AVA Zuma

Jess, along with her best friend and an employee run the best bakery in town. Everyone knows it, and when a newcomer enters and wants all of the ginger cookies that she has, she's surprised when he later calls her and asks her to cater treats for the grand opening of his new hotel. A supposedly haunted hotel that's been vacant and rundown. So she's not only surprised he renovated it, but also that she's willing to say yes.

Things are running smoothly until later in the evening she hears a scream -- and when she goes to check it out, she finds that someone has just died. Is the haunting real? The police don't think so, but they take all that's left of her treats to test them for poison, just to be sure the man didn't ingest it from them.

With her freedom on the line, she's determined to find a killer -- and hope the killer doesn't find her first...

This is the first book in a new series, and I will say that it was indeed different to me, as I have not read anything by this author before. However, it was an interesting book with a plot line that left Jess to go and discover what she could; her background as an ex-attorney helping her along the way. When she questioned people, it was almost natural, and did not seem invasive at all, which I always find uncomfortable to read.

Jess is a powerful protagonist -- big-boned and six feet tall, and that would intimidate a lot of people (but not me; I have a six-foot tall daughter-in-law and my son is six-seven). Still, I can understand first hand how it would feel to be a lot shorter around such a woman. Fun indeed to read of.

The victim's son asks her for help in discovering who killed his father, and this segues into another story line that comes together with the first; it is delivered easily and seamlessly. Not to mention that Jess has troubles at home with her own son, and even though it is a secondary subplot, some of the readers can sympathize with her.

In the end, after all her questioning, she begins to put things together which almost become a fatal reaction for Jess, but of course we know it won't be or the series will end as soon as it is begun! It all begins to make sense, and we discover if the hotel is haunted and who the killer really is. I enjoyed this quite a bit and will read the next in the series. Recommended.

I received an advance copy of this book from Clean Tales Publishing and the author but this in no way influenced my review.… (más)