On Flashback Fridays I will share with you
the books I was not able to review
when they were first released that have been screaming at me
from my To-Be-Read bookshelf.
Mountain Town Murder: Jackson Hole Moose’s Bakery Not So Cozy Mystery
Not So Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Wyoming
Publisher : Dimick Lane Press (November 23, 2021)
Paperback : 260 pages
ISBN-13 : 979-8781441303
Kindle ASIN : B09KMHVVKS
Not just the view is killer…
Rents doubled. No affordable housing. Ten pages of help wanted ads in the paper every day. Tourist town Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is in a housing crisis, and Sadie Moose, second generation owner of Moose’s Bakery, is right in the middle of it. Her assistant baker just told her she’s leaving because her rent is being doubled. Sloan Brackenridge, local power realtor and her childhood tormenter, is threatening to bulldoze Sadie’s childhood home to make room for more multi-million dollar condos. Oh, and her dog, Tyrone, is acting funny and needs to go to the vet. Again.
And those are just the start of her problems.
Because the night after her childhood crush, Merritt West, mysteriously away for over a decade, moves back in next door, Sadie finds Sloan dead in the alley between their houses. Suddenly the prime suspect, Sadie teams up with Merritt to investigate, sparks flying between them as danger creeps ever closer.
Mountain Town Murder is a not-so-cozy and includes language and one open door scene alongside the cozy setting, quirky characters, and mystery we all love in cozy mysteries. It’s the first in the Jackson Hole Moose’s Bakery Not So Cozy Mystery series.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Sadie Moose is the second-generation owner of Moose’s Bakery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A town that is in a lot of trouble. A housing shortage is causing rents to double and most people who work in Jackson Hole can’t afford to live there. Sadie lives in her childhood home and rents out a basement apartment to two of her employees but her assistant baker is leaving town due to a huge rent increase.
Prominent local realtor, Sloan Brackenridge has her own ideas about how to save the town. She is working to buy houses to bulldoze, including Sadie’s, to build more multi-million dollar condos. Sloan has been a thorn in Sadie’s side her whole life.
One evening Sadie’s dog Tyrone is feeling poorly and needs to be taken outside several times. After a mostly sleepless night, an exhausted Sadie heads out to do the early morning baking. But her car’s backup alarm keeps dinging. Getting out she sees something lying in the alley right behind her car. Thinking it was a downed limb she is worried about how she is going to move it and then she notices “an outline of a shoe attached to a leg attached to the bundle under the snow.” Screaming, she is suddenly being held and she hears a familiar voice. Startled she realized Merritt West who used to live next door and her childhood crush was right there in front of her.
Then they focus on the bundle. It’s Sloan Brackenridge and her real estate career is over. Sadie finds herself at the top of the list of suspects.
I was searching for a book set in Wyoming for my Literary Escapes Challenge when I found this series.
Sadie Moose is an interesting protagonist in a town built around tourism at the deterrent of about 11.000 locals. She has a huge heart and tries to help her employees with housing knowing the situation. Her assistant Kayla Velasquez could no longer afford to stay and Sadie not only wrote her a letter of recommendation but also gave her money towards her moving expenses. She has two of her baristas living in her basement apartment. Kendall and Kamari (KitKat) are fun, talented, twenty-somethings and great employees. Jorge Garcia works for Sadie on the mid-morning shift after dropping his grandkids off at preschool. A retired teacher who lost his wife to cancer, he needed something to fill his days. We also meet other shopkeepers and residents, a special friend of Kendall’s with a well-connected family, Merritt West with a mysterious job, and TikTok sensation Tyrone the dog. I appreciated the diversity of the characters Ms. Pepper has created for this series. And who wouldn’t love a dog named Tyrone?
Sloan Breckenridge was a woman on a mission and didn’t care who got caught up in her web. She was behind the greedy landlords raising the rents and causing the housing crisis all as she lined her pockets with shady deals to benefit her Scenic View Luxury Condominiums. It was no surprise she was the victim. I knew there would be plenty of suspects in addition to Sadie and the author didn’t disappoint. Merritt is more than ready to help Sadie investigate. Is he a spy? I enjoyed their banter and the way they worked together. Is he FBI? CIA? Sparks do fly between them but they try to stay focused on the case. I thought I had the killer all figured out but I was wrong. The reveal was surprising, scary, and exciting with an unexpected participant.
Mountain Town Murder has given this series a splendid start. Ms. Pepper has introduced characters I am eager to revisit and wrapped them in a compelling mystery. She also gave a look at Jackson Hole from a different vantage point. I am looking forward to reading Hot Springs Murder soon. I am very happy I found this series.
Is Merritt the next James Bond? I hope we find out more in Book 2.
*This book does contain some explicit language hence the “Not So Cozy Mystery”
*This book is from my private collection. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
About the Author
Sue Pepper writes not so cozy mysteries for millennials in the Pacific Northwest where she lives with her two kids, elderly dachshund, and real life action hero husband. A former resident of Jackson Hole, Wyoming pushed out by the billionaire-caused housing crisis, she enjoys writing revenge and redemption for the fictional residents of her Jackson Hole Moose’s Bakery Not So Cozy Mystery series, starting with her debut, Mountain Town Murder.
For all her books including free novellas featuring her Moose’s Bakery characters, visit https://suepepperauthor.com/
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Escape With Dollycas.
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HEATHER WEBBER
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