Recipe for Murder: Cozy Crumb Mystery Series #1 by Lisa Harris (2008), 250 pages
Recipe for Murder by Lisa Harris is a Heartsong Presents—MYSTERIES! book. I liked it better than the only other Heartsong mystery I’ve read this year, Fog Over Finny’s Nose.
My overall conclusion, though, is that these are just too “cozy” mysteries for me. I’ve known this for awhile, but when these books came my way, I picked them up. I guess I really prefer more literary mysteries.
Pricilla Crumb, an accomplished chef, avid reader of mysteries and a widow, is filling in as cook at her son’s Colorado hunting lodge and loving it, particularly this week, as friends of hers are visiting. She’s busy setting her son, Nathan, up with Max’s daughter, Trisha. The plans for the week take a back seat, though, when a guest is found dead. The sheriff is out of town, and the detective on the case seems more interested in wrapping things up quickly and neatly than he is in finding the truth. Pricilla attempts to solve the mystery single-handedly, as well as help comfort the new widow.
The book also offers the recipe for Pricilla’s famous Lemon Crumb Cake.
Like Fog Over Finny’s Nose, Recipe for Murder has several distracting typos (including a character’s name spelled more than one way).
Things were wrapped up too neatly for me, and a few happenings were unbelievable. This book has quite a bit of Christian-ese. I did like the characters in this book, though. Pricilla and Max were especially great characters. Reading this book was a bit of fun.
Other reviews:
• Suitable for Mixed Company
• Mainly Mystery Reviews
• Novel Reviews
Harris lives in southern Africa with her family. She is the author of Final Deposit, a Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense book, also published in 2008, as well as a few books published in 2007. The author’s website and blog.
I hated writing this review, because I think Harris and I could be friends. I’ve made a commitment to be truthful in my reviews, though, and so I’m putting this out there.
it certainly is hard to be honest sometimes, especially when you have a feeling of connection to the author. You did the right thing though, and I felt your review was really balanced.
I’m not really into mystery type books, but this still looks interesting to me….I really enjoyed your review.
Happy Holidays!!!
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