I really enjoyed this Cozy Mystery. I received this for free and I voluntarily chose to review this story. This story grabbed me from the first. This is a series, and I'd think it goes best to read it in order. The first story lays down a bit of the background, so we are able to move into the story faster. I've given it a 5* rating. I found this one to be a bit of a tear jerker for me and if you are a foodie, you are sure to enjoy this series. Again, it is almost the end before we find out the murderer in this story. And the kitten is up to his tricks again to stir things up. ( )

Inherit The Word is the second book in the A Cookbook Nook Mystery series.

It's always a joy to visit Crystal Cove, CA, especially on these winter days in the Midwest.

Jenna and her Aunt Vera, and all the residents of Crystal Cove, are looking forward to Grill Fest. Before the Grill Fest even begins, to restaurant owners, Lola and Natalie, are having words over whether Natalie stole Lola's chef from her. Then as the contestants are gathering, Mitzi, the eight time runner-up to Natalie have a disagreement over who will win this years contest. A recess is taken before the cooking begins and soon the smoke alarms are blaring and the body of Natalie is found in the alley. The murder weapon is found next to the body and it reportedly belonged to Lola.

Jenna wants to clear Lola from any involvement in the murder, as she feels certain that she didn't do it and Lola's daughter, Bailey, works at the Book Nook. As Jenna begins to sort thru the stories she soon finds that there are several prospects to the murder. Mitzi's husband, Sam, is rumored to be having an affair with Natalie and Sam's alibi seems to be questionable, too. And things weren't all that good on the home front either. Natalie's son-in-law is deep in debt and maybe figures that inheriting the business is the answer to his problem. Natalie's daughters aren't above reproach either.

In addition to dealing with the murder, Jenna has found some gold coins that were hidden in a ceramic cat that her husband had given her shortly before heading on his fateful sailing. Where did they come from and why didn't he tell her about them? That's question she needs to answer.

A very interesting cast of characters in this delightful series. Even the accusing mother of the police chief has her redeeming qualities, I haven't figured out what they are. Every book needs a character you love to hate, and she's mine.

Looking forward to book three in this series.

Recipes are included, as are names of tempting sounding cookbooks. ( )

The second book in the series, this one was just o.k.

The author writes characters well, but struggles with dialogue and narration. Jenna was likeable, but she kept blatantly and awkwardly inserting herself into situations that were none of her business, making her come across as the worst kind of nosey pest. The setting is crisply and colourfully described though, so perhaps the author just hasn't found her groove with this new cast of characters yet.

The MC, Jenna, co-owns a Cookbook Shop and cafe with her Aunt Vera. Is it just me, or is there an inordinate number of Aunt Vera's running around the written world? Anyway, the author does a lot of title dropping into the first third of the book, and because she tries to pry incredibly long titles, then descriptions of each book, into casual conversations between the MC and her employees, it comes across awkward, clumsy and jarring. It reads like a sales pitch, so it could have worked really well, say, in a conversation between Jenna or Aunt Vera and a customer, or in dialogue taking place during the cooking contest.

The mystery plot was well crafted and written with nice slight of hand; more than one plausible suspect, and the author nicely leads the reader in one direction while dropping clues for the observant in another. However, Jenna's connection to the mystery is tenuous at best and it seemed to me that the author made Jenna such a nosey Parker in an attempt to continue the justification for her involvement.

There's a second mystery, concerning Jenna's late husband, running throughout the background that was interesting. It felt at times like the author sort of forgot about it, then would rush to move the sub-plot along, only to let it languish again. That sounds like a harsher criticism that I meant it to be, but while it was interesting, it could have been more smoothly woven into the overall story. I also think we've not heard the last from Jenna's husband.

The awkward writing would stop me from recommending this book to others. It's not a bad read by any means, and I'll probably pick up the next book in the series when it's published. It's just not a great read. ( )

This is the second book in the series. I liked the setting of the cookbook store. However, the plot was very convoluted with several different storylines going at once. There were also many different characters to keep straight, and they all seemed to have motives for murder. The book never did tell who the person was who tried to run the main character off the road. Four stars. ( )

I enjoyed the first book in this series, FINAL SENTENCE so much (You can find my review on that title’s page), I just knew I was going to love INHERIT THE WORD, and I sure did!

It was great to be back in Crystal Cover with Jenna Hart, her Aunt Vera, and the rest of the great cast of characters.

The Cookbook Nook is hosting the town’s Grill Fest with the challenge being grilled cheese sandwiches (I stayed hungry through the entire book). On the first day of the challenge the eight-time champ is found dead. As with her first book in the series, Ms. Gerber had plenty of suspects, but the investigation seems to be centered on Jenna’s second mother Lola.
There are many twists and turns throughout the entire book. I keep going back and forth on who I thought the killer was. I was completely surprised when reading the reveal!

If you read FINAL SENTENCE and liked it, you’re going to love INHERIT THE WORD. You don’t have read the first book to be able follow this one, but I would recommend it since they are both so wonderful.

To sum it up, this is a fantastic mystery, set in a beautiful location full of characters you’ll love. And there are awesome recipes included

Read both FINAL SENTENCE and INHERIT THE WORD now and get yourself ready for STIRRING THE PLOT coming in September! ( )