Oh, Fudge!: 10/27/24

Oh, Fudge! by Nancy CoCo (2017) is the fifth book in the Candy-Coated mystery series. Allie has an appointment at the Mackinac Butterfly House. She's shocked to find the woman she was there to meet, dead, and even more so to find her cousin standing over her, her hand on the trowel that killed the woman. Allie realizes if she's going to mend things between her and the cousin who had moved to California, she'll have to figure out who really murdered Barbara Smart.

From the opening chapter this volume seemed to be on an improbable but obvious path. These Candy-Coated mysteries always seem to have Nancy finding the body early on in the book — much earlier than most cozies. The body is almost always an elderly person.

Both are true for this book and that's not the problem. Instead there just aren't enough suspects. The obvious murderer with the obvious motive is there from the very beginning and it takes Allie the entire remainder of the book to slowly figure things out.

To make a thin plot last the length of a typical cozy, there's a secondary plot involving kidnapping. Kidnapping plots just make my eyes roll back into my head. But wait, it gets better. There are two kidnappings! And two murders! Oh and smuggling!

I think this book would have worked better without the kidnappings. That time could have been used for Allie and Tori to work things out. There's a lot of baggage between the two. Instead, Tori after her kidnapping realizes she'll be better in California and that she doesn't need a piece of the action on Mackinaw after all. It's all just so convenient.

Because at the end of the book, the obvious murderer has gotten away with it. The police have all but given up. Allie has gone back to making fudge. All the murderer has to do is leave things alone. But no. They're mad at Allie for meddling and they reveal themselves to her for a final confrontation. It's literally my least favorite ending after a string other annoying tropes.

The next book is Forever Fudge (2018).

Three stars

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