This was a fun mystery and who doesn’t love chocolates? At least these weren’t the kind that can put weight on me because I definitely didn’t have any real ones hanging around when I was reading (oh darn!) lol.
My Goodreads review:
Death Is Like a Box of Chocolates by Kathy Aarons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you never thought you could get hungry reading about a murder, think again. The descriptions of the chocolates and making them as well as some recipes will make you crave chocolate while reading this (unless for some reason you just don’t like or eat chocolate). There were lots of fun twists and suspects in this book and I’m glad our online book club chose it to read for February.
Michelle Serrano and her bestie, Erica, own the store Chocolate and Chapters. Michelle is a chocolatier and makes delectable confections while her friend runs the bookstore part of the operation. It’s almost Memorial Day weekend which means the Arts Fest and the first ever Fudge Contest are coming up soon. In the middle of all the planning fun, there’s a damper put on the festivities planning when the body of a friend and fellow small business owner turns up in Michelle’s chocolate kitchen. Since the woman was a photographer, the two amateur sleuths, Michelle and Erica start wondering if she has some photos that someone was willing to kill her to keep from showing them. Then to add to Michelle’s stress, famous star chef, Hillary Punkin, is supposed to make an appearance at their fudge contest.
Erica’s brother Bean aka Ben is a famous reporter come home for now. Since Michelle used to have a crush on him and I’m sure he had one on her too, they hit it off even though Michelle doesn’t really want to admit it. The local cop Bobby and Erica have some history as well but I hope that in the next two books maybe they can get pas their differences since later in the book they did talk about what happened before their graduation.
I loved how this little cat would just appear sometimes. Michelle called him Coco but he must have been more of a community kitty because it turned out he was called by two other names by two other local businesses.
The mystery was so good I didn’t want it to end. There were a a couple other intertwined mysteries along with the actual murder (and a second body). I had guessed different parts but didn’t have the whole picture so it was fun to read it as it all came together and made sense. The ending was exciting and justice was served up, literally. You’ll have to read it to see how the fudge contest went and also to see what Hillary thought of Chocolates and Chapters! I was sad to hear there are only two other books in the series so I will have to savor them slowly just like fine chocolates.
Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery 