Shredding the Evidence

The denizens of Crystal Cove are salivating over the upcoming Food Bowl Week when local chefs offer some of their best and most imaginative creations in bite-size portions all over town. Bookstore proprietor Jenna Hart is hungry to sample as many of the delicacies as she can, but when she stumbles onto the dead body of a local food reporter and learns that her best friend’s husband is the primary suspect, she’ll have to summon the appetite for a side dish of sleuthing to prove his innocence.

Jenna knows the ambitious and aggressive reporter, who was strangled at a fitness center with her shredded restaurant reviews scattered around her, left behind a long list of potential suspects. As she begins piecing together the scant clues, she uncovers illicit ties between the victim and a local newspaper owner, a spurned would-be lover, and a host of disgruntled restaurant owners, not a bit torn up by the critical reporter’s demise. And with a solution so close she can almost taste it, Jenna turns up the heat on the culprit, realizing too late that she’s the next course on the murderer’s menu.

Series: A Cookbook Nook Mystery – Book #9
Author: Daryl Wood Gerber
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Bookstore
Publisher: Beyond the Page Publishing
Page Count: 230

Rating:

From Beyond the Page Publishing http://beyondthepagepub.com/ comes Daryl Wood Gerber’s ninth book in the “A Cookbook Nook Mystery” series, Shredding the Evidence.

The characters in this bookstore cozy are always fun, intelligent, and happy to get into mischief. They are also easily persuaded to jump into a murder investigation. Which considering the fact that another murder has occurred, is a good thing. Jenna is an amateur sleuth at best, but not as unwilling as she would like people to think. Bailey takes the lead this time, her husband being the main suspect. She is almost ruthless in her questioning of suspects and witnesses. Aunt Vera, although not directly involved in the investigation, adds drama and entertainment to an already delightful story. A pregnant Cinnamon is an unpredictable Cinnamon; this opens up the character to have more depth and personality. I would like to have seen Rhett more involved in the story as he plays such a small part.

As always, the setting of Crystal Cove is idyllic and a town most readers would enjoy visiting. The base of this series is a bookstore that specializes in cookbooks and cooking items. I would love to spend a couple of hours roaming through the cookbooks and other items. The recipe descriptions are mouth-watering!

The murder is unusual, and a bit more violent than readers might expect from a cozy book. Thankfully, Ms. Gerber limits the description to the bare necessities; readers need not worry that it crosses the boundaries of cozy vs. pulp. Suspects are plentiful, and many have excellent motives to have killed the victim. Kylie O wasn’t well-liked and earned the dislike and perhaps hatred of those she came in contact with. After everything she did, its a wonder someone hadn’t murdered her sooner! The bookstore doesn’t play a big enough part in this book, but that could just be my inner literary greed speaking. Food Bowl week sounds like an event most people would enjoy attending, and the characters in this story are no exception.

In the end, the killer is found and will come as somewhat of a surprise to many readers. Unfortunately, I was fairly sure who the killer was almost from the beginning, but the motive and the means were intriguing and kept me turning the page. Overall, Shredding the Evidence is a delightful cozy, with a fan favorite setting of a bookstore, with a small-town feel that keeps readers coming back to this series. Ms. Gerber is a wonderful writer who can craft a story that leaves you feeling happy. In a world where happiness can be hard to find right now, reading a good cozy is a pleasure we can all endure with ease.

Some other bookstore based cozy books and series readers may want to check out include, Amy Lillard’s delightful new series “Main Street Book Club Mysteries” or the fantastic series “A Castle Bookshop Mystery” written by Essie Lang aka Erika Chase.

About the Author:

Daryl Wood Gerber is the Agatha Award-winning, nationally bestselling author. Under the pen name Avery Aames, Daryl writes another series. As a girl, Daryl considered becoming a writer, but she was dissuaded by a seventh-grade teacher. It wasn’t until she was in her twenties that she had the temerity to try her hand at writing again . . . for TV and screen. Why? Because she was an actress in Hollywood. A fun tidbit for mystery buffs: Daryl co-starred on Murder, She Wrote as well as other TV shows. As a writer, she created the format for the popular sitcom Out of This World. When she moved across the country with her husband, she returned to writing what she loved to read: mysteries and thrillers.

Daryl is originally from the Bay Area and graduated from Stanford University. She loves to cook, read, golf, swim, and garden. She also likes adventure and has been known to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Here are a few of Daryl’s lifelong mottos: perseverance will out; believe you can; never give up. She hopes they will become yours, as well.

Represented by: John Talbot at The Talbot Fortune Inc.

Contact Daryl: daryl@darylwoodgerber.com

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