Chris CavenderCritiques

Fun little mystery. A guest of the West Hatteras Inn is found dead at the top of the stairs of the light house. At first it is believed it is just an accident. But then it's found to really be murder. The owner of the Inn steps in to help with the investigation as it appears that local law enforcement may not be up to the job.

“The sleuth of April Springs is back at it, is she?”

In my rating system the author starts with three stars automatically for writing and publishing a book. And that’s all I can say about this one unfortunately. I usually love this series but in this outing the normally likable heroine came off as a bitter shrew to her temporary investigative partner, her business partner and pretty much everyone she encountered. If I hadn’t been behind on the series and knew there a couple of more books left I would have suspected she was the murderer. Give this one a pass.

First in the series. A young man finds himself in the ownership of a local candle shop. It's due to the death of his Aunt, who's death may not have been a simple accident as it is thought. He meets the colorful cast of characters who run the local business in his building and along the way must determine if her death was really an accident or murder.

2.5 stars, I hated it, I sort of liked it.½

I enjoyed this book to spite the mixed reviews. It did remind me of the Hannah Swenson mysteries, but I will continue to read this series.

did not finish. Thought it spent too much time on boring details.

An utterly forgettable mystery that is o.k. if you are just looking for a mindless way to pass some time.

This is yet another entry in the standard, cookie-cutter, ‘includes recipes’ style, casual mysteries series permeating the publishing market. (Although, the recipes included in this particular book are limited to a couple of recommendations for what to do with leftover pizza dough.) This certainly isn’t among the best examples of the genre, but it’s not the worst either.

In the obligatory setting of a picturesque small town, a couple of nondescript sisters, Eleanor & Maddy, run a pizzeria called A Slice of Delight—referred to ad nauseum as ‘The Slice’.

Maddy has a history of failed marriages to colossal bozos, and one of these former bozos has come back to town to cause Maddy trouble.

When this former bozo is brutally murdered at the picturesque town square BBQ hootenanny, Maddy’s current bozo (a boyfriend/attorney named Bob) flies to the top of the suspect list.

In their own minds, it then becomes dependent on the two sisters to uncover the true culprit to get Bob off the hook. In order to achieve this goal, they must defy law enforcement and grapple with a group of belligerent suspects, including the dead bozo’s: irate sister, slutty other ex-wife, shady business partner, recently dumped mistress, and recently dumped mistress’ soon-to-be ex-husband.

The sisters go about this in a sort of haphazard fashion, and eventually figure out who the murderer is when the murderer shows up and announces, “Yo, gals, I’m the murderer..”

If you are looking for a fun drinking game to accompany this book, might I suggest downing a shot every time the sisters in any way mention the fact that they “have each other’s backs”. I guarantee your liver will be absolutely pickled by the solution of the crime.

Would I be willing to read another installment in this series if one came my way? Probably.

Would I go out of my way to read another title in this series?
No.

Suzanne Hart lives in the small town of April Springs, North Carolina, with her mother. She's a divorced woman who decided to take a chance and open a donut shop, Donut Hearts, and has found that every day it's filled with people who want a little morning pick-me-up, which makes her happy.

Her best friend Grace has been dating a man named Peter Morgan that Suzanne just can't like, no matter how hard she tries. She thinks he's smarmy; so when Grace shows up one night at her house crying, she quickly finds out it's because Grace has found Peter cheating on her and broken up with him. But the next morning when Suzanne goes to work she discovers that someone has thrown yellow paint all over the front of her building, and she has an idea who it was. Still, when the police chief himself shows up, she's surprised -- at least until he tells her why: someone has killed Peter and he wants her to come with him to Grace's -- not to accuse her, but because he thinks Grace will need her after he breaks the news.

Still, Suzanne realizes that Grace is the main suspect, so she and her friend go into investigative mode, trying to figure out who wanted Peter dead. What they don't expect to find is the man was a huge womanizer, and practically all of them had a real reason to kill him.

