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Bread Over Troubled Water (A Bread Shop Mystery #8)

Winnie Archer

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Jan 06, 2023 Kimberlee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-reviews, 02023, 02023-book-hoarder

I started this series mid-stream with the sixth book ("Death Gone A-Rye"), and was hooked. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read and review this latest installment in the series! As someone who jumped in to the series with Book 6, I can report that these books work fine as stand-alones.

The characters, especially main sleuth Ivy, were all well-written and detailed. I enjoyed learning more about her (as well as other major characters) this time around, and gained a better appreciation of I started this series mid-stream with the sixth book ("Death Gone A-Rye"), and was hooked. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to read and review this latest installment in the series! As someone who jumped in to the series with Book 6, I can report that these books work fine as stand-alones.

The characters, especially main sleuth Ivy, were all well-written and detailed. I enjoyed learning more about her (as well as other major characters) this time around, and gained a better appreciation of the depth of the various relationships. I liked learning more about Ivy's mother, and seeing more of her strong friendships with both Olaya and Penelope. The addition of Pilar was a stroke of genius, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of her in the future.

And speaking of the murder investigation...it was excellent! This time around, Ivy gets involved because the victim was a regular customer of the bakery with ties to Olaya's sister Martina. Rumor has it that poisoned bread may have played a role, so of course Ivy had no choice but to investigate.

The mystery was enhanced by the fairly large suspect pool. It seems the dearly departed was perhaps not as wonderful as everyone seemed to think. He'd done plenty of bad things in his time, and as a result plenty of folks had reason to do him harm. I enjoyed meeting so many suspects, and learning more about the victim's past. Luckily, everything made perfect sense at the final reveal. I will admit I was quite surprised by the guilty party!

Another note: I appreciated that Ivy is best friends with the main police presence it town, instead of being either a love interest or an enemy. I liked the way the two of them worked together, with Emmeline being no-nonsense and professional about her job, while still appreciating Ivy's help and suggestions. As an added bonus, Ivy got to work with Detective York a bit more this time around. I liked seeing their mutual appreciation grow a bit, and would LOVE to see it continue (and maybe even evolve into an actual friendship).

All in all, I very much enjoyed this mystery. Five out of five slices of perfect provolone! ...more

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