Tortie Shorties on Mystery Monday: Truffle Edition

Meows from Mudpie!

As we approach the one year anniversary of Truffles' unexpected journey to the Rainbow Bridge later this week, much of the week is going to be about her...and I'm okay with that. She and Tara before her paved the way for everything we do today.

Mommy recently found a pair of mystery novellas with a truffle theme, and we thought it would be fun to feature them here today.

Truffles and Troubles: Book 1 in The Chocolate Cafe Series by Valley Sams

From the publisher: After the death of her beloved grandfather, Catharine “Mac” Mackenzie opens a chocolate shop in her sleepy little New England bayside town with her best friend Sabrina. Things are going well for the daring duo, until Sabrina’s landlord, one of the wealthiest women in town, is murdered. Toss in a British detective with a wicked sense of humor, a shudder-worthy encounter with a childhood friend, and you’re in for a delectable mystery experience that’ll have you on the edge of your seat!

Tortie Shorties Review: Best friends Mac and Brie run a seaside chocolate cafe in New England. Brie is the true chocolatier; Mac is trying to keep busy while grieving the loss of her grandfather, the former mayor who left her quite well off. Her true passion is criminology which she was studying before returning home. So imagine her excitement when a prominent member of society is murdered in her bed! Mac can't help but stick her nose in and use what she's learned to nab a killer!

Add in mouth-water descriptions of cocoa confections, a quirky British detective, humor, romance and danger, and you have the ingredients for a delectable debut!

Raspberry Truffle Murder (A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Wendy Meadows

From the publisher: When Nikki’s husband of 20 years decided that he wanted a different life in Los Angeles it spawns a new life for her as well. Leaving behind Atlanta and her Journalism career there, she and her college bound son move to the small and tightknit town of Maple Hills, Vermont. With a bustling tourist season, the thriving community seems the perfect place to set up her new Chocolate Shop… yet opening day proves more deadly than profitable.

A hit and run right outside her shop door leaves a man dead and questions swirling. When the victim is identified as Steven Denforth, the most hated and reviled man in town, it resurrects the fissures that had recently torn Maple Hills apart. It seems that when Denforth first came to town, the quiet man bought the local paper, then proceeded to publish damning articles about some of the communities’ most prominent members - secrets that no one should have known about.

Now he is dead and everyone is a suspect, including Nikki. As both a former reporter and an FBI Consultant, Nikki instinctively knows the dirt in Maple Hills is piled high and if she doesn’t get to the bottom of it, and to the murder, then her stay in the quaint Northern Town may very well be short lived.

Tortie Shorties Review: Of course it's the cover and title that drew me to this story; but unfortunately except for the protagonist owning a chocolate shop there's not a truffle to be found. I was really hoping for a "poisoned truffle" cause of death. The setting of my home state of Vermont had great appeal to me as well.

For an estimated 90 page novella there's a lot going on in Maple Hills! Maybe a little too much for such a short read since readers don't even "meet" the killer until Nikki figures out that they're the culprit, and much of the action takes place off the page, making for quite a few confusing twists.

Nikki is a very interesting protagonist with her background as a former reporter and FBI consultant, so I'll probably pick up the next book in the series to see how she continues to make her mark in small town Vermont.