Murder Over Easy

Sunny Side Up #1

by Rosie A. Point

Murder has never been this easy…

When Sunny Charles arrives in small-town Parfait, Florida, the last thing she expects is a note from her aunt instructing her to take control of the famous Sunny Side Up Café. After going through a vicious divorce, losing her entire life savings, and, oh yeah, having the Russian mob on her tail, Sunny’s willing to give it a shot, even if it means trying her hand at cooking. Let’s face it, eggs over easy aren’t exactly ‘easy’ to make, but they beat facing off against armed men with guns.

All things considered, her first day in the café goes well, that is, until one of the customers, a food vlogger, tries her aunt’s eggs over easy and drops dead on the spot. Sunny’s set to lose the café unless she can prove her innocence. But with a handsome chef as a distraction, the creeping suspicion she’s being watched, and a detective on her case, she’s got her work cut out for her.

Can Sunny solve the mystery before the murderer stops her? Find out in this funny starter in a brand new cozy mystery series!

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Fiction, Audiobook, Ebooks, Murder Mystery

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2020

About the author

Rosie A. Point is a USA Today Bestselling cozy mystery author who loves writing about food, small towns, and cats. Her favorite books are ones you can snuggle up with under a cozy blanket on a winter's day. Born and raised in South Africa, her books are all set in small towns in the United States. She dreams of visiting the places she writes about in her books.

Rosie wants to hear from you. Whether it’s about a recipe or one of her books, you can contact her on her website. Join her reader club today!

https://www.rosiepointbooks.com/

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this fun, little read while looking for "free" downloads on the Kindle. I had not read anything from this author, but after reading several of the reviews, thought I give it a go. I was very, pleasantly surprised. This was an entertaining, easy read that kept me turning pages. It follows the heroine Sunny Charles who, after an ugly divorce from her husband and cleaning up his financial mess (with the Russian mob), finds herself down-and-out and moves back to Parfait, Florida to live with Aunt Rita. Aunt Rita owns and runs the Sunny-Side Up Cafe, but is on a well-deserved cruise and leaves Sunny in charge of the restaurant. I won't go into a detailed book description; you can get that from the book jacket or other reviews.

Now, I am NOT a fast reader, and some might say I'm a SLOW reader, but when I can breeze thru a book in a couple days, it certainly earns an extra star from me. I found the story fun, filled with a plausible story (so many cozy mysteries have an unrealistic scenario). The author really breathed life into the characters, giving them some depth (I particularly enjoyed the description of Mildred who ran the animal shelter). The twists and turns throughout the book keep the reader guessing without an obvious 'reveal' at the end. However, I would have liked a little more atmosphere of the town interjected into the story. You get the flavor of a small 'tourist-y' town with a boardwalk , but I like it when an author brings the reader "into" the quaint town. I just didn't get enough of that to have me feeling like I was walking the streets of Parfait with the characters.

Overall, I enjoyed this read and will most certainly continue with this series. The author writes simply, without burdening the reader with awkward sentence structure or filling the story with a bunch of technical terminology (like some of the 'Baking/cooking cozies tend to do). This was a solid 4 STAR read, but will give it the extra STAR as I mentioned earlier, because I breezed thru this one quickly. Recommended! Just my 2 cents. :)

[Crys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well this is a fun find. I found it on Kindle Unlimited, and I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did.

Sunny. What a fun character. She has hit rock bottom and is coming home to her aunt who helped raise her, only to discover her aunt is on a cruise and has left her to manage the café. Except Sunny doesn't know how to manage the café.

Her first day on the job and a food influencer comes to the Sunny Side Café, and then falls face first into her eggs. Dead.

What is Sunny to do? Rumors are flying. She is scrambling. And her aunt is STILL on that cruise.

Can Sunny help solve the murder before becoming a victim herself?

Good character development. Humor sprinkled throughout. And because it's a cozy mystery, there are shenanigans galore. Such a fun read.

[Amary Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sunny Charles has had a bad year. Upon divorcing her husband, she found out about his association with criminals via a visit by the FBI and being dunned by everyone he owed money to before his disappearing act.
Coming to stay with her Aunt Rita in Florida was her chance to get back on her feet...but Auntie neglected to tell her she was going on a cruise and Sunny was now responsible for her home, her restaurant and her not-so -friendly cat.
She manages to deal and is learning the ropes and the first customer she can’t avoid waiting on...dies right in front of her. The cafe is shut down and the coroner says it’s murder, and her cook is the main suspect.
She is afraid for her aunt’s business and makes it her business to find out who killed the food vlogger, not as easy as she thought, the woman was not popular in town.
After a few false starts she stumbles on enough clues to figure it out, and the killer realizes she knows before she can notify the police...but is saved in the Nick of time. This is a fun culinary cozy with some eccentric characters.
I received an ARC to peruse and offer my opinion freely.

