Customer Reviews

Eggs in Purgatory (A Cackleberry Club Mystery)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

With her third series of books, Laura Childs has started out with a winner. I tried reading the Tea Room books and couldn't get through even the first without skimming a lot of pages. The Scrapbooking series is better but in my opinion, gets bogged down with the 'posse' of characters always hanging around. Cackleberry Club is thankfully not slowed down with any of the flaws of the earlier series. The main character is believable, the supporting cast is realistic and the involvement of the main character in solving the who-dun-it is straight forward. There is actually a reason for Suzanne to discover the person behind the murders. The author throws in enough red herrings that the final solution isn't apparent in the middle of chapter 3. I hope to take another trip to Cackleberry Club soon. Sounds like a fun place to visit! Well a fun place except for the murder victims, that is!

Kindred, Tennessee is a small peaceful town, a place where Suzanne, Toni and Petra enjoy their freedom although each lost their spouse; one to death, another to Alzheimer's and the third to another woman. They bond over their respective loss and the friends open the Cackleberry Club café.

Suzanne's lawyer Brian has some papers for her to sign regarding her late husband's estate. When she steps out into the café's parking lot she finds him murdered in his car. Not long afterward, she sees a pickup truck being followed by a SUV; she follows them observing the truck tip over while the SUV drives away. Resident Teddy Harlingen, who first noticed Brian dead in the car, is found dead too. Suzanne believes the deaths are linked and soon learns of a million dollar kickback deal in which late husband's firm is being blamed. Refusing to accept the seemingly irrefutable evidence that her spouse committed a felonious deed, Suzanne investigates seeking the ties between three dead men while a fourth watches her every move.

Author of the Scrapbook and Tea Shop amateur sleuth series, Laura Childs launches a new "detective" series that her fans will relish. The first Cackleberry Club whodunit is filled with action, humor, intrigue, and recipes, but the heart and soul of the café mystery is the characters. The three female friends are there for one another like the Musketeers especially in time of crisis. The investigation is multilayered as the tie between the two homicides, Suzanne's husband, and a church fire remains nebulous but intrepid Suzanne keeps peeling the onion.

Harriet Klausner

I started reading Laura Childs' Tearoom mysteries, and after a false start, got into her scrapbook series. I am not a scrapbooker but she makes it interesting to read about. Now she has a new series...the Cackleberry Club. It is an excellent read, especially for all of us gray haired middle aged ladies. The characters are real, with real life experiences that have made them resilient, self sufficient, friendly, and caring. I hope there will be more!

I don't read books for the mystery aspect of it but I do enjoy the mystery and this one was fairly well done, as a previous reviewer said, this lead character actually had a good reason to investigate the murder.

I actually read for the characters and I absolutely enjoyed each person in this book. I like to sit down and enjoy reading with no gore and blood and this fits the bill. I like the fact that there is no silly ex boyfriend, husband, etc in this series for the main character. That gets so old and boring and bogs the main story down for me. This is definitely a winner and I will be looking forward to seeing the cast of characters return because they are enjoyable and mature.

This is the first in Child's new series, and it is very enjoyable. I was sorry to see it end. She made these characters come to life and become friends, as in her other series.

Let me start out by saying that I am so glad I got this book from the library and didn't purchase it. I was really excited to try a new cozy mystery series and this had good reviews. I started reading it with the best intentions, but I just couldn't get through it. Basically it was way too tedious and detailed for me. I like books that make progress and this one was just taking way too long and not really going anywhere. I had a hard time wrapping my brain around the 3 main female characters and their very eccelectic restaurant/shop. It just wasn't for me. (To give you an idea of the type of cozy I like...I am loving the Haunted Bookshop Mystery series by Alice Kimberly aka Cleo Coyle.)

The third time is the charm for this author. Three women who are without husbands (one is in jail, one has died and one husband was in a nursing home) are running a business. Right away, these backgrounds can give us more plots and sub plots, although they haven't yet. The business they run has a restaurant, a bakery, a small book store and a knitting shop - all in one building.

Suzanne's lawyer is murdered, her late husband is accused of receiving kickbacks, and mystery swirls around the town. The small town in which this book is set seems fairly realistic. Most of the characters seem real. The business sounds too ambitious for the three ladies running it, but that might simply be my bias.

Of the three series by Laura Childs, I prefer this one and will read more.

I love Laura Child's books about tea and scrapbooking. Didn't like this one as much and stopped reading after awhile. I think I like the settings of the other books, Charleston and New Orleans better than this one. The setting wasn't good enough for me to care about 3 older women running what is basically a truck stop in a small town.

If you've read the first two books in the series, you've read this one. The store is predictable, the dialogue is stilted, the main character is wonderful and beloved by all, the food is all fabulous. It's okay for a quick, I've-got-some-time-to-kill read, but having read it once, it isn't a keeper. And for heaven's sake, will someone please get this author a thesaurus?! Her characters "enthuse" about everythning!

I JUST FINISHED THIS BOOK AND I LOVED IT. GREAT READING WITH A CUP OF TEA
AND A SCONE ON A RAINY DAY. THE RECIPES ALL SOUND GREAT!! I JOKED WITH MY HUSBAND THAT SUZANNE,PETRA AND TONI OWN MY DREAM BUSINESS GOURMET FOOD,TEA,BOOKS AND KNITTING ALL OF MY PASSIONS IN ONE PLACE. THIS IS
MY FIRST LAURA CHILDS MYSTERY AND IT WONT BE MY LAST. I'M ANXIOUSLY
AWAITING EGGS BENEDICT ARNOLD. IF YOU LIKE COZY MYSTERY WITH SOLID CHARACTERS AND GOOD FOOD GET THIS BOOK!!