Thursday, April 18, 2019

Book Review and Giveaway - Sifting Through Clues (A Cookbook Nook Mystery) by Daryl Wood Gerber

Book Synopsis


The Agatha Award–winning author of Wreath Between the Lines returns to the Cookbook Nook, where culinary mysteries are giving everyone food for thought . . .

Book clubs from all over have descended on Crystal Cove to celebrate the library’s Book Club Bonanza week, and Jenna Hart has packed the Cookbook Nook with juicy reads and tasty cookbooks. But she’s most excited about spending an evening with the Mystery Mavens and their moveable feast, when they will go from house to house to share different culinary treats and discuss the whodunit they’re all reading. It’s all good food and fun for the savvy armchair detectives, until one of the members of the group is found murdered at the last stop on the tour.

As if that weren’t enough to spoil her appetite, Jenna discovers that all the evidence points to her friend Pepper as being the guilty party. And with Pepper’s chief-of-police daughter too close to the case to be impartial, Jenna knows she’ll have to step in to help clear her friend’s name before a bitter injustice sends her to jail. Sifting through the clues, Jenna unearths any number of possible culprits, but she’ll have to cook up a new way to catch the killer before Pepper’s goose is cooked . . .

Includes tasty sweet and savory recipes!

My Review
Sifting Through Clues is a cozy mystery featuring Jenna Hart.  Jenna owns the Cookbook Nook, a bookstore in Crystal Cove, California.  As she is busy planning her wedding, she also is working at the Book Club Bonanza Week in her town.  When one of the other shop owners is murdered at a book club event, Jenna works to solve the mystery. 

This is my first read in the Cookbook Nook Mystery series.  I was interested in the book because I collect and sell vintage cookbooks online, and owning a cozy brick and mortar cookbook bookstore is one of my dream jobs!  I absolutely loved the cookbook mentions and food talk in this book.  It is a foodie's delight, and anyone who loves cookbooks will particularly enjoy this series.

Jumping in at the 8th book of the series, I did go back and forth to the (very helpful!) cast of characters page many times as I tried to learn everyone's identity and relationships.  I definitely would recommend reading this series in order, as it has a very large cast of characters and I think it would be helpful to know their back stories from the beginning of the series.

I really liked Jenna.  She was a smart amateur detective and a likeable character.   I enjoyed getting to know her fiance Rhett, her friends, and the other shop owners too.  She even has a lovable cat named Tigger.

I especially loved the setting of Crystal Cove.   The author does a wonderful job with descriptions and establishing a strong sense of place.  I found myself Googling to see if Crystal Cove is a real place, because it seemed like somewhere I would enjoy visiting.  I found it is a fictional town, although there is a real Crystal Cove State Park in California.

The mystery was well done and kept me guessing!   The book moves quickly and would make a great weekend or vacation read.


I recommend Sifting Through Clues for fans of cozy mysteries and especially for anyone who loves cookbooks or foodie books.




Author Bio
Agatha Award-winning Daryl Wood Gerber writes the nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries as well as the French Bistro Mysteries.  As Avery Aames, she pens the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. Daryl also writes stand-alone suspense. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in “Murder, She Wrote.” She loves to cook, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!

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Giveaway
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1 comment:

Daryl Wood Gerber a.k.a. Avery Aames said...

Thanks so much for the lovely review. I'm so glad you enjoyed the book. ~ Daryl