Member Reviews
This book finds food blogger Hope Early trying to keep blog operating and an income coming in to pay her bills. She is to create a number of low-calorie recipes for a feature in a food magazine.
During the annual scavenger hunt, her team finds Lionel Whitcomb, a real estate developer. His wife faints and two other women claimed he is her husband. So, are all these women married to Lionel?
Hope joins the investigation. There are a lot of twists, turns, red herrings along with humor and some romance. Get to know the characters in Jefferson, Connecticut better. Give this story a try.
I like the progression and development of the main characters.
This is the 3rd installment of the Food Blogger mystery series. This book starts just a couple of months after the last book and Hope Early is going to work at a test kitchen for a magazine Cooking Now. She has been down this road before but still is a little nervous about working even for just a feature at the magazine. It is still summer but she is working on a feature article that will appear in January. She makes friends with Kitty on the first day and is a little uncomfortable when she brings up all the recent events in Jefferson. Hope shrugs it off as mere curiosity but she really does not want to talk about the upcoming trial of the former mayor and his wife and real estate developer Lionel Whitcomb. She stops to talk to Jane and Sally at the Merrifield Inn and see if there is anything else she can do for the upcoming town scavenger hunt. She learns 2 new female quests have checked in with the last name Whitcomb. What are the odds? As the day of the scavenger hunt arrives Drew and Hope have to convince Claire (Hope’s sister) that she must participate in the scavenger hunt as each team must have 4 members. Claire has basically been hiding out in her house ever since she lost in the run off election for mayor. As the foursome head out to try and win the scavenger hunt, Hope sees what she thinks is Lionel’s car at the back lot of the restaurant. She finds this odd and decides to check it out and finds Lionel’s dead body. Once again Hope is reluctantly drawn into another murder. At the murder scene is not one Mrs. Whitcomb but three. Elaine who has been living in town but the other two ladies who just came into town. Miranda and Rona both claim that Lionel never finalized their divorces and all feel they are entitled to his estate. When a friend of Hope’s is killed in a hit and run at the same restaurant (he was a chef there and possible witness to murder), she feels she must do some investigating for Maurice’s sake. This is a fast paced mystery and Hope’s heart is always in the right place and yet she ends almost killed once again. Nice to see her relationship with Ethan developing and looking forward to seeing what scrapes she and friends will get into the next installment. Highly recommend.
This is the first book in this series that I have read and I'm glad I did. 3 widows and 1 read husband make for an interesting cozy mystery. The book is well written and there are plenty of twists and turns. Totally enjoyable.
I hadn’t previously read this series before, but the premise of the book sounded interesting and I am so glad I read it! I loved the common sense the protagonist has and all the fun characters that aren’t too quirky. Also, this gave some good clues, but had some minor twists and turns to keep you fairly positive you knew who the killer was, but still slightly second guessing. I will definitely be reading the previous books in the series!
Having not read the Food Blogger series, this was a doozy of a introduction, 3 wives and 1 dead husband. Captured me quickly and totally throughout the story. I need to check out the others in the series.
I loved "Three Widows and a Corpse" the third book in Debra Sennefelder's "A Food Blogger Mystery" series. Visiting Jefferson, Connecticut has become a pleasure, I love the description of the town and surroundings I can picture it in my mind what it must look like there in the fall as the trees turn colour and the air becomes crisp and less humid.
This time Hope is helping out with the town’s annual scavenger hunt as well as an assignment with Cooking Now! magazine. During the Scavenger Hunt, as Hope races with her team to check off the next item, she discovers a grisly surprise—the body of shady real estate developer Lionel Whitcomb, shot in a parking lot. To make things worse his wife Elaine is there competing in the hunt and sees the body, but as she screams two other women on the scene cry out that their husband is dead!
I love Hope as she is real and I have become invested in her and what is happening around her. I like her family and friends, Claire, Jane, Drew and of course Ethan (Police Chief boyfriend) and the dynamics between them all. Don't get me started on her dog Bigelow, Poppy the chicken and now the addition of Princess the cat!
There was drama, romance and a little bit of humor thrown in with the mystery. I did suspect the killer early on but there were lots of twists and turns I started second guessing myself. I liked how there were your normal mixture of nasty, suspicious people but how some just turned out to be misunderstood.
I also liked the behind the scenes look at her food blogging and magazine assignment, shows me that blogging is a full time job and then some. I also enjoy all the food recipes.
I highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to see what’s next for Hope in this series and I look forward to reading the next book ...
I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Kensington Books and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Food Blogger Mystery #3
Hope Early is doing just fine. Her blog Hope at Home is doing very well and she even has a feature in Cooking Now! magazine.
As busy as she is, she still makes time for the annual Jefferson Scavenger Hunt, with her friends And as her winning team rushes to grab the next item instead of a napkin, they find a dead body. A dead body Hope knows! Lionel Whitcomb shot dead by his Jaguar by the dumpsters.
As the other teams show up Lionel's wife Elaine sees him and is hysterically crying when two other women come running up sobbing that he was married to them.
While her cop boyfriend warns her to stay out of the investigation, it's hardly Hope's fault that the widow shows up on her doorstep asking for help. Even if it gets Hope killed in the process.
This was a twisty one. So many nasty, suspicious people. But some simply misunderstood characters which was heartwarming.
I like the mature characters in this cozy. Plus the recipes are to die for!
NetGalley/October 29th, 2019 by Kensington
Three Widows and a Corpse.
I love the food blogger story.
What a tangled Webb this is with three widows and one husband who is now deceased !
Plenty of suspects. A few twist added .
enjoyed this book and series.
A surprise ending too.
Looking forward for the next book.
A food blogger solving mysteries...a first for me but it won't be the last. I now want to go back ad read the series! This is not your average cozy but it's also not a hard core mystery. It was fairly easy to work it out before the end but it was still a really fun read while getting there. And an added bonus were the recipes! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.
Okay, I am craving a brownie. Good thing there is a recipe included. An engaging cozy murder mystery. Several surprises, including the culprit. Kept me guessing and turning the pages. I look forward to reading the next one.
An outstanding addition to the Food Blogger series. The characters started out excellent, but get better with each book as you get to know them even better. It's like hanging out with old friends rather than reading about story. This mystery is quite intriguing as there are so many possible villains that you will be guessing everyone and no one at some point in the story! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more of Hope and her pals in the future! Just beware, the books will have you craving a snack in no time at all with all the delicious food descriptions that Hope "blogs" about in her day job, that is when she isn't trying to cook up a killer!
murder-investigation, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth, culinary
I never knew that there was such a thing as a food blogger!
We don't get an extensive picture of the creep before he is murdered, but afterwards is a whole other story. He was a shady businessman facing probable felony charges, and it turns out that he never completely finalized the divorces from his first two wives (who just happened to be in town the day he got murdered) and his third wife is at least as obnoxious as one of the local reporters. Food blogger Hope has more than enough to keep her busy when she finds the body (another one!), but things only get worse as each of the widows keeps pointing at everyone else. Hope's romantic interest is the local Chief of Police who wants her to stay out of the investigation, but life just doesn't work that way!
It's a good read with realistic characters and a sound mystery plot. I liked it.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley.
Hope Early, food blogger, and sister, is building up her empire and has taken on a new collaboration with. Cooking magazine. Life is busy, but Hope hope always has time for her family and friends. Unfortunately, when a local business man is murdered, his wife is on the suspect list, along with his other two wives, and she asks her only friend, Hope to help her. She wants Hope to not only clear her name, but also help with the funeral. Hope didn’t realize they were friends, but can’t bring herself to say no.
Things get stranger as the man was married to three women, all of whom he was still legally married to and were in town at the time of his murder. Between her gig at the magazine, her blog, and the murder, there’s not much time time to sleuth, but yet she does. Can Hope help to solve the murder before she or a friend are killed?
A fun series with recipes that will keep you turning the pages and wondering whodunit to the very end.
A cosy murder mystery set in mid-town America keen on community activities - this time the annual scavenger hunt. A key member of the community, Hope, a food blogger, finds the body of the victim, Lionel - a dodgy land developer and, it turns out, equally dodgy on the marriage side of things as three "wives" appear in town to provide the main suspects. Hope has done the detective thing before (although I've not read them) and continues to do so inspite of the warnings not to by boyfriend policeman and local detective. She gets herself into various messes following various twists and turns and red herrings. All this in between an inordinate amount of baking, gossiping and eating. The murder story is interesting and twisty enough to keep the reader's interest and the characters reasonably well-written. The perpetrator predictable. There's nothing basically wrong except that this is one of oh so many baking-amateur detectives with police boyfriend of some sort and always getting there first.. It's rather like the 'fashion' of having to have historic child abuse in a grittier type of detective murder story. Perhaps I need to get out more or have a change in genre. I did like the recipes at the end even if a little heavy on the chocolate. Is that even possible? Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
Three Widows and a Corpse by Debra Sennefelder is a delightful cozy mystery and is the third in her Food Blogger Mystery series.
This is the first book I have read by this author, and the first in this series, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is not necessary to read the previous, as the author did recap a few things for the reader, however I think I could have enjoyed it even more if I would have read the last two (and I will now!).
I enjoyed Hope, and I liked her character and personality. She was someone I could side with.
I enjoyed the murder/mystery component. It was intriguing, with multiple characters and motives, and engaging till the end.
A great book and great series.
5/5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this to my GR account immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Bookbub, and B&N accounts upon publication.
This is the third book in the series and it just gets better and better!
The characters are written vividly and full of personality.
The whodunit was really top notch and kept me guessing. (I was unsuccessful in guessing the culprit I have to admit).
I look forward to reading the next in the series!
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
One of my favorite series. Hope is a food blogger and also creates new recipes. She is in a scavenger hunt with drew, Jane and Clair her sister. They are at the restaurant where hope discovers a body. Hope sets out to find the killer with drew who is a reporter helps.. read the book to hear more
A unique mystery - one dead man and three grieving widows. Hope Early has to find out "whodunit" before she becomes the next victim!
I liked the premise of the mystery. The three wives were so different and I loved their interactions with Hope and each other. Hope is very down to earth and likable. The discussions about her "Hope at Home" food blog and the recipes she talked about were entertaining and added to the cozy atmosphere of the book. The mystery was challenging to solve (I didn't!) and all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
I'm looking forward to the next book's mystery and recipes!
I received an ARC from NetGalley for a fair and honest review of this book.
I enjoyed this book. It's well-paced, tightly written. I liked the characters, who were nicely developed. I do wish there was more to Hope and Ethan's relationship. The ending is definitely a surprise as I was rooting for one of the widows to be the bad guy. #ThreeWidowsAndACorpse #NetGalley
When a local resident winds up dead during the town scavenger hunt, Hope Early is determined not to get involved. Her work as a food blogger takes up enough time, as well as her renovations on her home.
When it comes out that the victim had 3 wives, Hope’s curiosity is peaked and she winds up asking questions.
Was it one of the wives who did him in or was it someone else who had it out for him?
When the murderer takes the life of another victim, Hope still doesn’t want to get involved.
Hopes mind is suddenly changed when a fire warning is written on her garage door.
Going against the local police, which includes her boyfriend, Hope refuses to stop asking questions, which leads the culprit right to her