[I received an electronic review copy of this from Netgalley and Midnight Ink in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Whitney is happy to be home at the Cherry Orchard Inn. And she’s happy to have the murder business from the Cherry Blossom Festival behind them. That mess has done the family business no favors. Whitney has had to drop the price of rooms at the inn as low as she can to get people to try a resort where someone died.
Then she gets the “thrilling” news. Silvia Lumiere the painter has booked a room at the inn for the entire summer! Silvia often paints portraits in Cherry Cove, and the summer reveals are a big deal. The art community is ecstatic to have Silvia close by all summer.
Not everyone is ecstatic. Silvia has a very high opinion of herself and strong ideas of what she is entitled to in her business and personal life – and also at the inn. When the woman is found dead, there are several potential suspects, people Silvia regularly abused with her words and expectations. Unfortunately for Whitney, she’s at the top of the list.
Review
Another fun mystery from Cherry Cove, Wisconsin! Whitney and her friends and family are a lot of fun. The love triangle is alive and well in this book, but by the end it seems to have run its course, which makes me happy. I feel like I have been “burned” by love triangles in other series before, so I don’t usually care for them.
The mystery is well done. The victim is infuriating, and there are plenty of suspects who want her dead. Instead of juggling through 4-6 suspects all at the same time, Whitney seems to dig into one at a time in this book. This felt different from the typical cozy, and I liked it! There are some nice twists along the way to the end that made this a great read.
The final copy will include recipes, although I didn’t get to see them in my review copy. I hope there’s one for cherry scones. They sound amazing.
If you enjoy cozies in general or food-based cozies in particular, don’t miss the Very Cherry Mystery series. Book one is Cherry Pies & Deadly Lies; you can read my review of it here. This is a not-to-be-missed series for me.