When they start investigating further, they also find that Peter was more than just a womanizer, and the suspect list grows. Now, all Suzanne has to do is ask questions and avoid a killer. Easy, right?...

This is the eighth book in the series and I have read them all. I know this is an older book, but once in a while I feel the need to go back to my library and dig an older one out. The reason being is that these books don't have political overtones or leanings, and you're not getting someone else's personal views in your reading.

I have found that these books are a lot of fun to read. They feature Suzanne, who's practically fearless but also careful, and she stands up for what she believes in -- which is loyalty to her friends and justice for the innocent. She's also a pretty good donut maker! Anyway, I like the characters in the book, and like Suzanne, I'm even warming to Chief Martin.

In this book we find out that Peter was quite a womanizer. What gets me is when did he have any time to himself? There's no shortage of suspects, and while many of them don't want to be questioned, one of them goes to great lengths to avoid it, which only puts that person on the major radar, if you will.

But when things come to a head, Suzanne realizes she only has her wits to save her, and she uses them for everything it's worth (as we know she will survive!). The ending is quite nice, and makes for an easy read any evening, with a feel-good satisfying result. Recommended.

Suzanne Hart owns Donut Hearts, a donut shop in small-town April Springs, North Carolina, She lives with her mother in the home she grew up in, and has made a nice life for herself after her divorce. But one day she finds her mother completely riled up by the mayor, who has done something no mayor should ever do, and decides to run against him in the upcoming election. But before that can happen, the mayor is discovered dead at one of her properties, and now Suzanne's mother Dorothy is a big suspect. When she asks her to help clear her name, how can she refuse? Even if it means going against her police inspector boyfriend Jake. But someone killed the man, and once you've murdered someone, it's a lot easier to murder again...

This is the seventh book in the series, and I'm really starting to enjoy it. I like the fact that it's not stagnating, and is moving right along. I also go back to older series every now and then because I know that the authors aren't going to throw their political beliefs in everywhere. It's sad, but I read to escape from reality, not have it pushed in my face. There's also a cute conversation about male writers using female pseudonyms, which is funny because of the author (who is very good, by the way).

Suzanne has several suspects to sift through, and none of them want to give her any answers, especially the ex-wife of the police chief, who is running against Dorothy. Not even Suzanne's donuts can open her up. But Suzanne has her posse of best friend Grace and retired cop George to help, and they all seem to glean information one way or another.

When the ending comes it is surprising in more ways than one, and there are changes for Suzanne that we will have to wait and see how it plays out. The narrative is lighthearted and playful, just as it's supposed to be. I really enjoyed the book and visiting with these characters again, and will continue on with this series. Recommended.

When Suzanne Hart, owner of Donut Hearts, sells a dozen crullers to a man she doesn't know, she also doesn't expect him to use them as ammunition. As he's throwing them at the store front window of her neighbor Gabby's store ReNEWed, she steps in to stop him. He starts accusing Gabby of stealing $10,000 and a vintage brooch from his aunt Jean when Jean donated a coat and it was supposedly in the pocket.

After the man leaves, Gabby insists she had nothing to do with the missing money. But when the man is later killed, and Gabby is the main suspect, she begs Suzanne to help clear her name. So Suzanne enlists the help of her best friend Grace, and her retired cop friend George to try and find the killer. But with plenty of suspects, Suzanne may have gotten herself in deeper than she wants, especially with a killer closer than she thinks...

This is the sixth book in the series and I have read every one of them. I have to say that this book is a breath of fresh air. Honestly, it is so nice to read a book that doesn't have an author's personal political views thrown in every which way they can lately. No offense to the authors, but I read a book for entertainment and to escape daily life, not to have you tell me what I should think and do. Perhaps that is why I feel the need to read older books so much. There's no nonsense in them, just pure fun.

And while this book isn't high literature -- it's not meant to be, after all -- it is fun to read. This time out Suzanne is partly on her own with her friends having to unfortunately leave her in the lurch even if they don't want to. It makes for an interesting time watching her handle things mostly by herself, and still manage to keep her business moving along.

