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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The "Goodest" Book in the Series to Date, September 20, 2008
This review is from: Goody Goody Gunshots: A Candy Shop Mystery (Candy Shop Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
One night while driving back from her brother's house, Abby witnesses a murder. She hears the gunshots and sees the man go down. Freaked, she leaves the area and calls the police. But when they return, there is no body and no sign of blood on the ground.
Over the next few days, no body turns up, and Abby is beginning to wonder what is happening. But life goes on. She agrees to be the assistant coach for her nephews' basketball team. And she hires a second assistant for Divinity.
But then Abby spots the "murder victim" across a parking lot. Before she can confront him, he drives off. Soon, a car is following her and a very real corpse turns up. Is all this connected?
I am pleased to report that this is my favorite book in the series so far. I keep coming back because I love the characters and setting, and they continue to charm here. Abby is trying to grow as a person, and those results are clear here. I like many of the relationships in the book, and it's always nice to see those grow.
My one complaint with the series has always been the weak ending. That's not the case here. The plot is mysterious and fast moving, as always. Abby pretty much figures things out on her own at the end. It may feel a little rushed, but that's a minor complaint.
As always, there are some candy recipes. They sound great.
I enjoyed the book from start to finish. It kept me mystified and entertained. I hope it's not too long before Abby finds another body.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe I'm just getting jaded with and tired of the 'cozy' formula. Try it for yourself and make up your own mind., October 15, 2008
This review is from: Goody Goody Gunshots: A Candy Shop Mystery (Candy Shop Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
I can't decide whether or not to look forward to the next book in this series. Generally by the third outing, I feel that I know whether a series is going to be a 'keeper' for me or a 'hey there is another book in that series that I stopped reading 3 years ago' kind of deal. But with the Candy Store series I may have to break my rule and check out the fourth. This isn't a particularly good book nor is it a particularly bad book. It just is.
I do have the feeling that much of the mystery writing world has jumped on the 'cozy' bandwagon and the genre is, in general, being overworked, overwritten, and in turn becoming trite and boring. The one big thing this book has going for it is that it isn't a 'craft cozy'. As I search the library and the bookstores for new and different authors to sample I keep wondering if there is a dearth of qualified and competent police departments in the United States or if the amateur sleuth, who has really very little reason to get involved in a murder investigation, is replacing Mickey and Judy's "hey let's put on a show" with "hey let's blunder around, asking leading questions of murder suspects and then be surprised when the guilty party gets mad and tries to murder me/us"? And to make it even worse, the amateur does this time and time and time again.
The bad thing it has going for it is that the character is going NOWHERE fast. She is still as lost in her personal life as she was in the first few pages of the first book. Still wondering whether she is worthy of her aunt's trust in leaving the candy store to her rather than one of the other cousins.... And I agree with the reviewer that noticed that each of the books in this series have a very rushed feeling to their last chapter. Like murder, blunder, blunder, blunder, question, red herring, guilty party revealed, danger, rescue....THE END.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great, September 12, 2008
This review is from: Goody Goody Gunshots: A Candy Shop Mystery (Candy Shop Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
All I have to say about this book is that if you love a cozy mystery then this is the book for you. I have read all of this authors books and by far this is the best one so far. And when i started the book I couldn't put it down. This is an author I would recommend. I just can't say enough about it. I also love the Recipies at the end. Just give this author a try. but i would recommend starting with the first one candy apple dead.
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