[Aղցela W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good read and a good start to this series. Sunny had gone through a rough time with a divorce losing her entire life savings and her ex-husband's association with the Russian mob she decides to return to Parfait, Florida to work in her aunts. Although Sunny can't cook, she wanted to help her aunt so that she could go on a long deserved cruise. Things go well until she has to cook an egg. Things go terribly wrong when Sunny serves the egg and the customer drops dead. This was a good read and my first time reading this author. I loved the cast of characters in this book. This book was well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

[Debbie Orazi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the story line and the murder mystery elements very much. As always the author does an excellent job with these components of the book.

I did not care for the main character Sunny Charles. She comes off as completely clueless which doesn't mesh with her background. She was not raised in extreme wealth, yet she cannot cook an egg? How did she feed herself growing up? Auntie Rita either failed drastically bringing her up (which given her practical portrayal does not sound reasonable) or there is a disconnect with the character's development. The story has Sunny married to a wealthy criminal who employed chefs, but logically her development before her marriage doesn't make sense.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. The lead character is pretty annoying. Nice one minute, and snarky in the next. She was brought up by her aunt, but seems to have learned no skills to live an independent life. She married a mobster? That story was barely touched on. I skipped quite a bit just to find out who did it!

[Mr Francy Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

A FUN EASY-TO-READ COZY THAT LEFT ME WANTING TO CONTINUE ON!

PREMISE: In this book we follow Sunny Charles who has come to Parfait, Florida to spend some time with her Aunt. What she did not expect to find was a cat that seems to hate her and a letter advising her that her Aunt is away and would be uncontactable for a while. But if’s the final part of the note that throws Sunny the most ‘You will be the Acting Manager of the Sunny Side of Café in my place’ her Aunty had written. What? Why? How? Especially when Sunny has no hospitality experience. But thinks take a turn for the even-worse when a snobby food critic face plants into her Sunny Side Up dish dead. Who killed her? The cops say Sunny can’t reopen until the murderer has been caught. So Sunny dons a sleuthing cap to determine the killer!

THOUGHTS: I really enjoyed this book from Page 1. I did dock a star as it was nowhere near as Culinary as I would like. But I still gave it 4 stars as I enjoyed following Sunny, getting to know the residents of Parfait and even dealing with Bodger the cat! But it was the reveal that was my favorite part! I was shocked! Completely bumpuzzled! Fantastic Book and will definitely get to book 2 at some point soon.

4 Stars!
xoxo.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder Over Easy is the first in a cozy mystery series set in a small town in Florida. I live in Florida, and there were a few things in the book that made me wonder whether the author has actually visited this state (for example, Floridians being overly excited to see an alligator). Also, the main character continually asks her aunt, who is on a Bahamian cruise to come home early, and there is also talk of the aunt possibly an indefinitely extending the cruise; I have only been on one cruise, and I'm not the one who booked it, but is this a thing, people casually hopping on and off cruises? Later, I was amused to read in the author's Goodreads bio, "Born and raised in South Africa, her books are all set in small towns in the United States. She dreams of visiting the places she writes about in her books." Now, instead of being annoyed at her, I want to read more of her books to see how else she imagines life in small town USA.

Side note: I do think she could have done a little more research on being a "social media influencer" (and how this differs from being a celebrity chef), which did impact my rating of this book.

[Kellene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad start to a new series by a new-to-me author, but not a great one for me, either. There were more irritating characters than folks I liked, with the MC being off-the-chart annoying for me. Not all MCs have to be super strong but bless Sunny, she was (in my opinion) whiny unto helplessness. I'm not fond of that trait in real people, and it drives me to distraction in a book. The book was an easy read and the mystery itself was well written. I was kind of surprised at the culprit, but I expected more resolution than I got. I'll probably read the 2nd book and see how I feel from there.

[Betweenpaperbackworlds · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was quite good. I didn’t really know how to rate it cause it was my first cozy mystery. This is the type of book that would get you out of a reading slump. Or the type of book for when you want a short quick read to get lost in for a couple hours.

[Jenell Klinedinst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story, loved the characters. Excited for new powerful women stories. Couldn't believe who the killer was.

