Karen S. (BoysMom) - My rating: 5 of 5 stars
When the toxic head chef of a local restaurant meets his end, Roxy Constantine becomes suspect number one!
The Pepper Peach Murder is an entertaining debut to Meg Benjamin's new cozy mystery series, Luscious Delights. While having all the fun hallmarks of the cozy mystery genre front and center, the story also explores a darker theme: sexual assault/harassment.
The protagonist, Roxy Constantine, is a great character. She's had her life disrupted, and her dreams smashed but is slowly coming back to life and taking a new direction with her career. What happened to her was horrible and unforgivable, but she refuses to let the assault and the betrayal which followed define the rest of her life.Nate Robicheaux, Roxy's delectable love interest, is healing as well but doing so in the kitchen of his family's restaurant, now run by his brother, Bobby, and they don't quite see eye to eye on their business. I was glad there was a glimmer of them coming together by the book's end.
Susa is Roxy's "ride or die" best friend and is a competent and capable partner in crime-solving rather than the comic relief sidekick, which I thought was terrific. And perhaps, there's a little spark between Susa and the new police chief to fan in future books?The plot builds when Roxy feels Chief Fowler isn't looking hard enough at other possible suspects for Brett's murder. There is little information forthcoming from that sector, so Roxy and Susa must create their own line of questioning based on who and what they know about the people in Shavano. I liked how Susa developed an online method for the two women to record and share with each other the results of their separate inquiries, and laughed over Susa's later discussion of the proper way to fill it out! With Brett's reputation as a jerk and a womanizer, there are quite a few avenues to pursue.
Since this is the first book in the series, many townspeople were introduced, and although many did not appear to have anything to do with the current murder, they were still easy to keep track of or follow as needed. When all was revealed, I thought the resolution made sense, and the case was wrapped up without going down a bunch of unnecessary rabbit holes. I am already looking forward to more of this series.I enjoyed hearing about all the various jam flavors and enough of the jam-making process to know it was something I wouldn't want to tackle myself. I'll stick to trying out some of those amazing-sounding concoctions when I run across them at local farmers' markets and craft shows. Pepper Peach is absolutely on my shopping list, too.
I highly recommend THE PEPPER PEACH MURDER to cozy mystery readers who enjoy culinary-themed stories.I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.
