A STUDY IN CHOCOLATE
Bean to Bar Mysteries Book 5
by
AMBER ROYER
Cozy Culinary Mystery / Women Sleuths / Romance
Publisher: Golden Tip Press
Date of Publication: January 27, 2023
Number of Pages: 260 pages
Scroll down for Giveaway!
Felicity Koerber's bean to bar chocolate shop on Galveston's historic Strand is expanding, as it has become a gathering spot for the community, despite having been the scene of multiple murders. Artists she met while doing a chocolate sculpture are now working out of the shop. So when Felicity is invited to tea by an eccentric art collector, she's intrigued, especially when she gets asked to pose for a portrait done with chocolate on chocolate. Only, where there is a murder the next day at the same historic house where the tea was held, one of Felicity's artist friends becomes the main suspect.
When the killer threatens that unless Felicity unravels the murder, one of her two love interests will be the next victim, she finds herself unwittingly at the center of a puzzle with a Sherlock Holmes-obsessed murderer who wants to be the next Moriarty - and wants to cast Felicity as Sherlock.
Felicity starts finding unexpected connections between her friends and acquaintances and must deal with the idea that someone who knows her is a murderer. At the same time, she has to keep her business running, despite construction dust and unruly customers - and an unexpected order for thousands of truffles.
Satchmo the retired police-dog-turned-therapy dog returns to help her sniff out a few clues, and the kidnapping of Ruffles, the quirky artist's cat, helps lead Felicity into the puzzle. Can Felicity solve it in time to protect the people she cares about from becoming additional victims?
CLICK TO PURCHASE!
│ Amazon│ Barnes and Noble │Kobo│
My Review:
As the synopsis above states, A Study in Chocolate is a mystery novel featuring a female amateur detective who has several cases under her belt. This book is part of a series. I haven't yet read the previous books in it, but I enjoyed this one on its own. There are a few plot threads that carry on from past events, though everything is explained well enough here to make it through without much trouble.
Felicity, the protagonist, runs a chocolate shop on Galveston Island. After she is invited to a social event at a historic home, someone is murdered and the murderer wants her to play a game with them. If she solves the crime and stops the murderer's next ploy, one of the men she loves will live. However, there isn't much to go on early into the case and Felicity isn't entirely sure she's cut out to be a detective despite her past experiences.
The things I like most about this book is that there's a broad cast. It was easy enough to keep track of, but there are plenty of potential suspects to evaluate. That means that there's plenty for Felicity to do and to sift through to solve this mystery. I also really liked how much knowledge there is about chocolate making because in a lot of ways it made my experience feel like I was also getting to be a tourist of the island, while trying to solve the mystery. The overall setting is just really fun to read about and get a feel for. Felicity is a relatable heroine as she struggles to figure out the next step in her life. She's suffered loss, is getting herself back together, and is just a businesswoman trying to succeed while strange things happen around her.
This book does have a bit of a love triangle, but it's not the main focus (it's also a "clean romance" so no worries about adult content here murder aside). I'm not really the biggest fan of love triangles and initially, I was on the fence about it. However, once I got to know more about Felicity's mindset about things and why she's struggling to make a decision, I was much more comfortable with it and happily went along reading with more fervor for what would happen next. Since I didn't read previous books, I haven't seen either relationship develop, but I do have a Team I'm siding on thus far and I'd love to go back and see how Felicity got to this point in her life. I'd also like to see if I'm consistent with my choice once I have more info. I'm already ready to see what happens next because...this can't be the end yet. No way.
As far as the mystery goes, I was locked in on a suspect at around 60-65% through. I didn't quite have the motive, because I needed some more pieces. I just had a gut feeling and stuck with it. So on that end, I could've used a little more draw out on the mystery, personally. However, I do concede that it might be more of a "I read several mysteries and pick up on patterns, so it was a logical conclusion to draw" problem and not a problem with the book itself. I had no issues whatsoever with the pacing or the clues that were dropped in. I'm not really sure how others compare to my whodunnit solving times, so I have no marker to go by...I'm just thinking that the clues were so well placed as to lead naturally to a particular conclusion. I didn't have everything until about 85% through, so it still took a moment to get the motive squared away and piece together other strands that had been scattered about.
All in all, I had a really good time with this book. Each character was distinct and interesting, I enjoyed Felicity's struggles, and the mystery was a good time! I would definitely recommend it to mystery readers, especially those in Texas who want to add some more local writers to their reading list. I loved the Sherlock theming that kept running throughout the story and I like how distinct this feels from other mysteries I've read thus far. I give A Study in Chocolate a Lone Star rating of ✯✯✯✯ stars.
Amber Royer writes the Chocoverse comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series and the Bean to Bar Mysteries. She is also the author of Story Like a Journalist: A Workbook for Novelists, which boils down her writing knowledge into an actionable plan involving over 100 worksheets to build a comprehensive story plan for your novel. She also teaches creative writing and is an author coach.
Amber and her husband live in the DFW Area, where you can often find them hiking or taking landscape/architecture/wildlife photographs. If you are very nice to Amber, she might make you cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes, of course! Amber blogs about creative writing technique and all things chocolate.
--------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
ONE WINNER:
Signed copy of A Study in Chocolate +
a chocolate bar from French Broad Chocolate.
(US only; ends midnight, CST, 3/10/23)
CLICK TO VISIT THE LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE TOUR PAGE
FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY,
or visit the blogs directly:
|
02/28/23 |
Series Spotlight |
|
|
02/28/23 |
BONUS Promo |
|
|
03/01/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/01/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/02/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/03/23 |
BONUS PROMO |
|
|
03/03/23 |
Guest Post |
|
|
03/03/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/04/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/05/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/06/23 |
Scrapbook Page |
|
|
03/06/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/07/23 |
Playlist |
|
|
03/08/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/08/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/09/23 |
Review |
|
|
03/09/23 |
Review |
blog tour services
provided by
Thank you for such a thoughtful and well-considered review.
ReplyDelete