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.

Oak and Dagger

Title: Oak and Dagger

Author: Dorothy St. James [Website] aka Dorothy McFalls [Website]

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Series: White House Gardener Mystery, Bk 3

ISBN: 9780425252031

Length: 306 pages + "Tips from Casey's Fall Gardener's Notebook"

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

I've been reading the series and recently finished book 2, The Scarlet Pepper.

Comments:

I don't know if I can explain my opinions/reactions.  Because I've been enjoying this series, and I like the characters.  But.  But Casey has this tendency to annoy me.  In the previous book it was how often she jumped to conclusions.  She did that in this one too, but very much cut back... she even says in the book that she's learned from her mistakes (in different words) which is cool.  But she still is weird about relationships and seems to be a total mess, and that can get frustrating.  Of course it looks like a new leaf may be turned for the next book in that area, so maybe we'll be okay.  Although this time around Casey wasn't the only character to annoy me.  Jack did his fair share as well; for one thing, he jumped to his own conclusions.

Anyway. this book came out in spring of 2013 (why, when it's set in the fall, just before Thanksgiving, I do not know).  But the fall/Thanksgiving theme wasn't such a big deal as to make reading it in May strange.

I'd read more by this author - in this genre at least.

The Scarlet Pepper

Title: The Scarlet Pepper

Author: Dorothy St. James [Website] aka Dorothy McFalls [Website]

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Mystery

Series: White House Gardener Mystery, Bk 2

ISBN: 9780425247044

Length: 307 + "Page from Casey's Summer Gardener Notebook" + "Recipe for Quick and Easy Sheet Composting"

Obtained: Library copy

Why this book?:

I've read the first book, Flowerbed of State in 2011 (no review, but it was part of a reading challenge).  I enjoyed it, but hadn't gotten around to reading any further in the series.  I was once again at work, going to lunch, and hadn't brought any books with me.  So I browsed, saw the 3rd book, Oak and Dagger, and decided to see if I could find this one to catch up.  And there it was.

Comments:

I did not remember much about the 1st book.  The main character, Casey, annoyed me here and there when she took chances and made assumptions (did she ever!) that I thought were too much.  And I did guess the bad guy from as soon as a murder was discovered.  But despite all that, I did enjoy the series and plan on reading the 3rd book (which I checked out as soon as I finished reading this one).