[Lizabeth Tarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I think I am really going to enjoy this series and the main gal gets her perspective and self-confidence back, while solving murders!

[Charleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great New series and entertaining story.

You know how to hook a reader into the story.It is as entertaining as the others are.Thanks for sharing all your great books with me keep them coming.

[Loretta TheMoodyRedhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute and very addicting. I had to know who killed the vlogger and if it was an actual homicide or if it was an allergic reaction gone bad. All along I had my mind on one particular person as the killer of the vlogger and at the end I discovered I was right. Cool!

Sunshine, known as Sunny went through an awful divorce and that left her broke. So Sunny moved into her Aunt Rita’s Cottage on the beach in Parfait, Florida. Upon arriving, Sunny found a note her aunt left saying she was on a much needed vacation on a cruise. Her aunt also stated that the responsibility of her cafe is now in Sunny’s hands. Sunny has no prior experience and is terrified to manage a restaurant! However, Rita’s neighbor and head chef Nick is more than happy to assist Sunny with making sure everything goes smoothly.

As Sunny is beginning to feel comfortable with the patrons in the restaurant, one of the diners dies right in front of Sunny’s eyes! Nick is Detective Garcia’s main suspect and Sunny is internally questioning Nick’s innocence, as well.

Sunny calls her aunt to ask her to come home and take care of the restaurant, but Aunt Rita tells Sunny she trusts her enough to resolve any issues. It’s up to Sunny to clear her new friend Nick’s name and get the diner opened once more.

Next book is Muffin But Murder (A Sunny Side Up Cozy Mystery Book 2)

[Tari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun start to a new series! I like all this author's other series, so I knew I'd want to read this one too. Sunny is going to take some warming up to, but I immediately liked Didi who became her friend when she started as manager of the cafe. Nick was nice too, but his wife was a real piece of work! I just loved Auntie Rita whenever we managed to get to talk to her, since she was on a cruise with some friends. I'm anxious for when she comes back and to see her in full action not just on the sidelines. And I'm not a fan of a cat who's mean and unfriendly to almost everyone. It honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. There's only a handful of series that have cats like this, and I can't say I like any of those kitties. (I'm more of a sucker for a cuddly sweet cat that curls up with its owner yet protects them when it needs to, lol).

I really had no idea whodunit, but I wasn't surprised at who it was if that makes sense, because it did make sense. It was a good showdown too, and once everything was wrapped up, Sunny was able to go back to getting used to being manager again. I'm really anxious to borrow the next book on KU too!

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a very messy and costly divorce, Sunny Charles moves back to Parfait Florida to live with her Aunt Rita. But Aunt Rita is gone on a week-long cruise and left Sunny in charge of her cafe, The Sunny Side Up until she returns. Sunny can't even cook! On her first day as manager, Trisha Williams a vlogger dies right there in the cafe after Sunny cooks and serves her some eggs!!! After a while, Sunny was cleared by Detective Garcia, but he told her there was poison on the plate Sunnyer served to Trisha. Then things get even worse and she has to close the cafe until she can get things straightened out. She has nothing better to do so she does her own 'investigation' in the murder. After all, she didn't read all those murder mysteries for anything! She has a terrible nagging feeling about the murder -- like she is missing an important clue, but what is it? I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book from Booksprout.

[Artamisa Campos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series!

Meet Sunny, a gal making a fresh start in warm, tropical Florida and is met with nothing but disaster. A murder, a cafe in jeopardy, a vicious neighbor and gossiping locals come together in a novel I absolutely couldn’t put down from page one until the surprise ending. This is a must read!

[Holly Mcclain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't have the patience to sit and type out all the absurdities and inconsistencies in this book. I think the biggest take-away is that if my teenager wrote this book, I would be so proud. But seeing as how an actual grown up "author" wrote it as a professional and presumably got paid...well, that's different.
I listened to the audiobook, and although the narrator was pretty good, her editing leaves much to be desired as I could hear what I would almost swear was a snoring pet (maybe a Boston Terrier?) in the background. I know because I have edited out my OWN dog's heavy breathing in the past.
The stars I have given are for the narrator and for the fact that I actually couldn't stop listening for the sheer ridiculousness of the thing! The longer it went on, the more Common Sense became completely abstract.
Well, now I've gone and typed more than I even wanted to...much like listening to this book.
I don't think I'm going to waste any more hours on the series.

