Kill ‘Em with Cayenne: A Spice Shop Mystery (Spice Shop Mystery Series)
2nd in Series
Cozy Mystery
Setting: Georgia
Published by Minotaur Books (December 16, 2014)
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1250011053
E-Book ASIN: B00KK433QO
Kill ‘Em with Cayenne, a brand new finger-lickin’ good mystery from Gail Oust, featuring small-town Georgia spice shop owner Piper Prescott, a smart and spunky amateur sleuth.
Spices are flying off the shelves of Spice It Up!, and Piper Prescott couldn’t be happier. It’s that time of year again—time for the annual Brandywine Creek Barbecue Festival. Soon contestants and BBQ aficionados from all over the Southeast will converge on the town. Many of Brandywine Creek’s citizens plan to participate in the week-long festivities and are busily concocting savory rubs and sassy sauces. Among the locals vying for the grand prize are Becca Dapkins and Maybelle Humphries. The women have been arch enemies ever since Buzz Oliver dumped Maybelle after a thirteen-year courtship and started seeing Becca.
When Becca’s body is found near one of the festival booths, bludgeoned by a brisket, Maybelle becomes one of Chief Wyatt McBride’s top suspects. Determined to help clear her friend’s name, Piper begins her own investigation, much to McBride’s consternation. As the festival draws closer, will Piper and Reba Mae be able to find the real killer and clear Maybelle’s name? Will Piper make it to the annual shag contest with Doug Winters, the mild-mannered vet she’s been seeing? And, who will win the BBQ cook-off?
Dollycas’s Thoughts
The annual Brandywine Creek Barbecue Festival takes a significant turn when Barbara Quinlan nee Bunker comes home to visit and introduces herself as “Barbie-Q” and tells everyone she is there to film the festival for her new television shoe Some Like It Hot. That doesn’t sit well with Becca Dapkins at all. Becca and Barbie have a past and it wasn’t good. In fact Becca’s relationship with many residents of Brandywine Creek isn’t good. When Becca’s body is found the suspects should be many but Piper’s friend, Maybelle Humphries, becomes the prime suspect. This puts Piper hot to start investigating with an assist of Reba Mae. Add this to all the other festival fun and things get really spicy!
Gail Oust second Spice Shop Mystery marks the return of the characters we liked from the first book. She also introduces us to some very interesting characters in town for the Barbecue Festival especially Miss Barbie-Q. Piper’s dog, Casey, led Piper to the discover Becca’s body, but I don’t think he liked the references to becoming a cadaver dog 🙂
The plot of the mystery is very creative and something I wasn’t expecting was the missing ingredient that brings the whole murder recipe together.
I wish the romance between Piper and local vet Doug had a little more heat. I think she needs to explore the options she may have with Police Chief MacBride.
I am already looking forward to the next Spice Shop Mystery!
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
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.”