Description (from cover):'Ellery Adams serves up a mystery that's a real peach...
Ella Mae LeFaye's Charmed Pie Shoppe is wildly popular in Havenwood, Georgia--which is not surprising since Ella Mae can lace her baked goods with enchantments. The shop's extraordinary success seems destined to continue when Ella Mae meets an engaged couple who hire her to handle the dessert buffet at their wedding.
But Ella Mae has a lot on her plate. She is also searching for the origin of her magical powers--and hoping to determine if the spark of attraction she feels for the handsome Hugh Dylan is authentic or just her new abilities gone awry.
Then Ella Mae discovers a high-standing member of the community dead, and a wedding guest becomes seriously ill at the event she's catering. Now she'll have to use all her sleuthing skills and culinary talents to prove her pies don't contain a killer ingredient...'
My thoughts:
For some reason I found this book to be less than amusing than its predecessor. I really enjoyed 'Pies and Prejudice' and was expecting something as exciting as that one was. I was disappointed with this one. I love the magical element, but it got a little weird and confusing to understand. The rules of the magic world in this one is just overly strange and highly confusing. It would have worked a million times better if there weren't a million rules that didn't make any sense. I was kind of put off a little by this. Of course, with every magical book there are always rules, but these were strange ones. Like a woman becomes a tree to save everyone's powers. Just weird.
The mystery in this one was practically nonexistent as the book focused more on Ella Mae's new found magical talents. I like mystery books that feature magic, but I expect to read a mystery when I pick up a mystery book. It's pretty straightforward and doesn't have a lot of clues or suspects and is pretty blatantly obvious who the killer is. I wasn't left figuring this one out until the end. I had a hunch pretty early one who the murderer was and the ending is just strange. I don't want to give too much away, but it was a little odd even for someone who enjoys a paranormal element in her books.
I recommend the first book in this series, but I would skip this one if you are looking for a captivating mystery. This one left me disappointed and hoping that the brilliance of this series comes back in the next book. It really did start out having a lot of potential and I hope the author backs off on the weirdness of the magical world and gives the reader a more compelling and exciting mystery. This one was just okay and doesn't really have anything that makes it really stand out.
Overall Rating: 3
Title: Peach Pies and Alibis
Author: Ellery Adams
Series: Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery #2
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: March 5, 2013
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.
