Book Review: Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18) by Lee Hollis

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Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18)  by Lee Hollis  opens with Tom Farley and his neighbors in a snit because he's the last holdout to sell his house to a property developer who wants to build a resort. When Tom is shot at a pre-Thanksgiving community gathering and hospitalized, Hayley Powell puts her amateur sleuthing skills to good use. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishers for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this cozy mystery. I received a copy of this book for free in exchange of my honest opinion and review of the story. I loved the fact that this latest installment of the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery  series had a theme around the Thanksgiving holiday and included live turkeys in the plot. It was good to visit some familiar characters. Since this is the eighteenth installment in the series, Lee Hollis didn't go into much detail of the background of those reoccurring characters; however, she...
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Book Review: Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant (Beacon Bakeshop, #4) by Darci Hannah

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Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant (Beacon Bakeshop, #4) by Darci Hannah is set in Beacon Harbor, Michigan and opens with Lindsey Bakewell finding a dummy hung from a tree outside her haunted home and workplace, a lighthouse that has been converted into a home and bakery.  Determined to keep this from happening again, Lindsey has the seniors from the local high school over for a pumpkin carving contest.  On top of that, one of her employees told a reality show that they could film the lighthouse for their show.  During the taping, the ghost makes his presence known, and everyone flees the building only to find that one of the high school teachers hanging from a tree.  Lindsey and her friends are determined to find the answer.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant (Beacon Bakeshop, #4) written by Darci Hannah.  I wasn't familiar with this author or her books, but after reading the synopsis, I knew I had to read this book.  I was delighted when I found out I received a copy for free in exchange for my honest review.

At first, I didn't realize that this cozy mystery was the fourth book in a series until I started reading it.  However, this book could really be read as a stand alone book as the author does a relatively good job at bringing the reader up to speed on the characters.  I will say that I did have trouble keeping some of those characters straight in my mind, but the majority of them were likable.

The author did a phenomenal job with the twists and turns along with having plenty of suspects.  There were three different people that I suspected, but one of them I had a gut feeling about being the actual murderer in the story.  I just wasn't entirely sure of this person's connection to the victim, so that is why I suspected a couple of other people as well . . . they had more of a connection to the victim.  The author definitely kept me second guessing myself!

I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline, and it put me in the mood for Halloween.  A few of the recipes sounded yummy, so I will give those recipes a try this fall.  At some point, I will read the other books in the Beacon Bakeshop series.  Four out of five stars is what I gave Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant (Beacon Bakeshop, #4) written by Darci Hannah.

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