Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Mystery on the Menu

AUTHORS:  Nicole Kimberling

PUBLISHER:  One Block Empire (an imprint of Blind Eye Books)

LENGTH:  422 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 23, 2023

BLURB:

After a steady diet of big city trouble Chef Drew Allison has relocated to the tiny island town of Orca’s Slough to get a taste of the laid-back artisanal lifestyle. But when he discovers his bartender dead in his basement, he faces a far greater challenge than whipping up a spectacular lunch special.

He’s the local law enforcement officer’s Grade-A suspect.

And while Deputy “Big Mac” Mackenzie is fine eye candy as well as a regular customer, Drew isn’t convinced he’s got the brains to match his brawn―or stand up to a sheriff, who’s out to cook Drew’s goose.

Is Drew’s only choice to put mystery on his menu and serve himself as an add-on to Big Mac’s investigations?

Mystery on the Menu serves up three courses of cozy mystery in one delectable collection.

Includes:
* Entrée to Murder
* Recipe for Trouble
* Homicide and Hospitality

REVIEW:

This is one of my favorite books/collections this year!  I absolutely consumed this lovely trio of mysteries like I hadn’t eaten in a week.  Drew and Mac are so perfectly imperfect 🙂  I always love a wonderful PNW setting, and Camas County, Washington is just beguiling.  These mysteries follow each other in order covering a good bit of time in the evolving relationship between Sherriff’s Deputy Cormac ‘Mac’ Mackenzie and Chef Drew Allison who is an “outsider” in Orac’s Slough, a small town on an island near Seattle.  They are brought together by murder, but they stay together because, well, they just work in some weirdly unconventional way.  Each story itself is a self-contained mystery and each story advances the romance between Mac and Drew.

Orca’s Slough is like any other small town with it’s cast of characters.  Mac’s family of five siblings that he kept together after his parents were gone, Evelyn and Julie, the older couple who welcome Drew into their orbit, Drew’s staff at the his restaurant, Eelgrass Bistro are all part of the fascinating landscape of this wonderful fictional world.  The restaurant and the Sherriff’s department are key to much of what happens – either relating to Drew’s friend/former business partner, Sam or Mac’s family mystery.

I don’t want to spoil any of the fun here, because I found myself just really enjoying the unfolding of these mysteries, so no “plot summaries” will be found in this review.  The first mystery finds Drew as a suspect in a murder at his restaurant and Mac does his best to keep him safe.  The second involves a murder that has some connection to Drew’s family mystery and the third is the culmination of all of these things.  If you are a fan of cozy mysteries, opposites attract romances of prickly and rather shy men, found family and very fun and humorous writing with a very entertaining narrator, then I highly recommend this collection.  I feel certain it’s going to be on my best of the year list.  One of the best cozy mystery series I’ve read and I loved it.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon