The Bookish Island's Book Review:
Plum Deadly by Ellie Grant
Are there spoilers?
No.
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Title: Plum Deadly
Author: Ellie Grant
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Pages: 304
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2013
Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery
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Date Read: Dec 13 > Dec 14, 2018
Rating: ★★★★☆
In this cozy mystery, a young woman is framed by her boss for embezzlement and flees to her aunt’s pie shop—but when her ex-boss turns up dead on their doorstep she must start her own investigation to find the killer—before he finds her.
CHOCOHOLIC CREAM. BOUNTIFUL BLUEBERRY. LOTSA LEMON MERINGUE. EVEN DANGEROUSLY DAMSON.
Who could resist such pies? Who would even want to resist the pie shop that makes them? Certainly not the residents of Durham, North Carolina, and the little bakery and café called Pie in the Sky is one of the most popular meet-up places in town.
Unjustly accused of cooking the books, Maggie Grady is forced to retreat from her high-flying New York financial career to the town where she grew up. Her aunt Clara greets her with open arms and a job at the family-owned business that has baked the best pies in the South for over forty years. Unfortunately, while Maggie is determined to return to banking, her reputation there seems permanently in the pits. That is, until her old boss, Lou, visits with news that he’s found the real crook. Before he can reveal the details, though, Maggie finds his body right behind the pie shop.
With only her own word that Lou planned to exonerate her, Maggie is in the spotlight. The police seem to suspect that Aunt Clara’s damson pie may not be just dangerously delectable, but downright deadly. Maggie doesn’t just have her own name to clear; she has to make sure that her aunt’s beloved business isn’t harmed, either. Yummy local reporter Ryan Summerour appears eager to help, and Maggie can’t help hoping that it’s not just the police who find her a person of interest—but Ryan, as well. She’d thought it challenging to make the perfect pie crust that Aunt Clara demands, but that turns out to be nothing compared with finding a murderer. . . .
The Rating:
My Review:
Plum Deadly is a fantastic example of a food-based murder mystery. Maggie is down on her luck. Having just lost her job, home and the people she knew after being accused of embezzlement at her former job. But she still has her only family member her Aunt Clara. And Clara gladly takes her back and gives her a room in her home and a job at her bakery, Pie in the Sky. And since the two are practically mother and daughter their chemistry is great and supportive in everything the two get themselves into. Which comes into account when Maggie gets a spot in the top suspect of the murder case of her former boss, Lou. Who had shown up at the bakery to tell her he was gonna fix everything and clear her of everything that happened but leaves without telling her who the true suspect of the embezzlement is. And shows up dead at the back of the bakery.
This is a very short story but I didn't mind it at all. In this, you don't know who the murderer is until the very end when they lay it out for you. I didn't even get it until the end. And I usually good at putting two and two together. The murder weapon was a poison and only one person died. So it's a very classic murder mystery.
But even with all that, there were a lot of characters. I counted them and it was over 15 character. If you exclude the characters that were obviously good guys; meaning, the main character, Maggie, her Aunt Clara, Frank, the chief of police, the guy who sold produce and his son who sold furniture, you don't really get a chance to even guess. Meaning, most of the characters were suspects, and you'd be less likely to guess who the killer actually was.
The whole case was still very good and didn't give out a lot of clues and I liked that the first case didn't have more than one murder victim. There were one too many obvious bad and greedy people. And at one point the ladies got their home broken into and the power got cut off which got me to be on their side so much more. I wanted the bad guys to lay off and let them bond.
Also is anyone else interested in seeing this as a show or movie, because I totally do. Just so I can see Maggie's outfits. Since she wore her mom's old clothes. Talk about retro making a comeback. I loved that she would go into her mom's old stuff and pick stuff out for herself. I also want to see everyone react to her wearing those clothes. seriously! That would be gold.
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