Janel GradowskiRecensioni

What a tasty whodunnit mystery that let me DROOLING!! I loved Amy Ridley, part time sleuth, and quite the baker. When Amy entered a pie baking contest against her rivalry, she had no idea how dangerous it was and she never expected to find Mandy Jo dead under a table with her pie smeared all over her face! Mandy had made more enemies with her harsh tone and her hateful words, but just when Amy knew that she could dethrone the reigning queen, she ended up DEAD! Pies and Perils is LOADED with sweets that tempted me off my game and I was floored by who killed Mandy!

Spoiler Free Review
This is the sixth book in the series. The books follow Amy Ridley aspiring cookbook author and foodie. As in all cozies Amy has a predeliction for finding trouble i.e. dead bodies. She also has a compulsion to solve the mystery. Janel has created an interesting setting and has populated it with a group of characters that for the most part you wouldn't mind meeting. This particular book is pretty timely given the weather around the country right now as it takes place in a blizzard (ok snow event).
The differentiation I like to make is that many people can write a book but what I am looking for is someone who can tell a story. Janel can tell a story. The books are well written and well edited and make for entertaining reads. I found the series quite a while back and have enjoyed them all.
I was given an advance copy of the book and have voluntarily posted this review. The opinions in it are solely mine.

cozy mystery, amateur sleuth, women sleuths, murder investigation, Danger Cove

After meandering west from Indiana while wallowing in guilt for not really mourning the death of her husband (dimwit was struck by lightning while insisting on playing golf during a thunderstorm), Maura winds up in Danger Cove. When working in high pressure sales, she used to relax by baking and creating recipes, so when she saw that the local bakery was out of business, she began to follow a whim sparked by a passerby. Getting to know this man and so many others, she came to follow her whim, but also became involved in a series of vandalisms and a murder. The mystery is well done with twists and red herrings. Very enjoyable!

I freely chose to review this ARC as the title was intriguing. I liked that Maura Monroe decided to make a drastic change since the death of her husband. She had wanted a divorce since they no longer had anything in common, she didn't want him dead! She left Indiana for the west coast and she stopped at Danger Cove, Washington and ended up playing supercop to catch a murder ,ended up buying a bakery and falling in love............

The latest release in her Culinary Competition Series. Amy continues her streak of finding bodies and this time it hits close to home as the body is found in the parking lot of her husbands business. Amy of course follows the clues and figures out the mystery while continuing to dream up new recipes.
These are pleasant (even though there is a murder) clean reads. With a cast of interesting characters you will have no problem relating to. The subplot in all of these are the culinary competitions.
Her books are well written and well edited. The stories move at a comfortable pace and a good balance between main plot and supporting plot is achieved.

When I saw Culinary Competition in the series, I was expecting television competitions (like The Food Network etc.) so it was a bit of an adjustment to find that it was a cook who entered local events and competitions akin to the Pillsbury Bake-Off. In the end, I found it did not really matter. I enjoyed the story. There were a few times that I felt the author was stretching the plot to get it to a certain number of pages, and sometimes Amy's preoccupation with food was too much of a distraction from the plot. I also wondered why Amy's husband, friend, and the investigating detective didn't insist on Amy giving up sleuthing after she sent the detective on so many tangents thinking they had something to do with Mandy Jo's death and the threats Amy gets after that.

This was the third in the series, but like any good cozy series, you don't need to read the previous ones to get into the story quickly. Unfortunately, there was not much else I liked about this one. The mystery was fine, but the characters were rather flat and just did not appeal to me - maybe it was the third person narration, but I do not really think so.

Amy is thrilled to be planning Carla and Bruce’s wedding. But when Carla finally decides on a date and it’s only 3 weeks away she nearly flips. Carla wants something simple and informal… and quirky, like a doughnut tower instead of a wedding cake. After all, Bruce is a police detective.