We see a different side of the hard-hearted Gabby, as she softens toward Suzanne, and there are a couple of surprising twists as well to keep the story moving along. Because of this, it makes the reader want to finish the book in one sitting, which I did, anyway. When the ending comes and the identity of the killer is revealed, it also brings everything together nicely, and even gives us something to look forward to in the next book. Recommended.

Suzanne Hart owns Donut Hearts, a donut shop in small-town April Springs, North Carolina. One morning she's visited by Chief Martin, who's been contacted by Emily Hargraves' mother, who's worried because Emily is missing, and Suzanne was the last person to see her. So after he leaves, she calls her best friend Grace to help her locate Emily, knowing she'd never just disappear without a word and leave her shop unlocked.

But later while Grace and Suzanne are walking through the park toward Suzanne's home, they find something they'd rather not: Tim Leander hanging from Patriot's Tree. After the police arrive and they've been questioned, they think that's the end of it. But Suzanne has been asked to help find out who killed Tim, and she feels an obligation to do so.

Complicating matters are the fact that her boyfriend Jake has arrived since he has a few days off work and wants to spend the time with her; being a state investigator doesn't give him a lot of free time; and someone has stolen her beloved recipe book, without which she can only create the donuts she's memorized by heart. So Suzanne decides that now it's been made personal, and she's more than ever determined to find the killer, even if it puts her own life in danger...

This is the fifth book in the series, and probably my favorite one. The plot was decent, and there were enough suspects and enough red herrings to keep me reading throughout without getting bored. I like Suzanne and the fact that she doesn't knowingly do things that might put her into danger, nor does she do stupid things like breaking and entering. It helps that she's smart enough to merely ask questions, even if those questions are a tad invasive. After all, how does one get answers otherwise?

This time out, she has managed to finagle Jake into working with her, sort of like a tag team. She and Grace will ask the questions of the women, and Jake and her friend George Morris will tackle the men (not that it's sexist, but it makes more sense that way). In doing so, they hope to ferret out a killer.

Also on the sidelines is her mother Dorothy, who is trying out dating again after being a widow for many years. The man she's seeing is none other than police chief Philip Martin, who's had a crush on her forever and is mellowing in his desire to please her. But unfortunately, some of his efforts have gone awry, and now Dorothy is still on the fence, which worries Suzanne.

But in the end, the killer will be found, as we know it must be, and the reasons for the murder seem rather twisted and delusional, giving us no sympathy at all for them. All in all, it was a satisfactory ending and I will continue with the series. Recommended.

This is a cute, cozy mystery set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina at the West Hatteras Inn and Lighthouse. When a guest is found dead at the top of the lighthouse everyone wonders if it's just an accident. Before long more “accidents” start to happen and it doesn't look like local law enforcement seems capable of solving the crime. Owner of the Lighthouse, Alex Winston and his new maid, Elise, decide it's time to step in and try to solve the mystery themselves before all the guests leave and Alex loses his the business.

This is definitely not the book for everyone. The mystery is not difficult to solve. There is quite a variety of quirky characters that will probably be more developed in future books of the series. I doubt I continue with the series but fans of the cozy, proprietor style mystery will probably enjoy them.

Please note that I gave this 3.5 stars and rounded it up to 4 stars on Goodreads.

I have to say that I really do enjoy a good cozy mystery. I started reading these type of books when I was in college and even though they may not have been the most sophisticated mysteries out there, they have enough mystery and romantic elements that can appeal to a wider audience. I decided to read the first book in the "Pizza Lovers" mystery after my library recommended it to me. Fair warning though potential readers, do not read this book on an empty stomach. I craved pizza and red wine the entire time I was reading this book.

