Risky Biscuits, is the second book in this series but it can read as a standalone. This book is well written, its well paces, the characters were well developed, and the mystery has a few red herrings. All the things that make a cozy mystery worth reading. I liked this book and hope to try some of the recipes included..

Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer are once again mixing delicious comfort food with murder in Mary Lee Ashford's second Sugar & Spice Mystery, Risky Biscuits. The Crack of Dawn Breakfast Club is putting together a cookbook when one if its members is found run over in the park. Who killed her and why, and is there any connection to former bad boy Nick Marchant's sudden return to St. Ignatius, or the proposed real estate development happening in town?!? Yummy recipes are included at the the end of this cozy mystery, and I absolutely recommend it. I loved the first book in the series, Game of Scones, and Risky Biscuits did not disappoint! 5 stars!!!

Risky Biscuits is the second book in this series but can be read as a standalone. The characters are likeable. The suspense is well-maintained and the story is well-paced. Throw in a couple of twists and red herrings, add some more butter to it, give it a quick mix, and what you get is a Risky Biscuit.

If you love cozy mysteries then this book is not to be missed.

Although RISKY BISCUITS is the second book in A Sugar & Spice Mystery series by Mary Lee Ashford, it reads just as well all on its own. Just like “Sugar” Calloway’' I felt right at home in the small community of St. Ignatius, Iowa.

While the business Sugar runs with her partner, Dixie,"Spice" Spicer, is not open to the public, like other shops on the main street, the delicious smells coming from Dixie's kitchen keeps a steady stream of visitors walking in their door. And with them comes town news and gossip.

Sugar is renting a house from an elderly woman. In return, they have a friendship that has extended to the other residents of the independent living retirement community in which Greer lives. That includes offering rides and a helpful hand at times. Sugar and Spice are also working on publishing a cookbook of recipes from those same elderly residents, and members of The Crack of Dawn Breakfast Club. Fortunately for us, several of the top recipes are included at the end of this book!

When one of the elderly women goes missing and the police won't take it seriously for at least 48 hours, Sugar is recruited to help the other women investigate. After all, it isn't breaking and entering if you know where the key is kept, is it?

Lots of small town hijinx history, high school remembered romances, and a bad boy returned home, without this leopard changing his spots, it seems, as well as colorful idioms and phrases inspired by Sugar's Aunt Cricket, make this a fun read as well as a well shrouded mystery. When you feel you have it figured out, something else comes to your attention.

I can't wait for my next visit!

This is a fun cozy mystery set in an interesting community of characters. Sugar, one of the main characters, is a Southern gal living far from The South, and she adds charm to the story. The mystery was interesting and well-paced. This will be a good series to look forward to each book.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This was a delightful cozy mystery. I have not read the first book in the Sugar and Spice Mystery series, but I didn't feel like I missed anything.

The characters are well developed and engaging. I fell in love with the senior citizen group and their efforts. The main character, Sugar Calloway, and her business partner, Dixie Spicer, bring a lot of personality to the story. There were lots of delightful one-liners and Sugar's Aunt Cricket's idioms were a wonderful addition. The names given to the characters just added even more humor and fun to the story.

The twists and turns and subplots blended throughout the story made it one I would recommend to anyone who loves a cozy mystery!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I am thrilled I was given the opportunity to read the book because I imagine I will be purchasing any new books from this series.

https://booksandladybugs.blog/

Risky Biscuits: A Sugar & Spice Mystery
By Mary Lee Ashford
Lyrical
July 2019

Review by Cynthia Chow

After a lifetime of moving around followed by an unpleasant divorce, Rosetta “Sugar” Sugarbaker Calloway is thrilled to call the small Southern town of St. Ignatius home. The former magazine editor has gone into business with Dixie Spicer, and it only makes sense that the friends create Sugar and Spice Publishing to publish community cookbooks. Their latest project is a cookbook for the Crack of Dawn Breakfast Club, a loosely organized group of seniors who want to use cookbook sales to help raise funds for a shelter house. When member Alma Stoller forgets to pick up her friend Bunny from the post office, they learn that the reason was far worse than mere forgetfulness. When Alma is found run over by her own car, evidence indicates that it was anything but an accident. Searching for the recipes Alma had been collecting for the cookbook gives Sugar an entry point for investigating, and she’s spurred on by Sherriff Terrance Griffin’s request that she infiltrate the seniors to pass on their gossip.

