When the Grits Hit the Fan
After buying and opening a small-town restaurant and soon-to-be B & B, Robbie started hosting dinners for Indiana University’s Sociology Department at Pans ‘N Pancakes to keep the store going through the slow winter months. The hostility between the members could be seen and heard, and she wondered if any of them were as smart as she had always thought they were. Professor Charles Stilton, a man who no one liked or wanted to work with, was at the center of the tension at the latest meeting. The Professor insults Robbie’s friend, graduate student Lou and the chair of his department, Zen ending the night with grumbling and dread.
The next morning Robbie and Lou go snowshoeing and find the Professor frozen under the ice. Before long the police suspect Lou might have killed him after she accused him of stealing her work. To prove her friend’s innocence, Robbie does what she does best, begins to solve the mystery of the Professor’s murder, and puts herself smack in the middle of danger, again.
Series: A Country Store Mystery – Book #3
Author: Maddie Day
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Kensington Books
Page Count: 352
Rating:
Robbie Jordan is a delightful character, as are all of the recurring characters in this series. The story, although a murder mystery is more than a who done it. Maddie Day fills the pages of her book with several intriguing puzzles. Setting Robbie up for making several discoveries and perplexing mysteries.
Robbie and Lou are by far the most rounded characters in the story, but Jo and Danna are becoming an intricate part of the series and serve to give the reader more than a couple of suspects to point the finger at. Robbie’s desire to make her store succeed even in the dismal dead of winter is inspiring. Her newest love interest is a man who thinks everything Robbie does is perfect, he is respectful, loving, and compassionate at all the right moments, and protective when needed. The only complaint there may be is that his background could be better explained, but overall, he is an excellent addition to Robbie’s life.
There are numerous suspects, and not even the police can figure out who killed the Professor. Other than the fact that he was not liked by most people, no one, in particular, seems to have a motive for killing him. In the end, the murderer is revealed in an unexpected and heart-stopping way.
The setting, the small town of South Lick, and the plot of this story is delightful and does not disappoint. The reader may well find themselves envisioning the store and its quirky customers sitting down to a homestyle, upscale breakfast, and a bit of gossip. The book is fast-paced without sacrificing detail and those all-important clues needed to solve the murder.
This series is highly recommended, if you like twists, turns and a well-crafted story with memorable characters you will love this book.
About 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).
She is active in Sisters in Crime and is a member of Mystery Writers of America. She is also a long-time member of the Society of Friends (Quaker), and the recent past Clerk of Amesbury Friends Meeting. Her art story was featured in the National Endowment for the Arts 50th anniversary celebration.
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.
Contact Edith/Maddie: edithmaxwellauthor@gmail.com
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