No Grater Crime
The Blurb
Ever since meeting the wary owners of an antique shop opening across the street, Robbie has been scrambling to manage weird incidences plaguing her café and country store. Pricey items vanish from shelves without explanation, a fully equipped breakfast food truck starts lingering around the area each morning, and loyal diners mysteriously fall ill. When an elderly man dies after devouring an omelet packed with poisonous mushrooms, Robbie must temporarily close down Pans ‘N Pancakes and search for the killer with a real zest for running her out of business or else.
The Details
Series: A Country Store Mystery – Book #9
Author: Maddie Day
Genre/Category: Cozy – Amateur Sleuth/Culinary
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1496723198
Page Count: 320
Rating: 
The Review
Maddie Day is a talented author who infuses her books with passion, love, and mysteries that can take your breath away. Book nine in the “A Country Store Mystery” series, No Grater Crime, embodies all of Maddie’s talents in one story. Pans ‘N Pancakes, Robbies cafe, is at the heart of this installment. Readers will enjoy spending more time at the store with the crew and friends while Robbie works to solve a murder.
When a customer dies suspiciously after eating at Pans ‘N Pancakes, fingers are pointing directly at Robbie, but she suspects it has something to do with her new neighbors, who also happen to hold a grudge against her aunt. Top that off with finding out that her soon-to-be husband, Abe’s ex is related to the neighbor’s, and she has her hands full and her mind a jumble. The cafe is closed down, there is a thief in their midst, and her wedding is just around the corner. Suspects are quickly identified, but the motive is elusive. You can guarantee there won’t be any dishes at the wedding that contain mushrooms, and hopefully, no murders either.
Readers will enjoy the action in this book and turn the pages eagerly. The characters, including the killer, have issues that can’t be fixed with good food, no matter how much Robbie wishes it could. The relationships throughout this series give readers a sense of family and home, and this addition is no different. Pans ‘N Pancakes, Robbie’s cafe, makes you want to find a place just like it and spend time eating and enjoying the community atmosphere every day. The killer is revealed, although their identity does not come as a big surprise after Robbie once again puts herself in peril. Robbie wraps everything up as she and Abe finally walk down the aisle. This is a well-written, engaging mystery that has heart, enjoyment and will make readers hungry. Readers will love No Grater Crime as much as they have the rest of the series, and I, along with other fans, look forward to the next chapter in Robbie’s life.
The Author
Edith Maxwell (aka Maddie Day) has always been a writer. She made her living writing technical documentation in the software industry, wrote features and essays as a free-lance journalist, edited medical texts, and produced several published articles and a doctoral dissertation in the field of linguistics. And before that, she wrote fiction and news articles, with her first paid published story appearing at age 9. Creating fiction, long and short, is what makes her happiest (although she wrote a prose poem about her late father that she’s rather proud of).
As a former organic farmer, Edith knows the language and tensions of someone like Cam Flaherty, the farmer in the Local Foods mysteries. Edith lived in southern Indiana for five years and loved the slow pace and language of its natives, so it made sense to set the Country Store Mysteries there. She taught independent childbirth classes and worked as a doula for some years, giving her insight into the life of a historical midwife as portrayed in the Quaker Midwife Mysteries. And her new Cozy Capers Book Group series comes straight out of both her imagination and several solo writing retreats on Cape Cod. 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.
Other books in the “A Country Store Mystery” Pans ‘N Pancakes cafe series readers may enjoy is Nacho Average Murder or enjoy one of Maddie/Edith’s other books such as Murder At The Taffy Shop from the “Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery” series.
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