Taking place in Timber Ridge, North Carolina, "A Slice of Pizza" follows Eleanor Swift who finds a dead man after delivering pizza to his home. We find out a quick backstory to Eleanor (and I do mean quick) that she is now running her pizza parlor with her sister after her husband died (I think possibly a year or so earlier than the events in the book). Eleanor usually does not do deliveries, but after her pizza delivery boy calls off sick, she thinks nothing of running one by. Due to an altercation between Eleanor and the deceased she finds herself on the top of the suspect list. Due to a past with the local police chief, their animosity is also causing him to believe that Eleanor could be behind the murder.

I honestly found Eleanor a little meh for the most part. I absolutely adored her mystery loving sister Maddie though. Any fictional character that loves Agatha Christie is alright by me! And that is what through me for the most part. Eleanor is reluctant to investigate but then does once she realizes she stands a real chance of being arrested. However, it is really Maddie's insights and leg work that keep the story moving. I was not a fan of a lot of things happening off screen that we didn't get to see as readers. There was a lot of Maddie calling Eleanor to tell her what is occurring or the two of them briefing each other while making pizza in the kitchen at the pizza parlor.

The other characters needed a bit more development though in my opinion. The police chief was a jerk pretty much through the whole book. The backstory to his and Eleanor's relationship was a non-starter. Thank goodness the author does not seem to be throwing them together in a love triangle. I will say though that it's a bit much that a lot of men in this town seemed to have romantic designs on Eleanor (or at least it seemed that way to me). She finally deigns to go out on a date with someone and that whole thing stopped the momentum of the book for me. Eleanor spends a lot of time talking about how perfect her husband was though Maddie definitely seems like she has some things to say about it.

I found the writing good and honestly the descriptions of how Eleanor made her dough, created her pizzas and sandwiches, etc. sounded delicious. I was not kidding about do not read this if you are hungry. I maybe made myself a nice Italian hoagie with pepperoni, cheese, jalapeno peppers, and ham. Maybe (I totally did).

As I said though, the flow was off here and there and the mystery does drag a bit.

I did not guess the guilty party, and honestly the reasoning behind the murder was a bit of a letdown. I thought the ending could have been a little cleaner. Not a total home-run, but I could see myself reading the next book in the series.

Suzanne Hart owns Donut Hearts in small town April Springs, North Carolina. She's not getting rich, but she's managing to make a decent living doing what she loves. While listening to the radio one night while she's in bed, she hears radio jockey Lester Moorefield -- a thorn in her side -- tell everyone to stay away from her business because she's feeding everyone poison with her donuts. Angry, she dresses and goes to the station to confront him. They have words, and Suzanne leaves, determined to make him regret targeting her.

Later on the next morning, police chief Martin comes to the shop and asks her to come with him to the radio station, where he tells her that Lester is dead, and one of her éclairs was found stuffed in his mouth. While he doesn't believe she committed the murder, he wants to know where she was at the time of the murder, and then if she knows anything. Of course she doesn't, but when her business starts to suffer because of Lester's final broadcast, Suzanne can't just sit back and wait for the police.

With the help of her friends Grace and George, she's determined to investigate. But then her boyfriend, state investigator Jake Bishop, is assigned to the case, and there's an accident that puts her in the forefront of knowing it shouldn't have happened, and Suzanne is bound and determined to get the murderer...that is, if the murderer doesn't get her first...

This is the fourth book in the series, and I must say that it's been improving along the way. I do like Suzanne as a person; she doesn't rush headlong into accusing everyone she meets of murder; she asks questions and then eliminates that suspect, which is much nicer and more believable.

She loves her donut shop and the people around her, and it's apparent that they love her, too. I do like the fact that she has a mother who's not hounding her about grandkids and is a good part of Suzanne's life. I'm beginning to enjoy Dorothy's presence in these books; and I do like the fact that Suzanne's relationship with Jake is beginning to take shape and grow.

As far as the murder goes, it was done very nicely, with just enough suspects who may or may not have had solid alibis, and sifting through them with Suzanne was tons of fun. While the murderer wasn't totally unexpected, my dislike of another character really wanted that person to be guilty. Oh, well. In the end, it came together seamlessly, and I spent a good evening with Suzanne and her friends, and look forward to seeing them again in the next book. Recommended.

