Four Leaf Cleaver
There’s no mistaking Saint Patrick’s Day at Pans ’N Pancakes. Robbie may only be Irish by marriage to Abe O’Neill, but the shelves of vintage cookware in her southern Indiana store are draped with glittery shamrocks and Kelly-green garlands, and her restaurant is serving shepherd’s pie and Guinness Beer brownies. The big event, however, is a televised cooking competition to be filmed on-site. A Cleaver flies when the show’s producer arrives, but no one expects a murder.
Unfortunately, someone’s luck has run out. Before the cameras start rolling, tough-as-nails producer Tara O’Hara Moore is found upstairs in her B&B room, bludgeoned apparently by the heavy hilt of a cleaver left by her side. So now, not only does Robbie have a store full of festive decorations, she’s got a store full of suspects and a killer.
The Details
Series: A Country Store Mystery – Book #11
Author: Maddie Day
Genre/Category: Cozy –Culinary/Holiday
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 149673565X
Page Count: 320
Rating:
The Review
Robbie is one of a kind, and her cafe is the kind we would all like to spend hours enjoying. The food sounds delicious, and I could spend my paycheck buying vintage cookware. Four Leaf Cleaver takes readers into the world of producers, reality tv, and murder.
Robbies cafe is the setting for a television cooking show. From the moment producer Tara steps into Pan-n-Pancakes, chaos ensues. Robbie doesn’t care for the woman any more than her staff and contestants do, but she hopes things will settle down once the show starts filming. Before the first day even starts, Robbie finds Tara dead, a cleaver next to her body, and an entire cafe full of suspects. Evidence mounts as Robbie starts asking questions, but it looks like the killer may have her in their sight.
This story keeps readers guessing. The suspects all have plausible motives, and everyone one of them makes you feel as if they have to be the killer. Even Robbie’s husband, Abe, is a suspect. As suspicions rise, you will wonder if Robbie will be the next person to get a cleaver up alongside the head. When we find out the killer’s identity, we are both surprised and elated. Four Leaf Cleaver has all the elements a good story needs, great characters, a fabulous location, credible suspects, and a killer that keeps readers on their toes. I love this series and am thrilled with this latest addition.
The Author
Maddie Day/Edith Maxwell is a talented amateur chef with a Ph.D. in linguistics from Indiana University and an Agatha Award-winning author. Edith lived in southern Indiana for five years and loved the slow pace and language of its natives. She taught independent childbirth classes and worked as a doula for some years; Edith lives in Amesbury, Massachusetts, but is originally a fourth-generation Californian. She has two grown sons and lives in an antique house with her beau and their two cats. Find her on social media or contact her on her website.
More books from Maddie that readers will love include Murder in a Cape Cottage from the “A Cozy Capers Book Group” series, or even another book from the “A Country Store Mystery “ series, the delightful Batter Off Dead from the
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