Letitia "Tish'' Tarragon is preparing to open her new business, a restaurant and catering business with a literary flair. Her first catering job is a last-minute one. She's hired to cater the Hobson Glen, VA annual library fundraiser. The caterer hired by director Binnie Broderick cancelled at the last minute. Tish has 3 weeks to plan and execute a 3-course meal and cocktails for 300+ guests. Turns out the meal executes the library director. Binnie Broderick drops dead, plopping face first into her plate of prime rib at the event. With her business and reputation on the line, Tish investigates to find out who offed the rude, unpopular library director.

This is a nice start to a new cozy mystery series. I like the characters and the background theme. I found myself wishing Cookin' the Books was a real restaurant! I love the idea of an eatery with a lending library on the front porch. Patrons can read while eating, and if they want to take the book home they can purchase it or leave a book on the shelf to replace it. Neat idea!! Some of the recipes and cakes described in the book sound so fun! I would love a catered dinner with courses like For Whom the Stuffed Bell Peppers Toll on the menu!! :)

The mystery moved along at a nice pace. There were plenty of quirky interesting characters and suspects. The ending wasn't a big surprise, but I liked that there was more to it than a melodramatic reveal and arrest scene. Cozies can get a bit tropey at the end sometimes....this one offered something a bit different.

I will definitely be reading more of this series! Amy Patricia Meade also writes the Marjorie McClelland series and several other books. I have her Rosie the Riveter mystery, Don't Die Under the Apple Tree, at the top of my TBR pile!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Severn House via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

COOKIN’ THE BOOKS, the first book in the brand new Tish Tarragon Mysteries by Amy Patricia Mead is a delightful start to a fun series! I love the premise of protagonist Tish Tarragon’s new business as owner of literary-themed Cookin’ the Books Café along with catering, in Hobson Glen, Virginia. Her food revolves around pun-y titles pertaining to literary works such as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Baked Ham, to give an example. I was entertained by the cleverness of the titles and yummy sounding dishes. In addition, her café has shelves that showcase a variety of cookbooks and literary works from international destinations, along with a lending library. Sounds like a great place to hang out!

Her very first catering job is for the local library fundraising dinner, hired at the last minute by Binnie Broderick, the Executive Director of the library. Binnie is a very unpleasant woman and almost everyone in town hated her. When she dies after taking two bites of Tish’s catered dinner, all eyes are on Tish and her friends helping her serve the dinner. Tish must clear their names and save her fledgling business even though she hasn’t even opened the café. With just about everyone in town having disputes with the victim, Tish has plenty of suspects to sift through. I enjoyed that most of her suspects understood and cooperated with her questions without getting uncomfortably upset. Tish’s two friends, Mary Jo and Julian (who is also the Channel 10 weatherman), are great sidekicks, providing opportunities for fun interaction and dialog along with helping in her investigation. As Tish narrows down the suspects, the reader is pulled in for the exciting reveal while the author effectively ties the subplots together. This is a fun mystery with great characters and I’m looking forward to future books in this new series!

I was provided an advance copy via NetGalley with the hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was immediately pulled into this well-written drama from the first page and the hold on me kept my interest going to the last page was read. The tone was very comfortable making it easy to follow along the path that the author has laid out and the pacing was on par with how well this story was being told. I enjoyed how the author set up the story with the right amount of character introductions and a premise that catered to what I like in a mystery - - a solid plot, engaging dialogue, a bevy of suspects and clues peppered throughout to keep me devouring every scene with gusto as I learned about the various motives. The author knows how to tell a story with visually descriptive narrative that had me consumed with all that was happening on the page. I enjoyed watching it all play out as each clue took me closer to the killer’s identity – but of course, the author changed directions leading me from one suspect to another, especially when a few secrets were exposed all to enhanced my reading pleasure.

Tish is a great protagonist and I look forward to learning more about her as well as other residents of Hobson Glen including Mary Jo, Schuyler, Sheriff Reade and Jules, who I adore. This was terrific start to a delightfully appetizing series and I look forward to more adventures with Tish and her friends.

Tish Tarragon has moved to Hobson Glen to open her restaurant and catering business, Cookin' The Books Cafe. Along with her besties Mary Jo and Jules Tish is creating food with a literary theme. She's still a few weeks out from opening when her landlord, the gorgeous Schuyler Thompson stops by to let her know he has recommended her to the director of the library as their caterer has dropped out at the very last-minute.

When Binnie Broderick stops by to go over the menu, Tish is afraid she may not be able to pull this off. Binnie is not a nice person and no amount of money will change that. Used to getting her way in everything, Tish does her best and pulls together a delicious dinner, only to have Binnie do a face plant in her plate!

When the police prove she was poisoned, Tish is out to prove it wasn't her food and get her cafe open before it is closed for good.

That is all I'm saying. I loved the characters in this! And I really enjoyed them being a separate sleuthing operation. Tish did a lot, but Mary Jo and Jules had quite a bit of fun and adventure on their own. It made a lot more sense than a lot of cozies which have the main character gone from the business all the time leaving the friends to do the work.

There are so many secrets in this small town. And they are all about to come tumbling out of the closet!

I highly recommend this one and I hope there will be more!

Well Done!

Netgalley/ Severn House  March 01

A good fun read. There are two murders which don't appear to relate to one another. One is of a nasty woman whom nobody likes and the other a popular doctor, but being such a small town, they must be linked. Tish is running a rearguard action in the hope that her cafe doesn't suffer from the first death - a poisoning - took place at the first meal she had made in the town. It all helps her to find out who done it!

I really enjoyed this book.

A culinary themed cozy. There are many on the market and this has all the hallmarks.
It did not wow me but will appeal to cozy culinary mystery fans.

This book combines two of my favourite things, cooking and mysteries. A thoroughly enjoyable read, good solid mystery and interesting characters I would definitely recommend this book. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

Tish Tarragon is working towards opening her literary cafe, Cookin' The Books, when the opportunity to cater for the Library fundraiser comes her way. It's a bit of a poisoned chalice, in more ways than one, as the head of the library committee, Binnie Broderick is difficult. In fact, when she's poisoned at the meal Tish has catered, there's no shortage of suspects. It's not just that she feels herself to be superior (she's a Darlington, you see), but that she actively goes out of her way to make life difficult for anyone she encounters. The town might be heaving a collective sigh of relief (except not in front of the sheriff, obviously) but Tish is worried that the fact that Binnie died face down in a meal she'd prepared might mean that people will not be all that keen to come to her cafe once it's opened.

So, obviously the only thing for Tish and her college friends to do is to find out who murdered Binnie and where her beloved cafe (which contains her life savings) is concerned Tish is not going to pass up any opportunity to do a bit of delving. She's at a bit of a disadvantage as she's only been in town for a month and there's an awful lot of history which she needs to catch up on.

It's cozy crime, but none the worse for that. The characters come to life well. I liked Tish (and I'm hoping that this is the first book in a series so that I can get to like her a bit more) and although there are quite a few townspeople to get to grips with I had no problems with who was who. The location - Virginia - comes to life in a subtle way and although the plot is fairly straightforward I really didn't spot who the killer was until I was told.

As light crime goes, it's a good read. I finished it in a couple of days and would be happy to read more. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.