Do you have a recipe for a good mystery? No problem, because I just found a surefire winner in the Sweet Sabotage, of the Chocolate Shoppe Mysteries.
The ingredients include delicate and deliciously described sweets. Picture pastries, cookies and CHOCOLATE, constant coffee and sweet tea, stirred in with loyal friends and strong family bonds! Toppings are trouble, slime and crime!
Moss Hollow — Typical Small Town
The Chocolate Shoppe Bakery in little Moss Hollow, Georgia, USA is facing business challenges from multiple directions. First off, competition seems to raise its ugly head. Then, malevolent criticism is joined by criminal intentions.
Moss Hollow is a small town (I have lived in small towns almost exclusively all my life. I do appreciate the setting.) If you have always lived in the city, a small town may seem peculiar to you as a place where everyone knows everything about everyone else. That all-knowledge is predominantly a supportive community system. Individuals may have conflicts, but all come together for the ‘family’ of the small town. Solitary or secretive people may find the overall common information sharing uncomfortable, but that’s because of the desire for solitude, not because of the tight community.
Family at The Chocolate Shoppe Bakery
Twin sisters, Bertie and Cornelia, a pair of 80 year old young at heart gals, own The Chocolate Shoppe Bakery. Bertie runs the business while Cornelia takes care of the home front in their historic family house, Belle Haven. Bertie’s granddaughter, Jillian, has recently moved back to Moss Hollow from California, leaving friends and career after love’s betrayal. Jillian’s super power is not cooking. But, she’s a successful amateur detective.
Jillian’s close friend since school days, Savannah, shares a place in the Chocolate Shoppe family.
The Southern Sweetie Pies is a baking club whose members meet weekly at The Chocolate Shoppe Bakery to share recipes and samples of members’ baking talent. The Sweetie Pies club plays a major part in this story, both for clue comparison and for the glue that brings those who love baking together.
The popular bakery and eatery should have been able to go through simple, sunny days of life. Tasty traffic to the shop brought a wide range of customer and neighbor characters from eccentric to gossipy to sensible. All steadily enjoyed the camaraderie and calories at The Chocolate Shoppe Bakery. Bertie’s Pecan Sticky Buns are a special treat for everybody in Moss Hollow! Readers receive the special treat too through the detailed recipe included in the book!
Till the Day Everything Became a Chocolate Mystery
Jillian’s family serenity is blown to pieces. A new bakery opens with Modern Overload. An historic business is demolished with old trees on the property destroyed. Then, a bright, shiny bakery on that site offers confections in what seems to be a big city style. The family and others in the community think they hear The Chocolate Shoppe Bakery’s death knell.
It seems as if a bright spot does shine through in the form of a White Knight. A handsome, generous man comes to town, develops attraction for Jillian and offers solutions to the problems. A little bright light that could dim at any time.
Is it the end? Arson, anonymous letters to the editor, threatening notes on doors and smooth talkers try to divide and conquer the friends, old and new around Moss Hollow. Yet, another surprise mystery waits to be revealed in the Chocolate Shoppe Mysteries series from Annie’s Fiction.
Jillian and Savannah get to the bottom of the trouble, thank goodness! (For more goodness, don’t forget that included recipe for Bernie’s Pecan Sticky Buns!)
Author and Publisher Team
Author, K.D. McCrite is a personal friend and author of this particular story from the Chocolate Shoppe Mysteries. I knew when I cracked the cover on this beautifully bound book that I would like the story because I’ve long enjoyed K.D.’s writing. This author spins a well-written tale. Her characters work together. She’s an intense fact checker. Her imagination to weave a story from a plot is genteel and elegant.
Certainly not ‘chick-lit’ — K.D.’s books can be enjoyed by a wide range of readers, including women, men and young adults. Flinch-free, without profanity, vulgarity or erotica, the stories are still well mapped out. Scenarios make sense as the reader goes along. Readers don’t have to flip pages back and forth to see if something was missed or left out. K.D. has written several other novels for Annie’s Fiction. I have a copy of most of them.
If you are a subscriber to Annie’s Fiction (anniesfiction.com), you already know about the tangible beauty of these books. Stitched covers, with excellent jackets AND a beautiful ribbon to mark your place! When I get ahold of a REAL book, my place is usually marked by a piece of tissue or a gum wrapper! A sewn in ribbon that doesn’t get lost is pure luxury!
K.D. McCrite and Annie’s Fiction are a winning reading team. Success is proof that there are readers out there like you who want quality reading.
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Readers, Please Review Chocolate Mysteries
Dear Readers, those of you familiar with author, K.D. McCrite or with Annie’s Fiction, I would love to hear from you in the comments!
[…] reviewed some of the books K.D. has written for Annie’s Mysteries, including Sweet Sabotage of the Chocolate Shoppe Mysteries. I have reviews for more of these stories in the […]