Death Gone A-Rye
The Blurb
Vincent van Dough focaccia is being touted on Instagram as the best thing since sliced bread. By strategically placing chives, olives, and yellow peppers to look like poppies and sunflowers, bakers create a mouthwatering masterpiece in the style of the great postimpressionist painter. At Yeast of Eden, where bread making has always been an art, they’re baking their version for the school district’s Spring Fling.
But one person won’t be tasting the Mexican bakery’s latest specialty. Ambitious school board president Nessa Renchrik has been murdered. Like the rest of this close-knit community, Ivy is shocked. But she’s just as surprised to discover her beau-restaurateur Miguel Baptista-had a fling with Nessa back in the day, and now the police have this half-baked notion he might have killed her. It’s up to Ivy, her boss Olaya Solis, and eighty-six-years-young Penelope Branford to separate the wheat from the chaff to determine the real culprit.
The Details
Series: A Bread Shop Mystery – Book #6
Author: Winnie Archer
Genre/Category: Cozy – Amateur Sleuth/Culinary
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1496733541
Page Count: 272
Rating: 
The Review
The sixth book in the “A Bread Shop Mystery” series, Death Gone A-Rye, is the first one I have read. I found it enjoyable and exciting, with enough variation to make it stand out from the crowded cozy market. A bread shop mixed with Mexican culture and the murder of a school board president keep readers enthralled and delighted. However, when the sheriff goes on her honeymoon, trouble shows up at the party.
The characters in this book are entertaining, intelligent, and easy to like. Old and young alike are of value and add a little spice to the cast. Suspects are everywhere, it seems, and all of them have a good motive for killing Nessa, some better than others. Nessa wasn’t well-liked for a good reason. Em being away on her honeymoon adds a new character, York, the new Captain of the force, to the mix and a bit of disgruntlement from Ivy and others. The bread shop is in a wonderful location that brings people together, and the description of the food is divine. Ivy’s hopes and dreams add to the depth of the character, as do her relationships with friends, co-workers, neighbors, and of course, Miguel. The timeliness of the plot has readers asking for more. The killer, once uncovered, may come as a surprise to many, but ultimately, readers will know the moment they realize who the culprit is that it couldn’t be anyone else.
There are plenty of twists and turns in Death Gone A-Rye; red herrings smoothly integrate into the story and may not be noticed. When Em returns from her honeymoon, the case is solved, and everyone is happy, or almost everyone. The bread recipes will thrill readers, and their desire to try them out for themselves may be overwhelming, leading to all new delights in the kitchen. Fast-paced, action, suspense, and a cast of spunky, heartfelt, and loyal characters with great personal relationships make for a fantastic read, and this book has that in spades.
The Author
Melissa Bourbon Ramirez is the national bestselling author of seventeen mystery books, including the Lola Cruz Mysteries, A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series, and the Bread Shop Mysteries, written as Winnie Archer. She is a former middle school English teacher who gave up the classroom to live in her imagination full time.
Melissa, a California native who has lived in Texas and Colorado, now calls the southeast home. She hikes, practices yoga, cooks, and is slowly but surely discovering all the great restaurants in the Carolinas. Since four of her five amazing kids are living their lives scattered throughout the country, her dogs, Bean, the pug; Dobby, the chug; and Jasper, a cattle dog/lab, keep her company while she writes. Melissa lives in North Carolina with her educator husband, Carlos, and their youngest son. She is beyond fortunate to be living the life of her dreams.
Similar book readers may find interesting is Darci Hannah’s debut book, Murder At The Beacon Bakeshop, the first in the new “A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery” series.
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