A Spoonful Of Murder - Connie Archer

A Spoonful Of Murder

A Soup Lover’s Mystery
Connie Archer
Berkley Prime Crime
 
Mystery
 
Lucky Jamieson (a childhood nickname bestowed by her grandfather, Jack) has recently returned to her tiny hometown of Snowflake, Vermont.  The town exists largely on the tourist business of the nearby ski resort.  Her parents were killed in an auto accident, so Lucky has returned to take over the running of their business, a soup and sandwich shop called By The Spoonful.  She’s also there, although she’d never say so, to look after Jack, who seems to be showing signs of early Alzheimer’s. 
 
Running a restaurant is a lot harder than Lucky thought it would be.  It gets a lot harder when the body of perennial tourist, the wealthy Patricia Honeywell, is found dead in the alley behind the shop.  Soon after, the sheriff arrests Sage, the chef.  Sage seems resigned and won’t talk to anyone, but Lucky can’t believe he’s guilty.  With her chef in jail and her business failing, Lucky decides that, since no one else is investigating, she’ll do it herself.
 
This is the first of a new series, and it was, honestly, a bit disappointing.  Lucky arrives in town, takes over the business, and reacquaints herself with her childhood crush in short order.  After that, the pacing drags as Lucky simply moves from person to person, asking insulting questions or throwing out accusations that could ruin a person’s life, just to gauge the reaction.  Everyone in town seems to have a lot of baggage and a sob story to go with it.  In the end, there’s nothing terribly wrong with the story or the writing; but there’s nothing terribly inspired, either.  I had the murderer picked out long before the end, and then it was just a matter of waiting for Lucky to catch up with me.  Recipes and a preview of the next installment are included.
 
Rating: 5
August 2012
ISBN# 978-0-425-25147-8 (paperback)