Deep Dark Secrets
You’re invited to visit Deep Lakes, Wisconsin and meet a new friend, Francine “Frankie” Champagne. The 40-something owner of Bubble and Bake — bakery by day, wine lounge by night — Frankie is a spitfire pastry maker, vintner, and budding journalist. Frankie finds herself on the perimeter of a suspicious death that upends the peaceful winter slumber in Deep Lakes when the local pastor is found dead inside his fishing shanty on Lake Loki.
Frankie sticks her curious nose into the investigation, despite warnings from the local sheriff to leave it alone. But she has something to prove, maybe to the newspaper editor who wouldn’t hire her as a reporter, maybe to herself as she searches for fulfillment. Regardless, her fierce independence won’t allow her to back down. Follow Frankie as she stumbles upon one discovery after another, trails potential suspects, and solves the case.
Frankie finds herself on the perimeter of a suspicious death that upends the peaceful winter slumber in Deep Lakes
Series: A Deep Lakes Mystery – Book 1
Author: Joy Ann Ribar
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Culinary
Publisher: Orange Hat Publishing
Page Count: 328
Rating: 
Deep Dark Secrets is the first book in the new cozy series “A Deep Lakes Mystery” written by Joy Ann Ribar.
Frankie is a cute down-home character who still has dreams in life. She isn’t too old to try new things but is old enough to know what she likes and wants. Right now, what Frankie wants is to be taken seriously as a journalist. But this dream may be more than she bargained for in the long run. Tracking down leads that may put Frankie in close proximity to a killer may not be the best way to write a story.
The murder of a preacher should invoke a feeling of disappointment and perhaps even a touch of fear but in this case, no one seems to care, at least not in the male population. The victim turns out to have no redeeming value what-so-ever and is not in the least bit likable.
The killer is an unlikely suspect. Unfortunately, I did not feel that the author gave readers a good idea of who the suspects were or what the evidence was, or twists and turns not clearly evident.
There is little action in this cozy other than Frankie going around asking a few questions of the police and a few people who knew the victim. The story is not fast-paced and gets bogged down in many ways by descriptions of people, wine, and events of the past.
I want to say that Frankie and Carmen are terrific characters. Both have a sense of family, obligation and a sincere desire to do the right thing. Ms. Ribar did an excellent job of explaining the background for Frankie and Carmen, as well as Alonzo. However, there is such a thing as too much backstory. In a cozy, writers walk a thin line between too much and too little description and backstory, and Deep Dark Secrets has far more than needed.
The fundamentals of writing are not an issue, the grammar, punctuation and so forth are proper. However, the book could use better editing for transitions and flow. The paragraphs are too long, it can be challenging to follow the story when apparent breaks are crammed together. It can also be hard to tell who is speaking during a conversation at times.
Even though the over-all book has some issues, I feel that the series has potential. Most of the characters are warm, caring and personable. The setting works very well and has that small-town feel most readers enjoy. The combination of a bakery and a wine tasting business is original and fun. I hope there is a second book as I would enjoy reading it to see how the characters grow and what new situations Frankie gets into.
Readers may enjoy other cozy books such as J.C. Eaton’s http://www.jceatonauthor.com/ “The Wine Trail Mysteries” series https://www.thecozyreview.com/chardonnayed-to-rest/ or perhaps Alex Erickson’s https://alexericksonbooks.com/ series “ A Bookstore Cafe Mystery” https://www.thecozyreview.com/death-by-vanilla-latte/.
About the Author:
Joy Ann Ribar is a Wisconsin native who embraces her Scandinavian roots – wine-tasting and food-munching from every culture. A semi-retired English educator, Joy teaches writing classes at Madison College. She earned a Journalism degree from UW-Madison and a Master’s in Education from UW-Oshkosh. She and her husband, John, run a backyard buffet for winged creatures, plus the occasional furry critter. Someday, they plan to sell everything, buy an RV, and escape Wisconsin winters.
Contact Joy – https://joyribar.com/contact-me/
Find Joy on Social Media:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/JoyRibarAuthor/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/authorjoyribar/
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