Book Review: One Poison Pie by Lynn Cahoon

Kitchen Witch, Mia Malone, has returned to Magic Springs, where she hopes to set up her catering and culinary school. Things take a turn for the worst when her Grandmother's best friend, Adele, is found murdered. With the local police determined to pin the crime on Mia, she must solve the crime and free her name... with the help of a few unlikely friends.

Okay, I confess. I picked this one up based solely on the cover. At the bookstore it just screamed "buy me"! Well let's be honest, all the cozies scream that. But doesn't this one look fun?

From the very first chapter I loved the storyline and characters. Mia is returning to town with her ex's little sister, Christina, in tow. Mia can see that while Christina is troubled she has a good heart, and it was nice to see Mia take her under her wing! When things don't go as planned, it's the help of Christina, Grans, and two local Warlocks that help untangle the mystery. Oh how I loved all these characters!! I was so sad when I turned the last page, but luckily for me there are plenty more books!!

The mystery was a stunning whodunnit. I didn't guess the ending at all! I'm pretty good at picking up the clues, usually, but this one had me really stumped!

One Poison Pie is a spectacular start to this series. If you enjoy paranormal mysteries likeJuliet Blackwell's Witchcraft Mysteries, then you need to try this original, highly enticing paranormal cozy mystery. Mia Malone is definitely my new favourite Kitchen Witch and I can't wait to visit again!

Audiobook Review: If The Shoe Kills by Lynn Cahoon

The holiday season is fast approaching in the sleepy town of South Cove. Jill Gardiner, owner of Coffee, Books and More, is busy planning a holiday supper and fundraising for the season. The last thing she needs is to get involved in another murder case. However, one seems to land right in her lap when she discovers the body of a visitor to town. Ted Hendricks is a first class jerk and also the director of a work program, placing interns in local businesses to help them garner some experience. When Ted turns up dead Jill doesn’t have to look far for suspects. It seems everyone had a reason to dislike Ted and Jill and her boyfriend police officer, Greg, will have their work cut out trying to find the killer.

If The Shoe Kills was my first visit with Jill and her dog, Emma, to South Cove. However, after listening to just one book I know it won’t be my last. I really enjoyed the variety of people that live in South Cove, and the addition of the interns visiting certainly provided a lot of color and intrigue!

The murder aside, what really drew me into this story was Jill’s store, Coffee, Books and More. I really like books about books. So many of my favorite cozy mystery series are set in bookstores and libraries. Being such an avid reader I can’t get enough of cozy mysteries that heavily feature books in their stories. I felt right at home in Coffee, Books and More and I liked how Jill not just works there, but talks about books, not just mentioning titles but giving the reader a great view of what goes into running the bookstore. In every scene I really felt like Jill was as much an avid lover of books as I am.

With the interns of the work program in town, there were a lot of visitors to South Cove. This made trying to figure out the killer so much harder, especially as the victim was new to town as well. I had an interesting time trying to figure it out and didn’t manage to solve this one before Jill.

I listened to If The Shoe Kills on audio and I enjoyed Susan Boyce’s narration. It didn’t take me long to get into the story and I quickly found myself hooked, which is a good indicator to a great author and narrator combination.

If the Shoe Kills was a great introduction into this series for me. I plan to go back and read/listen to the earlier books in the series, to find out a bit more about Jill’s other adventures. If you like charming cozies about enchanting small towns I highly recommend picking this one up.