Title: Criminally Cocoa
Series: Amish Candy Shop Mystery
By: Amanda Flower
ISBN13: 9781496726711
Author’s Website: http://www.amandaflower.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary:
A taste for trouble . . . As if being in New York City for Easter isn’t exciting enough, Charlotte Weaver has another reason to be thrilled. She’s helping her cousin, Bailey, on the set of her first cable TV show, Bailey’s Amish Sweets. Bailey will even be re-creating the delectable hand-woven chocolate Easter baskets she once crafted for the city’s world-famous JP Chocolates. But once things start rolling, Charlotte starts to notice odd things happening—things that seem intended to make Bailey look bad . . .With Bailey feeling extra nervous about being on camera, Charlotte decides to keep her suspicion of sabotage to herself. But she knows that among Bailey’s fans at the Gourmet Television network lurks a dangerously jealous rival. Now Charlotte will have to find out who that person is—before sour grapes turns one of the sweetest times of the year fatally bitter . . .Recipe Included (Goodreads)
Review:
Criminally Cocoa is book 3.5 in the Amish Candy Shop Mystery series by Amanda Flower. Now I must ask myself, why is this this first book I have read by Ms. Flower? Even starting at book 3.5, I was able to get a sense of the main characters and how they were intertwined with each other.
The story begins with Bailey King in New York City filming her first cable TV show, Bailey’s Amish Sweets. Charlotte Weaver came to New York (both are living in the small Amish village of Harvest in rural Ohio) to provide support to Bailey while filming was being done. Charlotte has yet to be baptized into the Amish church yet, so she is able to take this trip to the “Big Apple”. Everything is very new to her – expressions, magnitude of people, largeness of buildings – basically everything. I really felt like I was seeing the world through the innocent eyes of Charlotte. And what a way to experience the world for the first time – by going to New York!
What transpires during filming of the cooking show is a series of mishaps. At first the mishaps seem like innocent enough accidents, but as the numbers increase, Charlotte gets the feeling that something is not right. Charlotte does not want to bring this up to Bailey as Bailey is nervous enough about filming.
There are a number of likely suspects on set who may be the instigator of these accidents. As I weaved through the clues – I still did not catch on until the reveal at the end. I did find it refreshing to read a mystery where there was not actually a dead body – just a mystery.
Other characters that were a hit in this book – Jethro. He had a major part – for a pig. Seriously though, who has heard of a comfort pig? That certainly made me chuckle.:). And Cass was certainly a take charge gal who was a strong woman in a man’s world (the world of television). I loved her attitude.
What I must say is that I needed a longer story! I will have to go and pick up other titles in this series and see if I enjoy a longer read by author Amanda Flower.
If you enjoy cozy mysteries and novellas – then you will certainly enjoy Criminally Cocoa. Now the only question is, should I go back to book one in the series or continue on with the next book?
Why is Criminally Cocoa not in paperback or hardcover and will it be at some point?