|
| Now | 2025 | Previous | Articles | Road Essays | Road Reviews | Author | Black Authors | Title | Source | Age | Genre | Series | Format | Inclusivity | LGBTA+ | Art Portfolio | Purchase Art | WIP |
|
|
Strawberried Alive: 10/02/24
Strawberried Alive by Jenn McKinlay and Susan Boyce (Narrator) (2022) is the fourteenth book in the Cupcake Bakery mystery series. It involves guns, serial shootings, and nice people being murdered. I'll be upfront and say the first chapter had me prepared to rate this one at only two or three stars. It has a dramatic opening with Mel being shot at in the alleyway behind the bakery. Of course Angie's brothers and Mel's uncle jump to various conclusions. Given previous books' inclusion of organized crime and revenge plots, I was fully expecting the men to be correct. Thankfully they are not. Instead, the mystery settles into an unexpected turn of events that is by far more compelling than any organized crime plot. It's personal, it's driven by financial panic and smaller but just as dangerous crime syndicate. There are also some unexpected but welcome plot twists. The twists plus the novel's awareness of previous plots and a careful and decided avoidance of repetition is what earned this volume a full five stars. The next book is Sugar Plum Poisoned (2023). Five stars Comments (0)
1997-2025 Sarah Sammis |
