No Grater Crime by Maddie Day is the 9th A Country Store Mystery. It can be read as a standalone if you are new to the series (but you will be missing out on some cute country cozy mysteries). Robbie Jordan is getting married in a month and still has some details to finalize. Her life becomes complicated when customers become ill after eating her mushroom omelet. Her restaurant is shut down leaving Robbie with unanswered questions and a dead patron. To top it off, some of her vintage implements have disappeared and a food truck opens across the street. No Grater Crime is a cute story that is action packed. I have been looking forward to Robbie and Abe’s wedding. They are such a sweet couple. I thought the author captured the area with her word imagery (of South Lick, Indiana) plus the dialects, dialogue, and references to nearby cities. It is funny how people call items by different names depending on what area of the country they are from. One example is soda. When I lived in Ohio, we called it pop. When I moved to Florida, I was told it was soda. I like that the author includes different examples. The mystery was interesting. There are multiple suspects in this whodunit that easily could have done the deed including Abe’s ex-wife. I had a good time following the mystery and seeing how it turned it (I love to solve the crimes). I would have liked a more thorough wrap-up. I was also baffled as to why Robbie never reported the missing items. It seemed odd. The ending will delight fans of the series. No Grater Crime is an enticing tale with mortal mushrooms, a purloined utensil, a lookie-loo, food truck trouble, and a wonderful wedding. ( )

No Grater Crime is the ninth book in the Country Store Mystery series by Maddie Day.

While shopping at a flea market, Robbie and her Aunt Adele meet up with Hattie and Felix. Robbie notices that they are not acting like “old friends.” As they talk, Hattie informs Robbie that she and Felix will soon open an antique shop across from Robbie’s cafe. Robbie also learns that Hattie and Felix’s daughter plans to operate a food truck in front of the antique store. Robbie is finally able to get out of her aunt why her relationship with them seemed off. Felix’s son was being bullied and asked Adele for help, but the support didn’t happen soon enough, and he committed suicide. Felix has held Adele responsible for his death.

The next day, Hattie and Felix came into Robbie’s cafe with friends to eat and were quick to point out their daughter’s food truck. Soon, an elderly gentleman who was eating an omelet becomes ill and is taken to the hospital. He later dies, and his death was attributed to eating poisonous mushrooms. The county health department comes and shuts down the cafe until an investigation on how this happened is completed. As Robbie is closing up after the health department leaves, she notices that some of the items she had gotten at the flea market are gone. The last person she saw in that area was Hattie.

With the cafe shut down, Robbie set off to see if someone was trying to shut her business down, trying to kill her, or was it just an accident. She suspects the company she orders her food and wisely changes suppliers. Robbie gets Aunt Adele and her fiancee, Abe, to help with her sleuthing. She hopes to solve the murder quickly as she would like to get her business opened, and, most notably, her marriage to Abe is fast approaching.

The book is descriptive enough that the reader feels like they are there. It has an enjoyable cast of believable and well-developed characters. The book is well-developed and plotted. The book contains enough red herrings that I was kept guessing until the end as to who the murderer was.

The book also contains delicious-sounding recipes.

I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in this delicious series. ( )

Maddie Day's Country Store cozy series, set at a diner in southern Indiana, is a top cozy mystery series for me and this 9th installment in the series is among the very best.

A top notch plot, an interesting means of death, and characters I love like family all combine to make this a favorite mystery this year. More please!!

Highly recommended to anyone who likes cozy mysteries.

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.) ( )

Indiana, family, friendship, small-business, small-town, murder-investigation, amateur-sleuth, law-enforcement, trans, vindictive*****

Although this is far along in the series, there is no problem reading this as a stand alone.
Robbie runs Pans 'N Pancakes which is a quick serve restaurant with a minor antiques shop and is planning her wedding to Abe. But there suddenly are problems; a new high end antique shop moves in across the street and the owner has an old anger, when Robbie's restaurant is closed by the health department a food truck begins parking across the street. And that's only the beginning! Stayed up too late wanting to finish it in one day. Loved it!
I requested and received a temporary digital ARC of this book from Kensington Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ( )