'Talia Marby serves up deletable deep-fried fare in the heart of the Berkshires--but she soon discovers there's something fishy going on...
Sometimes in this life, you have to fish or cut bait. After walking away from a miserable job and an even worse boyfriend, Talia Marby has no regrets. She has returned to her hometown and is happy to help her dear friend Bea Lambert by working at Lambert's Fish & Chips, a cornerstone of a charming shopping plaza designed to resemble an old English village.
But not all the shop owners are charming. Phil Turnbull has been pestering Bea to sign a petition against a new store opening up, and his constant badgering is enough to make her want to boil him in oil. When Talia and Bea stumble upon Turnbull murdered in his shop, the police suspect Bea. Now it's up to Talia to fish around for clues and hook the real killer before her friend has to trade serving food for serving time...'
My thoughts:
So here is a book about murder and fried food. It's strange that this would even appeal to me as I cannot eat fried foods for the most part due to celiac disease, but it did. I hardly tend to take to debut mysteries, but this one reeled me in (no pun intended). I was fascinated by the characters, the small town setting and the mystery. I thought that I had the mystery figured out, but I was proven wrong. This book was a delightful debut and I am curious to see what happens next for Talia and Lambert's Fish & Chips.
Talia has returned to her hometown after quitting a job she hated and a boyfriend who wasn't right for her. She returns to her old job at Lambert's Fish & Chips and soon is working on building her future. Everything looks rosy and on the upswing, that is until Talia discovers the body of a neighboring shop owner. Talia hates to see her old friend, Bea as a suspect in this crime. Talia knows that Bea couldn't have done this heinous crime and she sets out to vindicate her friend's name. With a little help from other shop owners and her friends, Talia discovers motive, means and opportunity.
Like I stated before, I was really intrigued by this book. It was a great debut and it bodes well for the rest of the series. I will be continuing with the series as I loved the setting of this book and the characters. The author did a phenomenal job of creating a cozy mystery that can draw its readers in from the first page. Nevertheless, I will say that I was surprised at how much I did enjoy this book and I can only recommend it to lovers of cozy mysteries who enjoy something a little different and unique. This was a read that I read quickly as I couldn't put it down.
Overall Rating: 4.5
Title: Fillet of Murder
Author: Linda Reilly
Series: Deep Fried Mystery #1
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: May 5, 2015
Pages: 304
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was selected from the library by myself and I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.