Brenda H. (booksinvt) - , reviewed on 12/13/2015 + 458 more book reviews

The Chocolate Clown Corpse is the 14th in the Chocoholic series. The series centers around Lee Woodyard who co-owns TenHuis Chocolade with her Aunt Nettie. Lee is happily married to husband Joe who works for a charitable legal foundation and also runs a boat building business. Aunt Nettie is recently married to retired Chief of Police Hogan Jones, and in this installment they are off sailing the Seven Seas.

It's time for the Warner Pier Winter Festival and this year's theme is Clown Week. Lee is playing an active role on the tourism committee for the Chamber of Commerce. The ironic thing about this year's theme is that just a month ago, Moe Davidson who owned Clowning Around, the clown store adjacent to TenHuis was killed in his driveway.

One night waiting in the police station for her Aunt and Uncle and Joe to get ready for dinner, Lee absentmindedly answers the telephone. The whispery voice on the other end asks about Moe's death and is surprised to hear that someone has already confessed and been jailed for the crime.

Lee has been hoping for an opportunity to buy the now vacant storefront in order to expand the TenHuis operations, and when the building suddenly comes on the market she jumps at the chance to meet with Moe's children, Chuck and Lorraine and his ex wife Emma. It seems that even though Moe made most of his living by being a clown and entertaining, he was far from a pleasant man. He didn't get along with his children, was abusive towards his wife, and basically picked sides in town politics just to have something to argue about.

Royal Hollis, a veteran and now homeless drifter has confessed to killing Moe. But, his daughter Belle is convinced that he didn't do it and that his mental disability has prevented him from giving an accurate description of the events leading to the murder. When Royal's attorney decides to retire Joe is assigned the pro bono case. Lee has met Royal and has a hard time believing the kindly man could have committed the crime, especially when Moe rubbed everyone the wrong way.

The Chocoholic series has gotten to be a little predictable, and it is often easy to spot the villain partway through the book, but they still make for quick, fun reading. Fans of the series might be disappointed that the usual main cast of characters Aunt Nettie and Hogan, Lindy and her family aren't really involved in this installment. We do however, meet a few new townspeople whom I believe will come to be featured in upcoming editions.

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