Customer Reviews

The Chocolate Cat Caper (Chocoholic Mysteries, No. 1)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Lee McKinney is looking for a new start after her divorce. Her Aunt Nettie needs someone to help with the business side of TenHuis Chocolade, a gourmet chocolate business in Michigan that Lee worked at as a teen. But Lee's only been back in town for a week when famous defense lawyer Clementine Ripley is poisoned while eating one of their chocolates. Clementine had made a lot of enemies over the years in her cases and seems to have just as many in the small resort town of Warner Pier. Now Lee must sort through the suspects and motives to find the real killer before she and her aunt get framed for a murder they didn't commit.

I've been looking forward to this book since I read the short story in AND THE DYING IS EASY that introduced these characters. And it didn't disappoint. The characters are well developed. Lee's way of mixing up words when she's upset or nervous is fun but not so overused that it becomes annoying and makes her more human. The story is tightly plotted and moves along at a brisk pace. The style invites the reader in and makes it very hard to put down. The only thing that seems odd is the chocolate trivia scattered throughout the book. It doesn't really add anything; it's just kind of there.

I am definitely addicted to the Chocoholic Mysteries and look forward to many more. Pick up this book and enjoy a wonderful new series.

After divorcing her husband, Lee McKinney moves back to Warner Pier, Michigan to handle the business end of her aunts chocolate shop. But, Lee soon discovers chocolate can be deadly!

In this first chocoholic mystery by JoAnna Carl ( aka Eve Sandstrom), Lee is hired to help out at a fund raising party for the local Animal Rescue League. A party in which her aunt, Jeanette TenHuis, has provided [a lot] of chocolate for the guests. However, before the party even starts the hostess Clementine Ripley falls prey to a cyanide laced amaretto truffle, making both Lee and her aunt suspects in Ms. Ripley's murder.

Lee steps into the roll of amateur sleuth in an attempt to uncover the murderer, before she and her aunt become the next victims.

This book is a must for anyone who enjoys reading cozies. The charaters are well-developed, and the storyline is light and fast-paced making it a good vacation or beach read. I enjoyed the chocolate facts that are scattered through out the book as well as the chocolate quiz at the end.

I look forward to reading the next book in this series The Chocolate Bear Burglary.

Lee McKinney has tired of her life as a trophy wife in Texas. So, the ex beauty queen chucks it all and moves to Michigan to help her Aunt Nettie in her gourmet chocolate factory shop. She takes an order for two thousand dollars worth of chocolate from a much hated local woman. She delivers the chocolate, and is hired to help serve drinks at the party that evening. The hostess pitches over a balcony shortly before the start of the event, evidently poisoned by one of the chocolates. It seems that everyone in town is a suspect, even Aunt Nettie and the local police chief.

This is a really fun new series, the story line moves along quickly and the novel itself is short. A great beach book!

Blonde, gorgeous, tall and Texan Lee McKinney leaves her role as "Texas Trophy Wife" and comes to help manage her favorite aunt's chocolate business in a small resort town.

Trouble ensues when a much hated defense attorney dies after ingesting a cyanide-filled trouffle that Lee has delivered. The mystery escalates from there and is very skillfully delivered.

Although "The Chocolate Cat Caper" is a light, cozy read - it isn't juvenile in the least. The one area that is rather silly is that the author insists on giving Lee McKinney an impediment of a sort where she substitutes the wrong word in sentences at the most inopportune times. The effect is suppose to be funny - but I just found it to be silly.

In spite of this, I thoroughly enjoyed the first of this series and am currently reading the second.

The cover art is GREAT and it was disappointing to note that the artist did not receive any mention in the book. This is sad as the art helped me to decide to buy the series.

Also great were the neat chocolate facts, which were dispersed throughout the book.

Just as the title of the new series portrays, this first installment of the Chocoholic Mysteries is a sweet treat. Amateur sleuth Lee McKinney is back to where she grew up, the Great Lakes region in Michigan, to help her aunt run the business side of the family chocolate shop (Tenhuis Chocolade). Although Lee's speech impairment makes her appear a bit overwhelming at times, readers will come to like her because of her truly human side.

All starts after Lee goes to the house of Catherine Ripley, Warner Pier's most notorious resident, to deliver a large order of chocolates for a party due that same night at the mansion. But as soon as she arrives, she has to deal with an obtrusive security guard, a pestering secretary and Ms. Ripley herself. When, after tasting one of Tenhuis's Amaretto truffles, she falls to her death, Lee and her aunt, Nettie Tenhuis, are in the spotlight for some vicious press, a burglar; in fact, the works.

