Summary
Hayden Mundy Moore has been spending a lot of time at Lemaître Chocolates in her role as a consultant. Her work is supposed to be hush-hush. No one wants to admit they need her expertise. So when Christian Lemaître invites Hayden to the resort spa for a chocolatier’s retreat, she goes under the guise of building her business while she wraps up her report and recommendations for Lemaître.
When Hayden’s friend, Adrienne, dies at the retreat, everyone thinks it’s from an accidental overdose. Adrienne was under a lot of pressure at Lemaître. But when someone attacks Hayden when she surprises them during a rifling of her hotel room, Hayden starts to think there’s something more going on at Lemaître.
Corporate takeovers, romantic liaisons, company secrets, and business competitions are plentiful in the local chocolate scene. Is Hayden connected enough to figure out how and why Adrienne died? Or will she become another victim?
Review
This was a solid mystery with some quirky elements. The characters are the source of the quirk. At the start, I wasn’t sure I could read a whole book in Hayden’s voice. She has a unique style and early on her use of repeated metaphors was tiring. But as the story moved on, I got used to Hayden’s style and even got to like her. Her relationship with her “plus-one/bodyguard” and her financial adviser are odd. There are frequent references to history with both that go largely unexplained in this book. I started to wonder if I missed a book in the series.
The mystery was good. The suspects all had their own secrets, agendas, and quirks which made it hard to pin down a lead suspect. I only figured things out a few chapters before Hayden (who actually didn’t put it together even when she was face-to-face with the culprit.).
I’m curious enough to try book 2 in this series. The chocolate theme was fun; that’s what prompted me to try this in the first place. I’m hoping book two will fill in the gaps on a couple of the characters and solidify a strong connection with Hayden.