Sifting Through Clues

Daryl Wood Gerber

Apr 2019 · A Cookbook Nook Mystery Book 8 · Beyond The Page

About this ebook

The Agatha Award–winning author of Wreath Between the Lines returns to the Cookbook Nook, where culinary mysteries are giving everyone food for thought . . .

 

Book clubs from all over have descended on Crystal Cove to celebrate the library’s Book Club Bonanza week, and Jenna Hart has packed the Cookbook Nook with juicy reads and tasty cookbooks. But she’s most excited about spending an evening with the Mystery Mavens and their moveable feast, when they will go from house to house to share different culinary treats and discuss the whodunit they’re all reading. It’s all good food and fun for the savvy armchair detectives, until one of the members of the group is found murdered at the last stop on the tour. 

 

As if that weren’t enough to spoil her appetite, Jenna discovers that all the evidence points to her friend Pepper as being the guilty party. And with Pepper’s chief-of-police daughter too close to the case to be impartial, Jenna knows she’ll have to step in to help clear her friend’s name before a bitter injustice sends her to jail. Sifting through the clues, Jenna unearths any number of possible culprits, but she’ll have to cook up a new way to catch the killer before Pepper’s goose is cooked . . .

 

Includes tasty sweet and savory recipes!

 

 

Praise for Daryl Wood Gerber and the Cookbook Nook Mysteries:

 

“There’s a feisty new amateur sleuth in town and her name is Jenna Hart. With a bodacious cast of characters, a wrenching murder, and a collection of cookbooks to die for, Daryl Wood Gerber’s Final Sentence is a page-turning puzzler of a mystery that I could not put down.” —Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author of the Cupcake Mysteries and Library Lovers Mysteries

 

“In Final Sentence, the author smartly blends crime, recipes, and an array of cookbooks that all should covet in a witty, well-plotted whodunit.” —Kate Carlisle, New York Times bestselling author of the Bibliophile Mysteries

“Readers will relish the extensive cookbook suggestions, the cooking primer, and the whole foodie phenomenon. Gerber’s perky tone with a multigenerational cast makes this series a good match for Lorna Barrett’s Booktown Mystery series . . .” —Library Journal

 

“So pull out your cowboy boots and settle in for a delightful read.  Grilling the Subject is a delicious new mystery that will leave you hungry for more.”  —Carstairs Considers Blog

Ratings and reviews

Sifting through Clues is the eighth delightful installment in A Cookbook Nook Mystery series. It can be read as a standalone, but why would you not want to read to. I recommend reading all the books in this charming culinary mystery series. I thought Sifting through Clues was well-written and it progresses at a steady clip. The author provides descriptions that allowed me to visualize the characters, their shops and the tourist friendly town (I would love to visit this town). The characters are friendly and developed. There is also a quirky character or two (like Aunt Vera) which is guaranteed to provide humor. Tigger, Jenna’s cat, is back with his feline antics and to provide cuddles when needed. I like that the author provides a cast of characters at the beginning of the book which helped to refresh my memory. There is plenty going on in our characters lives. Bailey is expecting her first baby, Tina is having boyfriend trouble, Cinnamon’s father whom she has never met has come to town, Crusibella wants to buy Ivy’s shop, Pepper is having trust issues regarding her male suitor, the town is flooded with tourists for the Book Club bonanza plus Jenna and Rhett cannot decide on a wedding date or venue (I told you it was busy). I enjoyed the references to cookbooks and other cozy mysteries. I had to laugh when Jenna noticed To Brie or Not to Brie (by our esteemed author) in the window of the local cheese shop. I liked the unique mystery. It starts with a rose quartz crystal sticking out of the victim’s chest. There are other items with unique symbolism (you will have to read the book to find out more). It was interesting to learn about crystals and what they represent. There are good clues to aid readers in solving the crime plus a red herring or two and plenty of suspects. Jenna wore some book themed t-shirts with cute sayings on them. Two of my favorites were “Good things come to those who read” and “There is no friend as loyal as a book”. There are recipes at the end of the book for the tasty sweet and savory items featured (Katie created some sumptuous offerings for the Nook Café). I look forward to the next A Cookbook Nook Mystery to learn if Jenna and Rhett pick a wedding venue (great opportunity for an out of town mystery). Sifting through Clues is one of those books that you want to read quickly to find out what happens, but you also do not want it to end.

Loved this book

About the author

Agatha Award–winning and nationally bestselling author Daryl Wood Gerber is the author of the Cookbook Nook Mysteries, the French Bistro Mysteries, the Cheese Shop Mysteries (as Avery Aames), and stand-alone suspense thrillers. Little known facts about Daryl are that she’s jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, has hitchhiked around Ireland by herself, and has appeared on an episode of Murder, She Wrote. She loves to read, cook, and golf, and has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!