This is the second installment in the Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery Series. Charity Penn has opened up a chocolate shop in South Carolina. She helped organize the town’s lbeach music festival which has brought large crowds to the area. Everyone is ready to party until one of the band’s lead singers is found dead beside a beach bonfire. Will Charity be able to solve the case and perfect her newest recipe?

This is a cute series and if you are a fan of cozy mysteries you should read this book!

Playing With Bonbon Fire was a strong cozy mystery. Penn, the main character was warm and relatable. Her relationships with her friends, family, and the people around her were complex and satisfying. I enjoyed the small town coastal setting - it is a good location for more stories to take place in. The mystery was well written and kept me guessing. The recipes at the end of the book are an excellent bonus and I look forward to trying them out.

While I am a fan of the cozy mystery genre this book was not one of the better ones that I have read. The story line is interesting and the chocolate facts were fun but that did not make up for a lot of running around by the characters and the story line. There were also a couple of conversations that seemed to be left in the middle

Charity Penn has just moved to South Carolina. Her grandmother, Mabel Maybank, left a shop Named Chocolate Box to her, in her will but Mabel’s children are contesting the will. None of Mabel’s family likes Charity, ever since her father left her with maternal Grandmother, Cristobel, years ago. Charity doesn’t know who her real mother is. She wants to accept the Chocolate Shop and is fighting hard to keep it. To bring in business, she organizes a music festival. The leaders of two bands, Bubba and Stan, are bitter enemies and their hatred becomes a central theme of the story. While walking on the beach to relax, Charity discovers a bonfire with a body underneath it. In the meantime, the chocolate shop has been attacked by bullets, rocks, a car and a killer. Charity tries to solve the murder while trying to ward off advances of a well known rock star and trying out a new spicy bonbon recipe. A fast, moving story, full of adventure and mystery. This book is full of twists and turns and was an enjoyable read. Thank you to Net Galley for giving me this opportunity to review an advanced copy of Playing with Bonbon Fire.

Charity Penn is a girl with a lot of issues. Brought up in an unloving environment in her father's family, she meets and finds her maternal grandmother from whom she inherits a specialty chocolate shop on a South Carolina island. She searches for proof to verify exactly who is her mother as the will is being contested. Meanwhile she has a shop to run and an island music festival to pull off. If only one of the singer's hadn't just been murdered.

Suspects abound. And her shop keeps getting damaged. Good mystery with side plots that the together nicely. I guessed the villain about half way but it was still a fun read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Playing With Bonbon Fire is the second book in the Southern Chocolate Shop mystery series! We meet up again with Charity Penn aka Penn and she's finally settling into her new life in Camellia Beach. She took over the chocolate shop that her maternal grandmother left her, even though her aunts and uncles are still trying to fight and say that Penn is not their kin and that the shop doesn't belong to her. While dealing with that family drama, Penn is also trying to help organize the town's local beach music festival. Everything is going as planned until one of the band's lead singers winds up dead with Penn's chocolates right next to him. So with the help of her sister, a narcissistic music star, and her new beach family, Penn sets out to find the killer.

I LOVED the first book in this series, but the second book was WAY better so words can't describe how much I loved this book. One of the things that made this book better than the first was the character growth. I love cozies, but I rarely ever see character growth in the main characters. In this book though, I saw character growth in Penn.

In book one, she thinks she's unlovable, she's closed off to new people and she barely likes to be touched. Penn is like this because of the way her paternal family treated her all her life. But now, in book two, she's thriving-she's opening up to people and letting people in. She's still hesitant and still struggling with her flaws and issues, but she's coming along gradually. I loved that. I felt like that was realistic-she's slowly changing instead of making this dramatic change that would never happen in real life. I love Penn, and I find her very likable and relatable and someone I would call a friend.

The same goes for the other characters! Everyone is just quirky and compelling and just well-crafted. I love everyone in Camellia Beach. It's such a great town. So welcoming and inviting. I'd love to live there. The setting is just beautiful, and everything just feels so alive.

The mystery itself left me in awe! Like WOW! Very creative and unpredictable. It felt like there was a mystery within a mystery within a mystery. A simple murder turned into something MUCH bigger. It was amazing!

Overall, this book was fantastic, and I can't wait until the next one comes out! Please hurry!

This second book in the series was even better than the first. I really enjoyed this book. It kept me guessing. The romance is just enough without it being too much. Enjoying the characters. I look forward to the next in the series! Hope I don't have to wait too long!

In this installment of A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery, Penn is helping to organize a beach music fest to attract tourist to the lovely town of Camelia Beach, S C., while creating more captivating concoctions to keep her chocolate shop in business. Tragically, a festival singer is found dead in a bonfire. There is a threatening note, an explosion and just enough twists to make Penn delve into this whodunit with fierce abandon, uncovering the pieces of a decade old mystery. This is definitely a must read if you liked the first book, Asking for Truffle. It also stands on its own. There is a pleasant cast of characters in this book. I appreciated the way Dorothy St. James deftly tied this mystery together in a neat bow at the end. I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley. This did not affect my rating. I have provided an unbiased and honest review.