[Tess Ailshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay story, with not much plot and even less logic. The aunt who has worked her whole life for her dream but drops everything for vacation, when her substitute has not yet arrived. The "heroine" who escapes a dangerous Russian mob and is alternately terrified and seemingly unconcerned about being found. The side characters who are both trustworthy and not trustworthy, as needed to "advance" the plot.

It's okay if what you want is to stop thinking for a couple of hours. In that, it's probably average for the genre. It could use a good proofreading, though.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and satisfying read. I'm always a fan of the hospitality theme in cozies and this was a quaint small town with a busy café and a murder. I found Sunny to be smart and likeable and getting to know the town and its residents was fun. Glad I bought the box set - I have four more adventures with Sunny and her friends.

[Naomo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why? Why was this so good? It was a free download on my kindle! It was so cozy and chill and comforting without being boring. It was like someone was like someone giving you a warm hug. Literally addictive and I fell in love with the characters

[Kinzee West · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

[Danae Tyus · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are so many plot holes and the ending was rushed. The beginning was promising, as well as the development of the mystery, but towards the end, it just got messy and boring.

[Gillian Banham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awful

[Aparna J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

Author Rosie A.Point deserves a standing ovation for her fantastic work, Murder Over Easy, which is a delicious cozy mystery. She's brilliant and I have already read several of her books. What I love the most about Rosie is that her books are crisp, keep the readers completely engrossed with never a dull moment. It's actually impossible to give up reading even for a moment. Having said that, this book is a 100% complete entertainer with suspense, fun, humor, adventure, some fabulous and unexpected twists, all in the perfect proportion, making it a perfect cozy mystery.

Sunny Charles gets invited by her Aunt Rita to stay with her at Parfait, Florida. However, she's surprised to find a feral cat hissing at her from the front of her aunt's doorsteps. She is dismayed to find that her aunt is nowhere in sight and discovers the key to her aunt's house to let herself in. She's shocked to find a letter stating that her Aunt Rita is on a vacation and that she has to manage her Aunt's cafe, Sunny Side up. Before she could settle in, Nick Talbot, her Aunt's chef and neighbor, arrives to take her to the cafe so that she could take up her temporary managerial position. She quickly befriends Nick and Didi, the server.

A group of young women enter the cafe. Didi introduces them as Trisha Williams and her friends. Trisha is a social media influencer and a Food Vlogger who rubs the people the wrong way. Sunny prepares her order and serves it to Trisha, who after eating some spoonfuls, topples over and dies. Sunny calls the police and Detective Garcia takes over the investigation. Sunny's reputation is at stake as Chef Nick is taken for questioning and she wants to help him out. But circumstances change and she starts suspecting Nick. The matters become worse when Nick's wife, Jasmine, is found attacked and The police suspect Sunny.

Can she clear her name and also prove Nick's innocence before it's too late or there's another murder? There are plenty of suspects with great motives and the story does absolute justice since the pendulum of suspicion keeps oscillating between different characters and there are some startling revelations as well. 'I guess 'I am going to add Rosie as one of my favorite authors as well. Deliciously yummy cozy mystery for your eyes.

[Kelsey Keating · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woof.
It doesn’t bother me that this author has never been to the states and is writing about small town America. I think authors should write about all sorts of places and try to research them well.

However…there is no logic in this book. I hate a cozy mystery where I can’t respect the amateur sleuth. The longest living stories in this genre are detectives who are brilliant (Holmes, Poirot, Marple) and solve things with an occasional or permanent sidekick.
Having someone dumber than the lowest lifeforms on TikTok as your detective is just frustrating for the reader, who even if below the reading level , would be upset with Sunny.

- jumping to illogical conclusions
-accusing everyone she’s met
- her aunt going on a months long cruise without letting Sunny know, leaving her to run a cafe/diner when she’s never even been there, let alone is familiar with managing a restaurant. This one was really weird. It made zero sense that her aunt, knowing that Sunny had lost everything and needed to come and live with her, would leave before Sunny even gets there, leaves a note saying “you’re now the manager of my beloved diner” and then STAYS AWAY as murder happens, people quit, and the diner is almost shut down. She’s gone for weeks and weeks, and based on the next book’s description, she’s still gone months later? No one does this!!!
- no one just saying they didn’t kill the person who died. Everyone is like “what?! Why would you say that to me?” And never says “I didn’t do it.”
- the killer, of course, catches Sunny because she loudly and gleefully shouts she has the evidence to get the person (while by herself) after acting super weird in front of them moments before. So of course the killer is there and ready to try to kill her. Honestly? Kind of wouldn’t minded her being killed off and this pain ending there.
- the contrived conversations. No one has these conversations. No one talks like this in any part of the world. And people don’t just laugh at managers who speak out in their establishment.

