Daryl Wood Gerber is such a talented author! She has a definite flair for description and creates characters that just come alive. If you are a fan of her Cookbook Nook Mystery series, you will enjoy her new French Bistro Mystery series. Souffle of Suspicion is the second in the series. I somehow missed the first one, but this book easily stands on its own. The plot centers on a suspicious murder during Crush Week in the beautiful Napa Valley. Not only was the mystery deliciously fun in this book, but the recipes at the end of the book are fantastically appetizing. It even includes a standard and gluten free versions of recipes! I am going to try the Champignon Parmentier au Gratin (mushrooms parmentier with cheese) and the vanilla bean sugar cookie recipes this weekend.

If it is possible to fall madly in love with a story, then I am head over heels! This book was enchanting from start to finish. The author's writing is a dream that I hated to wake from once I hit the end. The setting and characters were endearing and set the stage perfectly for the mystery. The whole story line was spectacular, form start to finish it grabbed me and I couldn't stop reading! What a great mystery and such a well thought out and written series. I cannot wait for more!

Napa Valley Crush Week, a Sweet Treats Festival, and murder are a great recipe for a fantastic book. Daryl Wood Gerber is back with her second book in the French Bistro Mystery series. The grounds of Mimi Rousseau's bistro and B&B are full with the Sweet Treats Festival. Business is good, but things get messy when the festival owner turns up dead.
As always, Daryl writes a very good book. Mimi and her friends and staff are fun and have deep characterization. The setting is fantastic, and I was finding myself longing for a French bistro to go get some of the yummy dishes they described. Luckily, the recipes for most of the dishes were included in the book (I see a very messy but wonderful smelling kitchen in my near future). The plot of the book is tight, and she had great red herrings throughout. I had an inkling of who the murderer might be early on, but she kept throwing new suspects and motives in as I kept reading, so I wasn't sure that I was on the right track until just before Mimi figured it out. That kind of twisty-turny plot is hard to find, and I loved every minute of it.
If you want a cozy mystery that will make you hungry, long for Napa, and keep you guessing until the very end, this is the book for you.
I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest review.