Sherri Bryan

A FREE read eBook through Barnes and Noble for the NOOK. A typical, predictable outcome and not much depth, and it needs to be professionally proofread for errors. This is #1 of 9 in The Charlotte Denver Cozy Mystery Series. It is actually only 102 pages, including some of her recipes at the end of the book, which I will be testing a few: (1) Sweet Chili Shrimp, (2) Buffalo Wing and Chickpea Stew, and (3) Carrot Cake. The author gets 1-star for adding the recipes, which I thought was a great idea to add to a novel.

Charlotte owns a little cafe, Charlotte's Plaice, in the little seaside town of St. Eves in the southwest corner of England.

In walks a handsome stranger, Blake Hamilton, and it appears Blake and Charlotte will eventually have a love interest. But, the next day, Blake is found dead on a yacht owned byGabe and Samantha Driscoll, rich folks who have also just pulled into the marina.

Blake was found dead inside the cabin. His drink having been laced with Sam's painkillers then was shot up with weedkiller.

There wasn't much of a story between the finding of his body and the stupid little twist at the end. The author wanted you to believe that Blake and Samantha were having the affair, but it was actually Gabe and Blake having the affair. Yes! He was gay! Gabe only married Sam to keep up appearances. Gabe actually killed Blake because he couldn't have him, and he had plans to kill off Sam because he actually couldn't stand her....See how stupid!

Although not the greatest read, I love the idea of the author incorporating and sharing her personal recipes in a novel.

10/14/2019 UPDATE: I have tried all three recipes mentioned above. None of them are extraordinary. The Carrot Cake was really good, although still not as good as my daughter's Carrot Cake. This one was a little fluffy compared to Cara's denser cake. I liked the Sweet Chili Shrimp, but Ben didn't care for it. Neither of us cared for the Buffalo Wing and Chickpea Stew.… (lisätietoja)

WOW. This was a very fun book to read.

Set in the West country of England (Cornwall and Devon) which I love, because I have ancestors who come from those counties, in the seaside town of St Eves, (again which is possibly a play on St Ives in Cornwall which does have lovely golden sandy beaches and excellent surfing waves), Charlotte Denver runs a cafe on the marina called Charlottes Plaice. The specific spelling refers to a fish species, and St Eves is a fishing town.

Charlotte lived in Spain for a number of years before returning to her home town of St Eves and starting up her cafe. She also adds Spanish recipes to her menu which makes for some very interesting combinations when ordering from the menu.

St Eves also has a marina. Some piers have house boats with permanent residents and other piers are for boats that tie up during their voyages. One boat that tied up recently is the Lady Samantha, owned by a man named Gabriel Driscoll and his wife Samantha after whom the boat was named. Samantha was eating at Charlottes cafe and arranging for her to cater for a party that Samantha was planning to have on board her boat. But when a young man named Blake passed by, Samantha got all jittery and quickly left when she spotted him.

The next morning when Charlotte arrived at the boat to get more details for the party, the boat was empty and noone was on board. So Charlotte ventured on board to look for Samantha. Instead she found Blake's body and quickly called the local police.

I'll say no more, except that Charlotte finally manages to get herself a boyfriend while helping the police to solve the murder.

Excellent storyline, very interesting plot twist, one that I have not seen in any other Cozy mystery, and some great writing.

Oh and also some great Spanish recipes at the end of the book as well.

I give this 5 stars!! As I have said before, when I cannot put a book down, and I read it straight through in just 2 hours, then it deserves 5 stars!!!… (lisätietoja)

This is Book 2 in the Charlotte Denver series.

The old man from Book 1, Tom Potts, who had just turned 100 years old, has died and his children and grandchildren are in town for the funeral.

Tom Potts was a great favourite in the town of St Eves and everyone loved him. Well, everyone except his kids. It turns out that his children and grandchildren were quite greedy and rude.

There was a rumour that Tom has won the lottery and so his children were desperate to find this ticket and get the money. They each had a reason for needing the money.

But during the search for this lottery ticket, one of Tom's daughters was murdered and several days later, there was also a murder attempt against Charlotte as well.

A murder attempt against the main character is not a common trope in these type of books, so I was very intrigued to read this book - Number 2 in the series. I am certainly intrigued enough to continue reading the series.… (lisätietoja)