I don't know if my ability to pinpoint whodunit early on in the story could have been because I'm very familiar with the mystery genre (in fact, I write them). But in any case, I would classify this as a light-hearted mystery which, as such, cannot be expected to provide deep character drama but only light entertainment. Overall, I liked the main character and I could identify with her, which is always a plus in a story of this type. I really liked the way Clementine Ripley's cat gets involved in the action, with quirks typical of the doted on feline. For chocolate lovers, there's chocolate trivia, and even a questionnaire at the end of the book, that will make everyone's mouth water.

I may have been that my inner Lady Godiva was offering some unconscious input when I bought this title. I do love chocolate!

Carl (a pseudonym for author Eve K. Sandstrom) has created in this debut series a charming Michigan town where everybody takes turns being mayor, talks like the people in Fargo, and loves chocolate. Only these people don't settle for foil-wrapped kisses - Aunt Nettie TenHuis has the corner on the sweets market here. She makes the goodies while her niece, former trophy wife Lee McKinney, handles the books.

Caper opens with a delicious delivery that turns soon turns deadly. When high-powered attorney Clementine Ripley (think F. Lee Bailey in heels) falls dead after biting into one of Aunt Nettie's concoctions, Lee decides to sleuth on her own to find out who framed the family business by spiking the candy with an extra, unwanted ingredient. Finding the culprit, she discovers, is not easy, even in a small town. The residents do like each other, yes, and they also agree upon one thing: Clementine deserved her just desserts.

For a light and at-times humorous read, The Chocolate Cat Caper delivers; this promises to be an entertaining series, one that needs not wait until after dinner to enjoy. Lee McKinney is, contrary to her ex-husband's beliefs, a capable and bright woman, even if her tongue does get a bit tied (you'll see).

Lee McKinney has left Texas and her ex-husband behind her and is now on the coast of Lake Michigan working in her Aunt Nettie's chocolate factory. She helps deliver some candy to Clementine Ridley, a wealthy and heartily disliked defense attorney who lives in Warner Pier on a part-time basis. Lee encounters some faces from her past at Clementine's home and then is horrified when Clementine dies of cyanide poisoning which has apparently come from Nettie's candy. She and her aunt are prime suspects, so Lee works hard to prove their innocence. Throw in a little romance, and some scrumptious descriptions of Aunt Nettie's chocolates and you have the makings of a very enjoyable "cozy". Just don't read it on an empty stomach!

Lee McKinney was considered a trophy wife because she came from an impoverished background and married a very wealthy Texas bachelor. She left him when the marriage went sour and refused a financial settlement so she was more financially impoverished than before her marriage. Her aunt Nettie, who lives in the Michigan resort town of Warner Pier, hires her to manage her chocolate business.

Clementine Ripley, a world famous and widely detested defense attorney, orders a few thousand dollars in specialty chocolates for a party she is throwing. Lee delivers the candy to her and is a waitress at the party whose Clem dies from cyanide poison injected into one of the chocolate candies. With her and her aunt's reputation and freedom on the line, Lee decides to do some sleuthing and manages to become a hostage to the killer.

Do not eat THE CHOCOLATE CAT CAPER on empty stomach. The descriptions of the individual pieces of candy are so mouth-watering; one will gain weight just from reading about them. JoAnna Carl has created a delicious mystery starring a heroine who will endear herself to the audience. This is the beginning of what looks like a terrific new cozy series.

Harriet Klausner

It's not clear to me how many murder mysteries can take place in
one small town in Michigan, but that's the only possible drawback I can see
to a long successful run to this new series, just started. All of the
ingredients are there: an blonde ex-trophy wife trying to restart her life,
an aunt who owns a chocolate shop in a resort town along the Lake Michigan
shore, assorted townspeople of various ages, character and temperament, and
of course I mentioned chocolate, didn't I?

Smoothly written and adeptly plotted, the book is a pleasure to
read, with just enough suspects to make the mystery interesting, if not
challenging. There's a hint of romance by book's end as well, not
unexpectedly. Those of you who are primarily hard-boiled private eye fans
will find the nourishment here mighty thin, but enthusiasts for cozies (you
know who you are) will eat this one right up.

This enjoyable mystery introduces us to Lee McKinney, recently divorced and trying to start a new life in the Michigan resort town of Warner Pier. Lee returns to Warner Pier, where she spent summers during high school working in her aunt's gourmet chocolate shop. But when the town's most prominent part-time resident is murdered (apparently poisoned by a truffle from the chocolate shop), Lee becomes involved in solving the crime in order to prove her aunt's innocence.

The author did a good job of developing the character of the heroine. Lee does have a habit of saying the wrong word in moments of stress, but the effect is often funny.

Just like eating a chocolate bonbon, this first chocoholic mystery definitely left me wanting more!