It doesn’t take long for Sugar to learn that a development company ironically named Ross & Cheeters Development Corporation has been buying up property all through town, with Alma being one of the last few holdouts. Another big topic in St. Ignatius has been the return of bad boy Nick Marchant, whose twin brother Nate seems less than thrilled to have a sibling interfering in the family’s banking business. Sugar finds Nick far too smooth to fall under his spell, but apparently she was one of the few who resists his charms. Of course it helps that Sugar had recently grown close to photographer Max Windsor, but the relaxed banter seems to have frosted over as Max keeps their relationship strictly professional.

This is a distinctly Southern novel that takes full advantage of the setting’s unique community, language, and of course food. Sugar realizes that she is a “City Southerner,” but the locals are more than happy to introduce her to giant-sized Cat’s Head Biscuits and Better than Sex Cake. Recipes of these – slightly retitled – are included at the end, along with a distinctly unhealthy but sinfully tasty Heart Attack Hot Dish. Some of the best moments stem from Sugar’s humorous interactions with a passive-aggressive neighbor’s lawn care and a real estate with a possibly fictitious “Canadian” boyfriend. An added element of intrigue is added by Sugar’s discovery of her late father’s “memoir,” which could be a fictionalized version of his own life and give her insight into the man she feels she never knew. Southern Comfort cuisine, lively dialogue, and Sugar’s vulnerability as a heroine make this a winning second entry in in the Southern cookbook publishing series.

This book was so fun! I would recommend this cozy mystery...the characters were so real, the settings were amazing and the story had me until the last page. Thank you Mary Lee Ashford for this terrific read. I look forward to reading more.

“Sugar” Calloway and her business partner Dixie Spicer have taken on a new cookbook client, the St. Ignatius Crack of Dawn Breakfast Club. The group is famous for their all you can eat biscuits and gravy breakfasts, and they want their cookbook to raise money to refurbish the park where they hold their breakfasts. Alma is the de facto head of the group, and she is also a neighbor and friend of Greer, Sugar’s landlady, in the retirement community where Greer now lives. One day, Alma goes missing only for the police to report that she died under mysterious circumstances. This throws the cookbook project into chaos, but Greer is very concerned about what happened to her friend. Can Sugar uncover a few clues while making sure the cookbook makes it to print on time?

Reading this book, I realize I have completely fallen in love with the setting. St. Ignatius seems like a charming small town that I would love to visit (between murders, of course), and the author’s descriptions of Iowa make it sound beautiful. The book takes a little time to focus before the plot really starts to get going. As I figured, those early wanderings did come into play as the story wound to its logical conclusion. I thought I knew where things were going early on, but it turned out I was wrong. The characters in this series are all strong and just as charming as the setting. And there’s the food. While reading, I was drooling at the descriptions of food, so I was happy for the four recipes we find at the end. This book will leave you hungry for delicious food and another trip to this charming small town.

