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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2318 KP) rated Charred in Books

Feb 25, 2023

Charred

GP Gottlieb | 2023 | Mystery

5.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Will Alene Get Charred During the Pandemic’s Early Days?

This book opens in May 2020 and finds Alene Baron trying to keep her café in Chicago opened with a reduced staff and takeout or delivery only. Things are complicated when her long lost uncle returns to town and wants to connect with his brother, Alene’s father. Oh, and there are bodies turning up in burned out buildings owned by Alene’s best friend’s husband.

Since this is the third book in the series, I like the characters. That helped me get on board with the story that is truly the main story in the book, not the mystery that you’d expect in a culinary cozy. While I enjoyed the real main story, that backwards emphasis bothered me, especially how the story of the burned out buildings was resolved. I’m not sure I was ready to read a book set during the pandemic, but the book does a good job of capturing how everyone was feeling about life then. However, it introduces the riots before the event that triggered them happened in real life. The end result was only average.

Kudos

Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust

Mindy Quigley

5.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Ashes to Ashes, Crust to Crust is the second book in Mindy Quigley's delectable Deep Dish Mystery...

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2318 KP) rated Bait and Swiss in Books

May 14, 2025 (Updated May 14, 2025)

Bait and Swiss

Korina Moss | 2025 | Mystery

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Chocolate and Cheese Make a Deadly Pairing

Willa Bauer is excited to be celebrating the second anniversary of opening her shop. But her excitement is tampered when her former fiancé and former best friend show up in town to open a new location for their chocolate shop. However, when someone appears to have been poisoned by one of their chocolates, Willa can’t help but poke around. Can she figure out what happened?

I was glad to have this part of Willa’s back story show up in town, and I liked the growth it gave Willa. We also saw a couple characters we haven’t seen in the last two books, which was great. The cast of both old and new characters kept me engaged, as did the story, which had plenty of complications on the way to an ultimately logical climax. I did feel that Willa’s actions at one point early on didn’t really make sense. Once again, we get some delicious sounding recipes at the end. Fans of the series will be delighted. If you enjoy culinary cozies and haven’t started this series yet, you need to fix that today.