Asking for Truffle

Title: Asking for Truffle

Author: Dorothy St. James aka Dorothy McFalls

Publisher: Crooked Lane

Series: Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery, Bk 1

ISBN: 9781683312918

Length: 316 pages + "Recipes Snipped From the Camellia Current, Camellia Beach's Local Newspaper"

Obtained: Library hardcover copy

Comments:

Penn is the next thing to an orphan, even though, presumably, neither parent has actually passed.  She's the daughter of a very rich man, and was raised by her very rich grandmother (kind of).  But she is estranged (and always has been) from her known family, and doesn't want any part of their money.  Her background has made her cynical and short on trust.  So wen she gets a letter claiming she's won a trip to a beach town chocolate shop, she suspects a scam.  She speaks to an old school friend who agrees to go down and investigate for her.  But when he is murdered and his death is written off as a drug crime, Penn goes down to investigate.

Penn's cynicism sees this small beach community as worn down and crumbling.  She encounters a closed minded and inept cop, a mystical "woo-woo" shop that she doesn't believe in, two old ladies who she believes must be involved in the scheme to get her into town for her trust fund.

Unfortunately, Penn's negative picture is how the town is introduced to the reader as well.  Instead of the usual cozy warmth that tends to be found in small cozy mystery towns, there is this gloom.  And while Penn's perspective changes throughout the story as she gets to know the people in town, it is hard to move past her initial negativity.

The mystery itself is fine.  It is multi-part, and of course, events throughout add to the mystery.  I guessed the bad guy, but not the motivation.  Anyway, I had a little trouble connecting to this story and its characters, but I do expect I'll keep reading the series.