Suzanne Hart is the owner of Donut Hearts in April Springs, North Carolina. It's just before Christmas and everyone is loving the Winter Festival, especially Suzanne. She has a booth set up outside her shop where she's selling her donuts, and couldn't be happier. That is, until there's a commotion in the town square a few blocks away, and Suzanne hears someone shout that Muriel Stevens has been murdered.

Suzanne asks her employee Emma to watch the shop and goes to see what happened, and she notices Muriel's distinctive winter coat. But then she notices something else -- Muriel's hair has streaks of grey, which Muriel would never allow, and a touch of blonde. She tells them that's not Muriel, and it's discovered that the dead woman is Darlene Higgins, the woman who destroyed Suzanne's marriage by sleeping with her husband, Max. Now Max is a suspect in the murder, but he's disappeared and Chief Martin thinks Suzanne is shielding him. But Suzanne knows Max is no killer, so she and her best friend Grace set out to find the truth. But that's only going to work if the killer doesn't find her first...

This is the third book in the series and I have to tell you that it's improved over the first two. The characters are starting to come together and Suzanne is beginning to grow on me. I didn't much care for her in the first book, so that's saying a lot. I even like Max the Dirtbag. At least he's remorseful, but I agree with Suzanne wholeheartedly in her decision.

In this book we have a few changes in Suzanne's life and even Emma's, that make them rethink a few things. It's a nice concept and we see how they react to them. In all these cases, I like Suzanne more. She's generous, kind, thoughtful, and whole-hearted. Those are good qualities in a person. She's also strong and independent, and can give as good as she gets. Watching her reactions to people in different situations gives us an eye to her as a person, and it's nice to see.

Suzanne isn't sure who killed Darlene, or why, but she's determined to find out, and with this in mind she and Grace are asking questions -- as surreptitiously as they can, of course -- and while they're not quite discovering a murderer, they are discovering suspects, and reasons why someone would want Darlene out of the picture.

When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, it's a bit of a surprise, but not an unwelcome one, at that. I really liked how this was done, and as unexpected as it was, it was a nice touch in the last few scenes. I also did like the ending of the book, giving us a hint of what might be next in Suzanne's life. Recommended.

Suzanne Hart owns Donut Hearts, where she happily spends her mornings baking and selling coffee and donuts. But she’s been asked by a friend to participate in a charity fundraiser, to demonstrate making donuts in the kitchen of one of the participant’s home, and Suzanne jumped at the chance to show off her skills. However, there's one person who doesn't want her involved, and that's the chairperson, Peg Masterson, isn't happy about it and makes her feelings known. But since Peg isn't liked by many people, Suzanne ignores her.

The day of the demonstration, with a roomful of onlookers, someone notices that there’s a body outside the window, and screams. The victim is Peg, and upon further investigation, it's apparent she's been poisoned...and it was with one of Suzanne’s lemon filled donuts. Now, with being a suspect in the murder, and with her life and reputation on the line, she's out to find a killer. She can't count on help from boyfriend police Inspector Jake Bishop, who wants to stay away from her because he doesn't want anyone to think he's 'favoring' her, she asks retired cop and friend George to help. But even he might not be enough if a killer decides that she's getting a bit too close and needs to be eliminated...

This is the second book in the series and better than the first, which is good. I’m not sure yet if I like Jake Bishop or not, considering he’s not much of a boyfriend. I get that he has things going on, but cops do have relationships, and spending time with her shouldn’t be a big deal. He is allowed a private life, after all, and if he doesn't discuss the case with her, I can't see how it would be a big deal if they went to dinner once in a while. It’s like he’d rather make excuses than spend time with her. Who knows? Maybe the author wants to get rid of him since someone else was introduced in this book and her ex Max is hanging around, too (don’t tell me; I’d rather find out gradually by reading the other books). I do like her mother, Dorothy and most of the other characters; I’m even beginning to like the Chief Martin since he didn’t treat her unfairly in this one.

