Egg Shooters by Laura Childs (A Cackleberry Club Mystery, #9)
This cosy mystery is set in the small town of Kindred in the Midwest. Suzanne Dietz is the co-owner of the Cackleberry Club a diner specializing in breakfast, lunch, and tea. They also put on a variety of special events, many related to fundraising for different organizations in town. The cafe also has two small nooks, one is the Book Nook and it sells books and magazines. The other is the Knitting Nest and it sells a variety of yarn and supplies and has classes.
As this book begins, Suzanne is on her way to the hospital to delivery a hot meal of chili and cornbread to her fiance, Dr. Sam Hazelet who is on shift there. On her way, she is passed by an ambulance. Once she gets there and goes in to the small ER, she and the intake nurse Ginny are surprised by a man dressed in black rushing to them from inside the hospital. He is carrying a black duffle bag and a gun, and they are in no doubt he will use the gun if they challenge him. When he shoots at the chasing security guard and then at Ginny, Suzanne finds anger builds in her so that she comes out swing her thermos at him, and chili explodes everywhere. When she follow him out to the parking lot though, he has disappeared.
Back at the cafe the following day, Suzanne and her co-owners discuss the crime and the truck heists that have been happening near them as they try to make sense of them. The gunman at the hospital had robbed the pharmacy there and when Suzanne hears about the two first-time drug offenders the local pastor is working with, her suspicions rise. Every little lead that arises, from a compound of ex-military men to a new warehouse rental in town gets Suzanne's attention.
In between her sleuthing, she helps prepare food for the cafe, catering orders, a fundraisers for the local library, and a specially themed dinner event.
There is lots going on here, with many red herrings, and some clues that not everyone will pick up on. Suzanne gets herself into some tricky situations with her sleuthing, and makes some bad guesses in terms of suspects.
The novel includes several recipes at the back.
I picked up this novel to meet a reading challenge and finished it in just a few hours, so it is a quick read.
No comments:
Post a Comment