Brief Mention: A DOOMFUL OF SUGAR, Vermont Mystery from Catherine Bruns

The best part about this season's Catherine Bruns "cozy" mystery A DOOMFUL OF SUGAR is the plot -- Leila Khoury's family farm in Sugar Ridge, Vermont, offers a prosperous business that she returns to, when the unexpected death of her father draws her home. Sorting through threats, risks, and characters interested in taking over the action shows Bruns at her clever best.

Sadly, she makes a number of gaffes in describing sugaring (harvesting maple sap for syrup and sugar), and these can be very distracting for seasoned New England readers. Her first may be the most shocking: describing the existence of "several syrup producers in Vermont." Umm, it's hundreds ... more, if you count the smaller family setups. There is also no such thing as "sap making" (except inside the tree). And so on.

So, New Englanders and upstate New Yorkers, skip this one. The sugaring issues made me dubious about the way Bruns describes the Lebanese characters and cultures, but she has some family connections, it seems, and those may after all be on target. If you're good at passing over these pebbles in the path, then Bruns as usual spins a mystery laced with affection, effort, and a taste of young romance.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

 

Relax with a Holiday Season Cozy from Catherine Bruns, THE ENEMY YOU GNOCHHI

In her third Italian Chef Mystery, Catherine Bruns offers restaurant owner Tessa Esposito a chance at a great holiday season, and a possible new love in her life. Tessa's husband Dylan, victim of a complicated crime in the first book in the series (Penne Dreadful, followed by It Cannoli Be Murder), is still very much in her heart—and her new possible boyfriend, Justin, has a potent connection with the moment Tessa chose that first romance.

But as THE ENEMY YOU GNOCCHI opens, it doesn't look like there will be time for romance anyway. Not only is it the holiday season, with intense demands on restaurant prep, staff, and service, but the bustling town of Harvest Park is bubbling with antagonism: Coffee-shop owner Mario Russo's been demanding Tessa's attention in unpleasant ways, and maliciously menacing the older café owned by Tessa's friend Archie. Just as Tessa begins to put this conflict ahead of her pasta sauce in her priorities, Mario gets murdered—and it looks like someone's very effectively framing Archie as the killer.

Bruns tackles the classic "cozy" issue of "why does an amateur become a sleuth" with an explanation from Justin, who already means a lot to Tessa:

Justin rubbed his eyes wearily. ... "Focus your energy on who might have committed the crime. You're smart and intuitive and Archie needs your help right now."

I forced back a laugh. "I'm a chef, Justin. Not a detective. That's Gino's department."

He gave me a tired smile. "Don't sell yourself short. You have great instincts about people. You were the one to figure out who killed Dylan. Then there was Daphne, the publicist who died in Gabby's bookstore. You found her killer too." ....

I stared into the fire thoughtfully. "Well, rumor has it that Tyler's wife was having an affair with Mario, so there's two possible suspects right there."

This is a well-knitted traditional cozy with a lovely thread of growing affection/romance, good friendships, and even some recipes at the back, including Tessa's gnocchi (Bruns seems to have an odd pronunciation of the Italian term) and a "Christmas Thyme" cookie recipe that looks like a must. It should provide holiday-season relaxation and relief, and it continues this series with heart and clever twists. 

From Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

IT CANNOLI BE MURDER, Second Italian Chef Mystery from Catherine Bruns

Author of several series of lively "amateur sleuth" mysteries, Catherine Bruns spins a quick story with ample clues, a few red herrings, plenty of disasters—and above all, friendship and affection.

For IT CANNOLI BE MURDER, Bruns takes the subgenres of cozy recipe mystery and bookstore mystery and cleverly melds them. Long-time devoted Italian chef Tessa Esposito is about to open her own Italian restaurant, close to the bookstore owned by her devoted cousin Gabby. Although Tess has her own challenges—she's newly widowed (see the preceding book Penne Dreadful) and isn't fully confident in her agreement with her landlord, let alone all the finances and staff management drowning her—her loyalty to Gabby is unquestioned. So much so that when Gabby drops in with a "thank you gift," Tess can't think why.

Mystified, I grabbed it from her outstretched hands. "Thank you for what?"

She shot me a look of disbelief. "Are you kidding me? You've been crazy busy but are still going out of your way to make goodies for my book signing tomorrow night. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."

...It was a beige straw mat for the restaurant's front porch with a border of tomatoes around the words, "Welcome to Anything's Pastable." That was the name I'd chose for my restaurant ... Everyone had thought it was cute and especially fitting, given the blows life had dealt me lately.

Tess is determined to help out her cousin. For Gabby, business survival depends on the book signing going well, including pandering to the prickly hotshot author arriving and to his even more difficult wife—and, it turns out, would-be girlfriend. When the signing event ends in murder and Tess's cannoli recipe is held suspect, both women are in so much trouble that taking risks and nosing into the killer's identity and motive seem to make perfect sense. As Tess puts it, "Gabby's situation was far worse than mine ... Unless the killer was found immediately, her business was sure to suffer."

Although it's too soon after her husband's death for Tess to consider romance seriously, Bruns gives enough of a taste to keep this book solidly in the romantic subgenre, too. She plays fair with the clues, and an astute reader has a chance to figure out the motive, means, opportunity, and murderer just before Tess does, despite the clever twists along the way.

With Italian recipes at the end, ranging from cannoli and biscotti to a Bolognese sauce, IT CANNOLI BE MURDER is both a light and enjoyable addition to the summer's reading stack, and an ideal gift for a kitchen-obsessed friend. New this week, from the Poisoned Pen Press imprint of Sourcebooks.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.