In fact, Bruce ends up being the lead detective in the murder investigation of one of the owners of the men’s formal wear shop where he was ordering his wedding suit. If the case isn’t solved before the nuptials, Bruce won’t be able to concentrate on his honeymoon. So Amy and Carla vow to help track down the killer.

This cozy mystery involved much more than just one murder as Amy and Carla discover. The twists and turns come fast and furious. It’s as though the killer is toying with his subjects.

Getting all the details sorted out for Carla and Bruce’s wedding is no mean feat either and there are a number of twists and turns that take place for that to happen. The author does an excellent job of bringing these two storylines (the wedding and the murder) together in an interesting and sometimes humorous way.

There are a few big surprises in the story that I won’t share, but I will tell you that there are a few recipes in the back of the book included for you to try out as in all of the Culinary Competition Series books.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery. It was fast-paced and fun to read. I gave it 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author who provided a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/06/doughnuts-and-deadly-scheme...

What started off as a simple cook off for charity - a competition for the best chicken soup ends up much more complicated. One of the participants ends up in the freezer with a knife in his chest and Detective Shepler, the homicide detective assigned to the case is replaced by Detective Pitt because of a conflict of interest. The new detective seems to be accusing everyone and just hoping someone will volunteer themselves as the murderer.

At this rate no one will ever be charged with the murder and will get away with the crime and may be able to commit another murder. Right now the Pitt thinks someone did it to win the competition so the charity they wanted the winnings to go to would get the money. Somehow that doesn't make sense to Sophie so she begins to investigate on her own.

Her investigation leads her into many different twists and turns in the plot as she learns more about each of the characters who have some connection to the competition or the investigation. She even suspects Detective Pitt himself.

If you like food, you'll like this book as it talks a lot about food - sweet food, savoury food, and some of the recipes are in the back of the book including Sophie and Amy's recipe for their entry into the competition.

I enjoyed the talk around the food. I could almost visualize and smell it. Too bad books don't come with samples! At least this one comes with recipes.

Don't forget the romance too (or lack of it) as husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends interact with one another. This was a fairly clean romance novel but there were a moderate number of swear words in the text.

This was a very interesting cozy mystery that was a lot of fun to read. There are other books in this series by this author, but each one can be read as a stand-alone novel. I gave Chicken Soup and Homicide 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

This review was published on my blog Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/02/chicken-soup-and-homicide-b...

I received a copy of Must Love Sandwiches by Janel Gradowski in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very cute, quick read. The characters were good, but they were all seemingly confused by their own perceptions. I found Emma to be particularly over the top with her paranoia, but I think Daisy's lack of self confidence would be more relatable to most of us.

Revenge (6:1 Series, Volume 2) by Janel Gradowski is even more well crafted than the first volume of short stories and flash fiction, beginning and ending with a wallop. Once again there are six stories in this collection: “Persistent Foe,” “Kaboom,” “Check Out,” “Inconvenience,” “Anniversary,” and “Addendum.” Some are longer than others, but each is well paced, with only one typical revenge story — “Kaboom.”

Agnes from “Persistent Foe” is the neighbor you wish you could be when you have loud, inconsiderate neighbors of your own. While she does not complain too much outright and doesn’t call the cops, she exacts her revenge little by little each day envisioning a big payoff in the end. And the ending of this one is inspired and unique. Gradowski does a great job of foreshadowing in this short story as well: “She plucked the invasive vine out the basket and dropped it into the tangle of weeds flourishing on the other side. ‘Time to join your ancestors.’” Readers will be sitting alongside Agnes as she watches the show unfold in her neighbors backyard one late evening.

Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/06/revenge-61-series-volume-2-by-janel-gradowsk...

Haunted (6:1 Series, Volume 1) by Janel Gradowski is part of her six stories with one theme series and was the first she published as an ebook after much success in publishing her flash fiction in literary journals. This collection is a quick read and can be read in about a day. There is a surprising breadth of characters and situations representing the theme from a woman haunted by her jilted lover to a ghost unaware of his present state.

Read full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/06/haunted-61-series-volume-1-by-janel-gradowsk...