At any rate, the mystery was decent, and we were given several suspects to sift through and a few red herrings along the way, which are also nice. When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, it was a bit of a surprise, which is always a nice thing. The reason for the murder was believable, the characters are developing, and everything came together well enough that I will continue to read the next in the series.

Suzanne Hart divorced her husband and bought a donut shop, giving herself a new start to life. Unfortunately, one morning she sees a dead body being dumped in front of her shop. After she calls the police, she finds that the body is none other than Patrick Blaine, a regular customer of hers. When she thinks the police aren't circling in fast enough on a suspect, she decides that she'll look for the killer on her own, even if it puts her in danger of being the next victim...

I really wanted to like this book, but there were several things wrong with it, the main thing being that I couldn't find any relationship between Patrick and Suzanne. Yes, he was a customer, but so were many others. As to being friends? Customers aren't friends. They're customers. Friends are people you call, do things with, see occasionally. I couldn't find a relationship between these two. She knew nothing about his life, never had even so much as a lunch with him. So that gave me pause as to why she would be investigating his murder in the first place.

I also felt that this book could have been set anywhere in the United States, since the only mention to it being in North Carolina was the mountain view. There were no descriptions of the town, none of the area around at all. Descriptions are important. We're also given very little description of Suzanne or anyone else. Basic, but that's about all. I know that this author is a man using a pseudonym of a woman, but we do like to know details so we can create images in our minds of the people we're reading about.

Why would her friend Grace be investigating so willingly? I could see it if Grace worked for a newspaper, but she was in sales. I also felt that Suzanne left Emma alone too much. Since Suzanne closed the shop at noon, what was preventing her from investigating after that time, instead of before it? It certainly would have made more sense in the long run. Oh, well.

The mystery itself was fine, but nothing special. If the police were actually intelligent, they would have closed in on the killer themselves before Suzanne did, and it would have been obvious at some point. Everyone was clueless until the very end, including Jake, which surprised me. I know this series has gone on for quite awhile, and my only guess is because of the donut recipes. (I do make my own donuts, for those wondering if anyone does; however I also use my own recipes, and wouldn't be inclined to buy these books just for that.) Two stars for the writing, which was fine, but I still feel let down by the ending.

Just as good as book one, wish there was a book three to read right now.

Two of my favourite things, helpful ghosts and cats. Only two books so far in this series and I am hoping it continues. Second time I have read this book number one and now to read book two for the first time. February 1, 2014 was when I read it last.

I received this book from the Goodreads First Reads program. Overall I enjoyed reading this book. I have not read the other two books in this series, but after reading this, I would like to. The main character Eleanor, and her sister Maddie were likable.
The story did take me awhile to get into. But by the second half of the book, I was interested and wanted to learn more. The identity of the killer was a little too easy for me to guess. Usually I don't figure it out so early in the book. But it was still a fun book to read, and the setting of a pizza store was a new one for me.

Eleanor owns A Slice of Delight, the local Pizzeria, and along with her sister, Maddie, tries to stay financial afloat. When Ellie finds a dead body in her kitchen, and it turns out to be the brother of one of her employees, problems start escalating - pizzeria shut down by the police to gather evidence and a missing employee. Ellie and Maddie have to do something with their new found off hours, so they start hunting for answers.

Their search for the murderer could get their pizza cooked for sure.
I wish that Ellie would stop wallowing and move forward with her life. She has a great sister and good friends, time to move on.½

A nice, easy read. I enjoyed it.

I love this series, even though the characters are a bit....crazy at times. I was at a loss as to whodunit until the very end. It's a quick, fun read.

Beck is always a good, quick read. Great for summer at the beach.

Suzanne discovers her mom owns several buildings in town. Her mom is now running for mayor against the not so honest current mayor, Cam. Cam is discovered murdered in one of the buildings owned by Suzanne's mom and there are too many suspects, including the police chief and his ex-wife.