More fun with Piper Prescott and the gang from Brandywine Creek
I read the first book, Rosemary and Crime, and really enjoyed it. I’ve included my review further into this post.
Now, I’m ready to see what the gang has been up to in Kill ’em with Cayenne.
Please, enjoy my review.
And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!
Kill ‘Em with Cayenne
(Spice Shop Mystery Series)
2nd in Series
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books (December 16, 2014)
ISBN-13: 978-1250011053
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My Review
I really enjoyed Rosemary & Crime, the first book in the Spice Shop Mystery Series so I knew I had to return to Brandwine Creek and see what Piper Prescott and her gang were up to now.
Piper’s been very busy at her shop, Spice It Up, and now she’ll be even busier. It’s time for the yearly Brandywine Creek BBQ Festival and the town will be filled with strangers coming to compete. Many of the locals will be competing too.
You can sense trouble brewing when Becca and Maybelle both enter the contest. These too have no fondness for each other and have been bitter enemies since back in middle school.
Trouble boils over when Becca is found dead and Maybelle becomes suspect number 1.
There are many things I look for in a cozy mystery. A fun title. Colorful cover art. Loveable, laughable characters. A well developed location for the story. A dastardly, elusive villain. And sweet, teasing romance.
I wasn’t disappointed with this book.
Kill ’em with Cayenne. How could I resist that title and it connects to Piper and her shop, Spice It Up.
The cover art is simple, yet charming and I’m wondering if the spilled spice represents the murder. Quite creative. I’d pick it up if I happened to spot it on a shelf.
The characters are many, with colorful names, and their personalities are easily distinguished. You have the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The villain is not who you’d expect so the mystery is sustained til the end.
The town of Brandywine Creek is just what you’d expect in a small town. I live in one and felt quite at home. We have a lot of festivals and BBQ and chili cook offs are huge here in the south.
The romance is sweet and just becoming teasing. I do wonder whether Piper and Sheriff Wyatt McBride will spice it up in the next book.
This is a cozy mystery series for all fans of the genre. You’ll love the characters, boo the villain, and become enchanted with the colorful town. It’s all good, clean fun. And there are some yummy recipes included at the end of this book that you might want to try for yourself.
4 Stars
If you found this review helpful, please like it on Amazon HERE.
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Synopsis
A brand new finger-lickin’ good mystery featuring small-town Georgia spice shop owner Piper Prescott, a smart and spunky amateur sleuth…
Spices are flying off the shelves of Spice It Up!, and Piper Prescott couldn’t be happier. It’s that time of year again—time for the annual Brandywine Creek Barbecue Festival. Soon contestants and BBQ aficionados from all over the Southeast will converge on the town. Many of Brandywine Creek’s citizens plan to participate in the week-long festivities and are busily concocting savory rubs and sassy sauces. Among the locals vying for the grand prize are Becca Dapkins and Maybelle Humphries. The women have been arch enemies ever since Buzz Oliver dumped Maybelle after a thirteen-year courtship and started seeing Becca.
When Becca’s body is found near one of the festival booths, bludgeoned by a brisket, Maybelle becomes one of Chief Wyatt McBride’s top suspects. Determined to help clear her friend’s name, Piper begins her own investigation, much to McBride’s consternation. As the festival draws closer, will Piper and Reba Mae be able to find the real killer and clear Maybelle’s name? Will Piper make it to the annual shag contest with Doug Winters, the mild-mannered vet she’s been seeing? And, who will win the BBQ cook-off?
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About This Author
Friends accuse Gail Oust of flunking retirement. While working as a nurse/vascular technologist, Gail penned nine historical romances under the pseudonym of Elizabeth Turner. It wasn’t until after she and her husband retired to South Carolina that inspiration struck for a mystery. Hearing the words “maybe it’s a dead body” while golfing with friends fired her imagination for the Bunco Babe Mystery series published by NAL. Gail is currently writing the Spice Shop Mysteries published by Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press. Kill ‘em with Cayenne, the second in the series, was released December 2014. Her interests include reading, travel, golf, and spending time with friends and family.
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Links: www.gailoust.com, Gail Oust Author on Facebook, and Goodreads.
Purchase Links
Amazon
First Book in Series
My Review
Fresh out of a divorce, Piper decides to go into business for herself, opening a spice shop. When Mario, the chef who was supposed to do a cooking demonstration for her grand opening is murdered, Piper becomes the prime suspect.
She discovered the body. She handled the murder weapon. And she was seen arguing with the victim earlier.
The fun begins when Piper and her best friend Reba Mae, a delightfully colorful gal, decide to do their own sleuthing. They are caught doing a stake out by the hunky Chief of Police, Wyatt.
I’m all for character driven stories. These characters are all flawed, all trying to make their way. This leads to lots of hi-jinx and laughs.
Piper is down to earth but also vulnerable. CJ, her jerk of a husband, dumped her for a woman almost as young as her daughter. Starting over at middle age is never easy and she has to contend with a daughter who is acting out, her butinsky ex, and a sexy policeman, while trying to prove her innocence and get her new business off the ground.
The author sets the stage, introduces her characters, drops in the crime, and sets you off to read and discover the clues, while adding in a budding romance and some very believable life situations.
Trying to solve this mystery was vexing. Each time I thought I had my suspect, I was wrong and had to continue sorting out the clues.
When I reached the end it was just what I wanted.
Anyone looking for a new cozy mystery series with an easy flowing writing style, colorful characters, and a crime to solve, should give Rosemary and Crime a go.
4 Stars
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