Dorothy St. James captures the slow and iconic ways of South Carolina island life in her newest cozy mystery. When tempers fly and a body is found at the annual music festival, transplatted yankee Penn must solve the crime and save the festival. A book to curl up and devour, hopefully with a cold glass of sweet tea.

I  recieved a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This is the second book in the Southern Chocolate Shop Mysteries, and my first with this author. It was a fun and easy read with engaging, colorful characters. I loved all the islands characters and how they help each other out.

You feel for poor (Charity) Penn and all of her family problems. What kind of horrid person names a child Charity to constantly remind them what a burden they are to you. Loved her relationship with her half sister Tina!

My only problem with this book is that it isnt out yet which means I have to wait twice as long for the next one!

In this second installment of the Southern Chocolate Shop Mysteries has Penn trying to continue her Grandmother's business, The Chocolate Box. Known for their decadent chocolate bonbons. As hard as she tries it's just not coming easy to her. 

But with her partner Bertie doing most of the creating in the kitchen, Penn has free time to plan a music festival on the island featuring local talent as well as a famous rock star. Much like her fledgling efforts to create mouth-watering bonbons, things aren't going as planned!
When more than wood goes in the bonfire, she finds herself being targeted by a killer. Or is it someone close to her? When her half-sister flies into town to find out what is going on, they both get to work trying to solve the murder as well as trying to find what happened to Penn's mother. Which is a continuing story line within the series.

This tale brought back so many happy memories playing on the islands around Charleston. My mother and her sister winning prizes for the Shag! Any time a book brings a smile to my face, it's a good read!

Netgalley/Crooked Lane Books   March 13, 2018

Penn is in charge of the music festival and her sister has arranged for a rock star to a appear but nothing seems to go smoothly and when one of the performers is found murdered, the festival's success is in question. Along with trying to find the murderer, Penn is also faced with the questions regarding her parentage.

Love the chocolate background and t he vulnerability of Penn and her wish just to know the truth.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. A really easy cosy mystery that had lots of twists and turns

Playing With Bonbon Fire ( A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery.)
Dorothy St. James

This book is postivitly delicious. I am sure I gained weight reading it. It is also a very good mystery. Written in first person is not my favorite style but in this story it works.
Penn has her hands full. Trying to help with the Music Festival,keep a congressman supplied with bonbons, and figure out who is trying to kill her, makes for a busy week. Of course the local police think she is crazy. Don't they always?.
With a colorful cast of characters this is one sweet story. Set in Camellia Beach, Fl you know there is going to be a storm. But who is causing the waves?
I loved it and finished the story in one day. Just kept my kindle with me and turned on.
A must read for all chocolaholics. AND there are recipies.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. So glad I did.

Playing with Bonbon Fire is the second installment in the A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery series set in the small coastal town of Camellia Beach, South Carolina featuring Charity Penn. With the help of chocolatier Bertie Bays, Penn has her grandmother Mabel's Chocolate Box shop up and running again.

Penn has teamed up with Bubba Crowley, president of the Camilla Beach association to host the Summer Solstice Beach Music Festival, a weekend featuring old time Carolina shag beach music and sure to bring an influx of tourists into the small town. Headliners will include rock musician Bixby Lewis and Bubba's now defunct band The Embers.

When Penn discovers the body of one of the musicians smoldering under a bonfire things in Camilla Beach start to heat up. Despite the objections of the local police, friends and family members Penn is determined to stick her nose where it doesn't belong and unravel a decades old mystery.

A fast paced story with many subplots that all tie together in the end. The return of characters introduced in the first book along with a few new faces will leave you salivating for more in the series and not just for the delicious chocolate recipes.

I received an advanced copy of Playing with Bonbon Fire from NetGalley via Crooked Lane Publishing. While not required to write a review I am more than happy to offer my honest opinion.

I simply adored PLAYING WITH BONBON FIRE. A great mystery and chocolate? What's not to love! I'll be writing a more detailed review at a later date, but I couldn't wait to get the word out about this one. I'm really looking forward to the next in this series!

I love this series. There's drama and plots a-plenty. I was engaged from the first and was kept guessing until the end. Chock full of character, love, and of course, chocolate!

Yum chocolate. The undercurrent of this mystery gets under my skin and I'm dying to know the answer to who the mother really is. The descriptions of the new bonbon flavor in progress were hilarious. I can just picture it happening. Quick and enjoyable to read.

This book was everything I hoped for and more. The mystery surrounding the murder of Stan, all of the little sub mysteries that don't come to light until the end makes for such a wonderful read! I love how awkward Penn is, how she is trying to come out of her shell, but it is such a struggle. It adds such a real human aspect to this book with her relationships not always being rosy or conflicted. I love that there is always that gray area where she wants to have a family and be accepted, but always keeping everyone at arms length so as not to get hurt.
The story line was great, full of twists and turns that completely keep the reader engaged and interested until the very end. Just when you think a mystery is solved, the author throws you a curve you don't see coming. I definitely cannot wait to see where all of the characters end up in the next installment!

Easy to read, really enjoyable series.