I got this book through my Kobo subscription, so I didn’t pay for it, but it’s a box set and I’m debating whether or not I want to even attempt the next book.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a nasty divorce and finding out her husband had unsavory people he was doing business with, Sunny runs back to her beloved aunt's to recuperate and restore. When she arrives in Parfait, FL, she discovers her aunt has gone off on a vacation with her girlfriends and left Sunny with instructions to manage her cafe in her absence. First, her aunt's cat is not so friendly and she must lock her bedroom door at night or get her face clawed. Her next door neighbor, Nick, is a nice looking guy who turns out to be the chef at her cafe. He also has a hateful wife. One of her servers, Didi, though much younger, turns out to be a great friend. On her first day at work a nasty young woman who happens to be a food vlogger, drops dead in her "eggs over easy." As you can imagine, this is not the start Sunny was hoping for. Her chef keeps getting hauled in to the police station as a suspect. She has to shut the cafe down. Poison was found on the plate her eggs were on. Between being a crime scene and Nick getting hauled off, then getting mad at Sunny because she questioned him about the murder, Sunny is having a terrible time. Add in some witchy wenches who start rumors, everyone in town thinking poor Rita's cafe is going down, and some very quirky townspeople, Sunny sets out to solve the case, despite Detective Garcia requesting her not get involved. But, lo and behold, Sunny comes up with most of the answers. This was a fun read and I think I'll head back to Parfait for some more fun and mystery.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunny is just coming off a bad divorce and has gone to stay with her aunt. Her aunt, before Sunny arrives, takes off on a cruise leaving Sunny to take care off her (the aunt's) cafe. Thus begins Sunny's new life.

On her first day at the cafe the local food influencer is poisoned with the eggs Sunny has cooked her. Then the cafe gets shut down, but really is that so bad the AC is broken and it's sweltering in there. When the police allow her to reopen, Sunny finds not only her they left the place a mess, but everything has been taken out of the kitchen. The chef is the prime suspect, her aunt's house is broken into, she thinks she is being followed, the cat hisses at her all the time, her neighbor (chef's wife) gets attacked, the AC company denies having any work order for the cafe and hangs up on her, the chef quits, and her aunt is still on the cruise and was hoping to go on the next leg. And that is how Sunny spends the first month trying to get over her bad divorce.

A fun adventure of murder, mayhem, and is Mildred's Russian nephew somehow connected to her ex-husband? Give a read and find out who kill the influencer. Is the chef a murderer? Will the AC get fixed? Is it safe to eat the food Sunny cooks? Will she find a new chef? Will her aunt ever return from her cruise? And can she ever befriend the cat?

[Linda]

I enjoyed Murder Over Easy by Rosie Point. It is the first book of her Sunny Side Up cozy mystery series. This cozy mystery takes place in hot Parfait, Florida where 38 year old Sunny Charles is planning to live with her Aunt Rita. Sunny needs a fresh start after dealing with her ex-husband's debts. But when Sunny arrives in Florida, she finds a note from her aunt letting her know that she went on vacation. She has left Sunny in charge of Sunny Side Up Cafe. Thankfully her aunt's neighbor, Nick Talbott, is the cafe's chef and is ready to help her out. Unfortunately, on Sunny's first day on the job, a customer, Trisha Williams, is poisoned to death. Sunny and Nick are the prime suspects! Sunny needs to solve the murder to get things at the cafe back on track. I liked the beachy setting, the characters, Bodger the cat, and the cafe's employees. I definitely want to know what happens to Sunny next.

[Sherry Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by Rosie A Pointe.



And the first book in the series.



There were a lot of characters introduced that will undoubtedly become full-time cast members.



It will be interesting to see how things at out.



So I will be reading the next book.



Sunny the main character did some growing as she was left in the lurches to manager her aunts cafe.



Sunny arrives in Parfait Florida hoping to find safety with her aunt after a messy divorce.



I thought leaving a note for poor Sunny was odd. Maybe the authors intention of keeping the reader asking questions.



In fact at 1 point I did wonder if her aunt was actually in hiding



And it was all a plot. But that didn't fit at all.



The author attempted to keep the reader guessing with lots of suspects with various quarrels with the victim.



I suspect that future books will develop a really good story line