In my opinion, Risky Biscuits is even better than than the first in this delightful series, Game of Scones. Coming back to St. Ignatius, Iowa to find out what Sugar Calloway and her business partner and friend Dixie Spicer are up to since their first foray into homicide investigation is reading time well spent. They are working on a cookbook for the Crack of Dawn Breakfast Club. What could possibly go wrong? The purpose of the cookbook is to raise money to fix up the local park, the setting of their famous breakfasts. Working with Alma, a friend of Sugar's landlady, Greer, things turn deadly when Alma is found dead and the plans for the cookbook are up in the air as she was the head of the club.
Sugar sets to work to search for clues to uncover the killer and keep the cookbook on schedule for publication. Add to the many things she has to juggle, the bad boy from her high school days is back in town, the seniors from the local retirement community are a factor in her sleuthing and, of course, the police are on her case. If she isn't very careful, the killer may just come after her next.
The wonderful characters take center stage in this series and the small town setting is a perfect fit. The puzzle kept me guessing to the final pages and the humor had me laughing out loud. I'm looking forward to the next book and catching up with the residents of St. Ignatius.
My thanks to the publisher Lyrical Underground and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Risky Biscuits is the second book in Mary Lee Ashford’s Sugar & Spice Mystery series and is an entertaining read with well-developed characters, an interesting mystery, and laugh out loud moments.

Rosetta Sugarbaker Calloway (Sugar) relocated to the small town of St. Ignatius, and started Sugar and Spice Publishing, a community cookbook publishing company for fundraisers in St. Ignatius, Iowa, with her friend, Dixie Spicer (Spice). Sugar handles the business end, and Dixie takes care of testing the recipes. Their current project is for a fundraiser for the Crack of Dawn Breakfast Club. The project’s leader, Alma Stoller, is murdered, which is disruptive to the cookbook project, and Sugar is scrabbling to get things organized and back on track. Between the murder and a local bad boy, Nick Marchant, returning to town, the town’s gossip mill is working overtime. Sugar and Dixie have a knack for solving mysteries and find themselves deeply entrenched in the investigation while trying to stay out of Sheriff Terrance Griffin’s path.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

This is the 2nd installment in the Sugar and Spice mystery series. Sugar and her best friend Dixie run a cookbook publishing business. Sugar has a background in publishing and Dixie is an amazing cook. The current project is for the St. Ignatius Crack of Dawn Breakfast club who are trying to raise money and the point person for the project is Alma. Greer Sugar's landlady call's her all upset that her friend Bunny is missing and Sugar goes looking for her. She finds near the post office because Alma forgot to pick her up. Alma has been acting pretty distracted recently and Sugar hopes this does not stop the project from going forward. The next day Greer calls Sugar again to say that Alma is missing. Sugar goes to the retirement community and along with the Greer and some others use a key and go into Alma's apartment to see if she is okay. She is not there but the Sheriff Terry arrives and they find out Alma was found dead in the park. Also former bad boy Nick Marchant arrives in town ready to pick up where he left off in high school to stir up trouble and break hearts. He broke up Terry and Dixie in high school. Later he is found dead in the same park as Alma. Is there a connection. Don't want to give too much away. I like the way Sugar is not in your face investigating. She just seems to be at the right place at the right time and asks the right questions. Enjoyed the mystery and the pace of the story and all the supporting characters. Look forward to the next in the series.

Our protagonist in this novel is named Rosetta Sugarbaker Calloway. She goes by the nickname “Sugar” and produces vanity cookbooks with a partner named Dixie Spicer through a company named “Sugar and Spice.” The story takes place in Iowa. Unfortunately, with names like “Dixie” and “Sugarbaker” I couldn’t help but think of the TV show Designing Woman and wanted to place the location in Georgia.

The plot line was entertaining. A group of senior citizens is raising money to restore a part in their small town. The woman who is heading up the cookbook project is found dead and the story goes on from there. I felt the characters were pretty well developed. Only Sugar is a newcomer to the town; it seems that the others were all natives to St. Ignatius.

While it was an entertaining story, it wasn’t one that will have me remembering it for a very long time. It was a mindless beach read. Fun but nothing to write home about. I was, however, very happy to get to the end (I was reading on a kindle) and find that several of the recipes were included! They are must try recipes.

Sugar and her business partner, Spice, are trying to get a charity cookbook published to help raise money for a local park. Unfortunately, the person organizing the recipes for the charity unexpectedly dies....and not in a natural way. Who could have wanted her dead? And why? Sugar has her suspicions until someone else dies. She going to have to do some quick thinking...or the next murder could be her own.

