Overall: 🐢🐢🐢
Storyline: ★★★.5
Writing Style: ★★★.5
Character Development: ★★★
Enjoyment: ★★★.5
“I don’t love him the way I love chocolate and Coke.”
Death by Chocolate by Sally Berneathy
The Story:
Lindsay Powell’s only secret is the recipe for her chocolate chip cookies, but she is surrounded by neighbors with deadly secrets. Suddenly, Lindsay finds herself battling poisoned chocolate, a dead man who doesn’t seem very dead, and a psycho stalker. Her best friend and co-worker, Paula, dyes her blond hair brown, hides from everybody, and insists on always having an emergency exit from any room. Secrets from Paula’s past have come back to put lives in jeopardy. Determined to help Paula and to save her own life, Lindsay enlists the reluctant aid of another neighbor, Fred, an OCD computer nerd. In spite of his mundane existence, Fred possesses tidbits of knowledge about such things as hidden microphones, guns, and the inside of maximum security prisons. Lindsay needs more than a chocolate fix to survive all this chaos.
Key Elements:
Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Bakery, Friends, Chick Lit, Crime, Chocolate, Small Town, Humor
Others in Series:
Book 2: Murder, Lies and Chocolate
Book 3: The Great Chocolate Scam
Book 4: Chocolate Mousse Attack
Book 5: Fatal Chocolate Obsession
Book 6: Deadly Chocolate Addiction
Book 7: Guns, Wives and Chocolate
Book 8: Spies, Lies, and Chocolate
Why This Rating?
I liked this one! This was a cozy mystery that didn’t quite follow to traditional form most cozies do. It made me appreciate the uniqueness even more. I don’t want to give much away, but one aspect that stood out was the usual murder the MC is solving wasn’t when I thought it would be. It leaves our MC even more on the edges of the mystery than I was expecting. She does have the usually close friend(s), lives in a small town, and has a potential romantic interest. The writing was good. The story definitely had me turning the pages to see what is happening next. Some of the conversations dragged, but nothing that turned me away from reading more. They were few and far between. The parts that I least liked to read in the whole book were when Rick showed up.
Her ex or soon-to-be (however you want to look at it) was continuously popping up and causing grief! It might have been a bit overdone, but at the same time, it matches his character so freaking well that it was probably intentional. I mean the man was everywhere. Goodness gracious, hasn’t the he ever heard of Go Away? And No? I want to congratulate Lindsey for sticking to her morals and not letting Rick worm his way back into her life; however, she only sticks with them most of the time… I can understand why she would have a hard time and caves to Rick on those few occasions. He was the one to go out of the marriage leading to their divorce. Lindsey was still in love with him and fully in the marriage. That isn’t something that just washes away. Thankfully, there is basically a coming to Jesus moment for her and it clicks that she’s done with him. This happens late in the book which is bothersome. Makes me wonder if it would really take that long for her to make that decision. Plus, I couldn’t tell if rick even aided in progressing the story. I’m going to go with Rick’s character was there to be a little pest. Causing us readers to be a little distracted during high tension moments happening in the story. I truly just wanted to say “Fuck off Rick”.
Let’s talk about side characters though! This story had one side character that was the most interesting and intriguing character I have read about in a very long time. Fred is NOT the main character but almost a Watson to Lindsey’s Sherlock behaviors. I wanna know more about what he can do! And funny enough, that little intrigue is one of the main reasons why I’m probably going to keep reading the series. I would be totally fine getting a story about this guy alone.
We don’t see too much of Lindsey’s bakery in this one although her crafted confections are used often as ways to smooth over or convince characters. Each one she makes sound heavenly. Lindsey’s obsession with chocolate – her baker and profession aside – and Coke-Cola is actually a little enduring. We all have those little quirks that just make us happy. Mine would be the way I have my coffee in the morning. As my husband likes to say, “want some coffee with that creamer?” But hey, that’s my own little problem. So if this baker likes her chocolate and Coke-Cola, let her have it! Even if it does cause a little worry for her health.
Overall, good story to read. A fun cozy mystery to read and if you enjoy it, there are a ton more in the series to keep you going!
Side note: The title and cover were misleading. The cake part plays in once, sure. And yes, future arts could change this probably, but the cover showing on this review is the one from my edition. Chocolate makes perfect sense considering her profession. But I was expecting something else to happen considering the “death” part in the title.
Time to get lost in the next story!
