Review: Rosemary and Crime by Gail Oust

Rosemary and Crime
First in Series
Cozy Mystery
Published by Minotaur Books (December 17, 2013)
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1250011046
E-Book File Size: 859 KB
ASIN: B00DA7A0BO

Murder comes well-seasoned in this charming mystery featuring a smart and spunky new amateur sleuth, small-town Georgia spice shop owner Piper Prescott.

Welcome to Brandywine, Georgia. Piper Prescott has decided to follow her dream and open Spice It Up! A shop that features the best spices from around the world. Her ex-husband predicts the idea will be huge failure but with a little help of her BBF, Reba Mae, and even her ex-mother in-law she is determined to make it a success.

But when she goes to meet with the chef she is featuring at her Grand Opening she finds he is not going to be cooking anything for her or anyone else. She finds him stabbed to death in his kitchen. The new police Chief Wyatt McBride quickly decides Piper makes a perfect prime suspect. Piper and Reba Mae will do anything to change his mind and go to great lengths to prove her innocence even putting their own lives in danger.

Dollycas’s Thoughts
A fun and spicy debut for this new culinary cozy series.

Gail Oust has introduced us to some wonderful characters. Piper is a strong woman dealing with a new divorce, a new business, and a teenage daughter playing one parent off the other. Then there is her ex’s girlfriend who is closer to his daughter’s age than his own. She tries to become their daughter’s best friend by taking her shopping and telling her school really isn’t that important. Their older son is away at college. Piper also has a very prim and proper ex-mother-in-law and a best friend that has her back no matter what and is pretty far from prim and proper. There is also a hunky vet, a hunky police chief, and a fantastic little furry friend to round out the cast.

She has also created quite the whodunit with plenty of suspects. Piper does get herself into a few sticky situations because she acts without thinking things through or is not sure she trusts the police chief but thankfully they are few and far between. The tense situations are balanced with humor to keep the story cozy.

I really enjoyed this first adventure with Piper and hope there will be many more. I feel we have just scratched the surface with the antics originating from Piper’s Spice It Up!!

About This Author

Gail Oust is often accused of flunking retirement. While working as a nurse/vascular technologist, she penned nine historical romances under the pseudonym of Elizabeth Turner. It wasn’t until she and her husband retired to South Carolina that inspiration struck for a mystery. Hearing the words “maybe it’s a dead body” while golfing fired her imagination for writing a cozy. Ever since then, she spends more time on a computer than at a golf course. Author of the Bunco Babe mysteries, she’s currently working on a new Spice Shop mystery series.

Author Links:  www.gailoust.com, Goodreads

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”