A fun and interesting cozy mystery. I thought I knew whodunnit....but it kept me guessing until the end. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Lyrical Press via NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or remuneration.

Risky Biscuits by Mary Lee is the 2nd book in A Sugar & Spice Mystery series, and an enjoyable read. Former magazine editor Sugar Calloway and her friend blue ribbon baker Dixie Spicer are putting together Sugar and Spice cookbooks. When one of the club members is found dead in a fundraiser for Crack of Dawn Breakfast Club, Sugar and Spice are on the case. Risky Biscuits is a charming mystery. The characters and plot are well developed and interesting. The story is well written and held my interest from the first page. I highly recommend this book for all cozy mystery readers. Also check out book one Game of Scones, you won't be disappointed.


I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and Kensington Publishing. Thank you.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of RISKY BISCUITS (Book 2 of the Sugar & Spice Mysteries) by Mary Lee Ashford in exchange for an honest review. Because the text-to-speech function was blocked in the galley provided and because I had no time to sit down and visually read through the book, I ended up purchasing the book so I could honor my obligation to submit a review before it was archived. “Sugar” Calloway and her business partner Dixie Spicer own and operate their own publishing company, Sugar and Spice Cookbooks. They test recipes and publish community cookbooks. This book involves stolen packages, the misplacement of elderly personages, a cranky neighbor, the return of a hometown hottie, lots of food, novice gardening, and murder.

I enjoyed this book. I recommend this book to fans of cozy mysteries, to fans of GAME OF SCONES, to fans of books featuring food, books, feisty seniors, small towns, and cats.

#RiskyBiscuits #NetGalley

A charming series. Getting to know Sugar and Spice and the small town with its variety of characters is a delight. The murder mystery provides some surprises.

A good cozy mystery, well written and engrossing.
I appreciated the setting, the likable and well written cast of characters, the engaging and entertaining plot.
The mystery was good and it kept me guessing till the end.
I look forward to reading other books in this series.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Page Turner! Iowa Cozy Mystery
This was a very enjoyable cozy mystery that I hated to put down. It was very easy to read and had me hooked by the end of the first chapter. The book is a joy to read. There are plenty of laughs throughout the book. The story involves cookbooks, good eating, seniors, yard-work and plenty of small-town gossip. At the end of the book, several recipes are included. I want to read more books by this author. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

This is the second book in the Sugar and Spice Mystery series. I started reading this book first, got a couple of pages in, then went and bought the first book because I could tell just that quickly that I was going to enjoy this series. This book can be read stand-alone, but I recommend reading the series in order so you can understand how the characters developed and where it all began.

Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer have a fairly new business which publishes community cookbooks for special groups. They are always hustling for the next job with Sugar the business end and Dixie the blue ribbon cook.

Their most recent endeavor is to publish a cookbook of breakfast recipes for the Crack of the Dawn breakfast group. The group has a great all you can eat biscuits day that they use to raise money for their projects. The biscuits are described in such wonderful detail, it made me want to stop what I was doing, whip up a batch, and enjoy eating them while reading.

Unfortunately, my biscuits are more like hockey pucks than light and airy biscuits, so it was just as well that I just kept reading and wishing than actually doing and eating.

There is, of course, a murder (this is a murder mystery, right?) and Sugar and Dixie get involved in solving it.

Along with the murder mystery, a home-grown bad boy comes back home after many years away. His arrival turns the town upside down with rival groups of those who like him and those who really can’t stand him. He seems to be trying to restart a relationship with Dixie, who falls firmly in the I can’t stand him category.

There is more mysteries in this story than just the murder, which makes it all the more a fun read. The author has a knack for funny dialog and for funny situations. I really enjoy Sugar’s take on all sorts of things. Quite a tongue-in-cheek sort of gal.

I’ll be looking forward to this author’s next book, whether it be in this series or not.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.