Amy Ridley enjoys entering cooking competitions and the informal Fast Food Feud competition offers an enticing prize- custom-designed artwork for her blog. Little does Amy expect that one of the contestants will wind up dead, never mind murdered! Amy is determined to help find the murderer so homicide detective, Bruce Shepler, can focus more on his wife and upcoming baby. Bruce is the husband of Amy's best friend, Carla, and Amy is busy juggling meals and helping sate Carla's food cravings. Unfortunately, Bruce seems nowhere near to finding the killer, and it's up to Amy to uncover the identity of the murderer!
FUDGE BROWNIES & MURDER is the fourth book in the Culinary Competition series. While I thoroughly enjoyed FUDGE BROWNIES & MURDER, I suspect readers more familiar with the series will appreciate the nuances of the story far more than I did. Janel Gradowski provides readers with all the details needed to jump right into the series, but the relationships, which have built over the course of the series, are undergoing some changes (such as the pregnancy) that will be better enjoyed if a reader has been following the series. However, this is an oversight I intend to correct because the first three books of the Culinary Competition series are now on my to-be-read list!
Amy and her best friend, Carla, are a lot of fun! Janel Gradowski does a great job at showing us their fears and concerns about parenting. I love Carla's food cravings and how Amy creatively addresses them. However, it is the secondary characters in FUDGE BROWNIES & MURDER who kept me in stitches from laughing so hard. I absolutely love Amy's reaction to the two sisters and their over-the-top appearances! And oh, the recipes mentioned in FUDGE BROWNIES & MURDER sound absolutely scrumptious! You just can't go wrong with brownies!
Janel Gradowski creates a deliciously enticing environment in FUDGE BROWNIES & MURDER, as I want to browse the Clement Street Market and sample the various wares. We get a tiny taste of what the gourmet food and craft marketplace has to offer and I'm eager to read the earlier books in the series to discover more about the Clement Street Market. FUDGE BROWNIES & MURDER has definitely whetted my appetite, both for brownies and more of this fun series!
From bestselling mystery author Janel Gradowski comes
another deliciously deadly mystery...
Culinary whiz and reluctant amateur sleuth, Amy Ridley,
has
a lot on her plate. Her very pregnant best friend, Carla,
can barely move from her couch per doctor's orders. So
Amy
is tasked with preparing meals for the expanding family
along with baking endless pans of brownies to quench
Carla's
pregnancy cravings. Not only is she playing chef, but
she's
also trying to convince the mommy-to-be that she needs to
have a baby shower. But when a restaurant owner is
murdered
at a blogging conference, Amy finds herself in a race to
catch the killer before the baby is born.
As Carla's baby bump gets bigger, so does the list of
suspects. While Amy pares down the potential murderers
and
staves off disgruntled cooking competition rivals, the
clock
ticks down, the baby's arrival draws closer, and the
danger
grows stronger! If Amy doesn't watch her back, she may be
the next member of the competition going down.
EXCERPT
Amy stopped to examine the menu. A sweet and savory
squash casserole with dried figs and blue cheese caught
her eye. When she stepped up to order, the woman behind
the counter smiled. Her walnut-colored hair was braided
and coiled into a bun on the back of her head. "Hello.
What can I get for you?"
Since Amy had never tried a squash casserole even
remotely similar to the daily special, she had to order
it. Trying unique foods was a compulsion. The woman kept
glancing at Amy as she was preparing the order. After
exchanging the foam box for payment, she tilted her head
to the side and said, "You look so familiar, but I can't
figure out why."
Amy smiled. "I was a competitor in the Market Mash-up
Melee, teamed up with Brooke's BBQ in the finals."
"Oh, that's right! That was so much fun."
"So did you decide not to use the truck over the winter?
I would imagine it's much more comfortable in here than
on a street with snow blowing in your order window."
The proprietress, who was wearing a name tag that said
her name was Grace, shook her head. "Actually, the van
died. It used to belong to my parents. They used it as a
camper, so it had a long, adventurous life. I remember
camping in it in St. Ignace when I was a kid. When we
found out how much it would be to repair, Susie and I
decided to apply for one of the spots here. Best decision
we've ever made." She leaned over the counter and quietly
said, "I would rather have different neighbors. The smell
of bacon grease makes me queasy, but business just keeps
getting better."
Eau de bacon was drifting from the Southern Gals' hot
table with only a jams and jellies booth as a buffer
between the two. Talk about conflicting interests. As Amy
pondered what to say, Candi Edwards, another competitor
in the market's summer cooking competition who had been
teamed up with The Veggie Van, slipped between the
divider wall and cash register cart to join Grace behind
the counter. She smiled, an expression that resembled a
dog baring its teeth as a warning more than a friendly
greeting. "Amy Ridley. I could swear I saw you working at
Riverbend Bake Shop. Have you defected from the barbecue
truck?"
"Umβ¦not really. I worked at the downtown location of
Riverbend long before I was teamed up with Brooke's BBQ
for the contest. I'm absolutely still friends with Brooke
and her crew, but I really don't think they were looking
for anybody else to work in the truck after the contest
anyway."
Candi's wavy brown ponytail, secured with a cheerleader-
style white ribbon bow, swayed back and forth as she
draped her arm over Grace's shoulder. "Grace and Susie
didn't know they were looking for an employee either, but
I convinced them that they had to hire me."
The expression on Grace's face seemed more like a silent
plea for help than a show of affection for her self-
appointed employee. She managed a slight smile and said,
"Candi helps us out during lunch rush a few times a week,
whether we ask her to or not."
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