Review: A SPOONFUL OF MURDER, Connie Archer

• 
  This edition from Amazon on Kindle
• A Soup Lover's Mystery Book 1
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0072O0020
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (August 7, 2012)
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 303 pages  

Synopsis (Amazon)

Winter is big business in small-town Snowflake, Vermont. Tourists arrive to hit the ski slopes—and what could be more satisfying after a chilly day of carving powder than a steaming bowl of soup?

When Lucky Jamieson inherits her parents' soup shop, By the Spoonful, she realizes it's time to take stock of her life. Should she sell her parents' house or move in herself? Does she really want to run a restaurant business? And what about her grandfather Jack, who seems to be showing signs of Alzheimer's?

But her life decisions are moved to the back burner after an icy blonde tourist is found frozen to death behind the soup shop. and Lucky is bowled over when her soup chef, Sage DuBois, is led out of the kitchen by the police. As suspicion and speculations snowball, Lucky decides that the only way to save her employee and her business is to find out herself who iced the tourist--and landed her chef in the soup...

Recipes included!  

My  Take

This is a fairly predictable but readable cozy murder mystery with an abundance of red herrings and a heap of amateur sleuthing. The local sheriff arrests the chef of the soup shop By the Spoonful for murder on the very thinnest of evidence. Owner of the shop Lucky Jamieson is determined to prove his innocence.

Of the 3 books titled A SPOONFUL OF MURDER, A SPOONFUL OF MURDER, Robin Stevens, and A SPOONFUL OF MURDER, JM Hall, this is probably the one with best claim to the title, as the name of the soup shop where most of the action takes place is By the Spoonful. Even though I have given each a review rating of 4.4, based on their readability, the one by JM Hall wins my vote by the narrowest of margins, as the book with most appeal to my "age group".

My Rating :4.4

About the Author
Connie Archer is the bestselling author of the Soup Lover's Mysteries from Penguin Random House (Berkley Prime Crime) set inVermont:  A Spoonful of Murder, A Broth of Betrayal, A Roux of Revenge, Ladle to the Grave and A Clue in the Stew.  Her excerpts and recipes can be found in The Cozy Cookbook and The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook.  Connie was born and raised in New England and now lives on the other coast.  You can visit her at ConnieArcherMysteries.com, Facebook.com/ConnieArcherMysteries and Twitter @SnowflakeVT.
Writing as Connie di Marco, she is also the author of the Zodiac Mysteries from Midnight Ink.  (conniedimarco.com)  Connie is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime.