinn, taking care of Thor (her large and adorable dog), kayaking, eating, hiking and chatting.  I am still having trouble warming up to Gia.  Her terror of things related to nature continues in this book.  Gia should have moved into the apartment over the café instead of finding a home surrounded by woods (which she walks in regularly).  She is afraid of bears, spiders, ticks, snakes (I can relate to this one), and tornadoes in Murder Made to Order.  Gia overreacts (panic attacks, hyperventilates) when confronted with things that scare her.  The author intends it to be humorous, but it loses its humor the more times it happens.  The mystery had some good aspects (multiple suspects, misdirection, good clues), but it was a cinch to pick out the guilty party.  It is nice how the townspeople rally around to help each other out in troubling times.  I like the small-town atmosphere of Boggy Creek.  My rating for Murder Made to Order is 3.5 out of 5 stars.  I am curious to see what happens to Gia next in An All-Day Breakfast Café Mystery series (let’s hope she does not encounter a panther).  A Cold Brew Killing is the next book in the series and it will be released on November 6.  Here is an excerpt of Murder Made to Order for your enjoyment:

Gia stepped over a large branch blocking the path through the woods, then patted her pocket—for the millionth time—to make sure her canister of bear spray was still there. Though she enjoyed their walks, which allowed her to spend time with Thor and provided both of them some much needed exercise, her nerves sometimes got the better of her. This morning was no exception.  Thor trotted happily alongside her, sometimes darting ahead, but always staying on the trail and within sight.

She didn’t have the heart to call him back, even though she wasn’t in the best mood this morning and her mind was a million miles away. Unfortunately, her hectic schedule at the café didn’t allow much time for hiking, or anything else for that matter. So she trudged on, despite wanting to go home and spend her morning curled up with a good book.

Savannah and Trevor had both insisted early morning hikes would clear her head and help her get used to living at the edge of the forest. Though they did help her focus better, they did nothing to help her embrace her new surroundings. If anything, they terrified her even more. Looking into the woods surrounding her property and not knowing what lurked just behind the tree line gave her the creeps, but hiking the local trails and actually seeing snakes, alligators, and other critters, some of which she couldn’t even identify, brought nightmares.

And yet, here she was… She’d been looking forward to hiking the new trail, but her mind was too cluttered with everything else to focus on enjoying the peaceful morning. She sucked in a shaky breath, the humidity making her chest heavy. “Don’t get too far ahead, Thor.”  The big, furry dog, who still hadn’t quite grown into his chunky paws, stopped at the sound of her voice, turned back to her, and tilted his head, then waited for her to catch up.

Murder Made to Order is available for purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Google, Kobo, and iBooks.  In honor of the tour, a $25 Amazon gift card is being given away.  You can enter below or click here.  Make sure to stop by the other stops on the tour (stops listed below).  May you have an engaging day.  Take care and Happy Reading.

Kris

The Avid Reader

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TOUR PARTICIPANTS

June 20 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

June 20 – Socrates' Book Reviews – REVIEW

June 20 – The Self-Rescue Princess – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

June 21 – The Montana Bookaholic – REVIEW

June 21 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT

June 22 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

June 22 – Mallory Heart's Cozies – REVIEW

June 22 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

June 23 – Queen of All She Reads – REVIEW

June 23 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

June 24 – Texas Book-aholic – REVIEW

June 24 – Ruff Drafts – GUEST POST

June 25 – Varietats – REVIEW, GUEST POST

June 25 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – SPOTLIGHT

June 26 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW

June 26 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

June 27 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – GUEST POST

June 27 – Readeropolis – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

June 27 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT

June 28 – MJB Reviewers – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

June 28 – A Holland Reads – SPOTLIGHT

June 29 – My Reading Journeys - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

June 29 – Back Porchervations – REVIEW

June 30 - A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW

June 30 - StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

July 1 – Bibliophile Reviews – REVIEW

July 1 – Laura's Interests - REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

July 2 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

July 2 – A Blue Million Books -  AUTHOR INTERVIEW

July 3 – Melina's Book Blog – REVIEW

July 3 – Rosepoint Publishing – REVIEW