Shredding the Evidence by Daryl Wood Gerber

Good Day!  There are some fabulous new books releases on April 28.  The titles include:  Sugar and Vice by Eve Calder, Proof of Murder by Lauren Elliott, Botched Butterscotch by Amanda Flower, Murder in the Storybook Cottage by Ellery Adams, The Wedding Dress by Danielle Steel, and Tents, Trails & Turmoil by Tonya Kappes. Do one of these titles appeal to you?

Daryl Wood Gerber is the Agatha Award-winning, nationally bestselling author of The French Bistro Mysteries, featuring a former chef who is now an up-and-coming bistro owner in Napa Valley, and The Cookbook Nook Mysteries, featuring an admitted foodie and owner of a cookbook store in picturesque coastal California. Under the pen name Avery Aames, Daryl writes the Agatha Award winning, nationally bestselling The Cheese Shop Mysteries set in fictional Providence, Ohio. Daryl also writes suspense novels, including the Aspen Adams books and stand-alones, which have garnered terrific reviews.

Prior to her career as a novelist, Daryl wrote screenplays and created the format for the popular TV sitcom Out of this World. A fun tidbit for mystery buffs, Daryl was also an actress and co-starred on Murder, She Wrote, as well as other TV shows. Daryl is originally from the Bay Area and graduated from Stanford University. She loves to cook, read, golf, swim, and garden. She also likes adventure and has been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.  For more information about Daryl Wood Gerber and her books, visit her website.

Shredding the Evidence by Daryl Wood Gerber has Jenna Hart preparing the shop for Food Bowl Week in Crystal Cove, California.  Local restaurants are offering their best and most creative dishes including Intine, Rhett’s new French bistro.  Kylie O, the food critic for the Crystal Cove Courier, is determined to cover all the Food Bowl events on her own much to Tito Martinez’s frustration.  When Kylie is found dead on a Pilates machine, Tito ends up the prime suspect.  Bailey needs Jenna prove Tito’s innocence before her husband ends up a cook at the local prison.  Shredding the Evidence is the ninth A Cookbook Nook Mystery.  It can be read as a standalone, but I do recommend each book in this charming series.  I always enjoy visiting Crystal Cove with its darling shops and friendly (well, most of them of are) residents.  I have liked watching Jenna, Cary Hart, Aunt Vera, Bailey and the other develop as characters.  It is lovely to see Aunt Vera in a romance, Bailey enjoying her new baby girl, Jenna and Rhett planning their wedding and Cinnamon expecting a baby.  The annual Food Bowl Week  means an influx of tourists to sample the delectable food and purchase gifts which includes cookbooks plus related items from the Cookbook Nook.  Kylie Obendorfer (you can see why she preferred Kylie O) is murdered and there are a variety of people who would have liked to see her dead.  As a food critic, Kylie did not hold back.  She was equally as rude in her private life.  Unfortunately, Tito had a public argument with Kylie the day before her death.  Bailey has no intention of letting her husband linger on Cinnamon’s suspect list.  I liked the misdirection as well as the method of murder.  I was caught by surprise when Cinnamon did something completely unexpected that left Jenna equally flabbergasted (for a moment).  There were a couple of side storylines in Shredding the Evidence.  Aunt Vera’s romance has upset her romantic partners children, Eugene Tinsdale is thinking of selling the Crystal Cove Courier, Rhett is overwhelmed at his new restaurant, redecorating is happening at Jenna and Rhett’s new home plus they are planning their wedding.  I just love Tigger, Jenn’s cat, and his adorable antics.  I like how the shredding theme was incorporated into the book in clever ways.  The food descriptions will have your mouth watering and, luckily, there are recipes at the end of the book for some of the food dishes mentioned.  Shredding the Evidence is a fun cozy mystery with delectable delights, a cute cat, wedding woes, a horrifying homicide, a beloved baby, relationship tribulations, and throngs of tourists.  

Shredding the Evidence is available from Amazon*.  To find other booksellers, click here.  You can read an excerpt from the book plus watch a book trailer by visiting Daryl Wood Gerber's website. The other novels in A Cookbook Nook Mystery series can be found here.  Pressing the Issue is the 6th book in A Cookbook Nook Mystery series and, at the time I wrote this blog, the ebook version is $.99 on Amazon.  Daryl Wood Gerber is debuting A Fairy Garden Mystery series on June 30 with A Sprinkling of Murder (I will feature on July 1 as part of the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour).  Thank you for visiting today. Tomorrow I am featuring A Sister's Courage by Molly Green. I hope you have an amazing day.  Take care, stay safe and Happy Reading!

Kris

The Avid Reader

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