I love a good cozy mystery! One that incorporates all of my favorite topics (i.e. genealogy, bookstores, libraries, cooking, painting, inn keeping, animals, etc.), throwing in some action-suspense, a who-done-it, interesting characters, and a plot that keeps me guessing, then you’ve got me hooked. I will say, I am one of those people who like to read a series from the beginning, but I often find you don’t have to… either way I highly recommend reading Double or Muffin by Victoria Hamilton.

*I received a complimentary copy of this novel from NetGalley at my request and this review is my own unbiased opinion.*

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found this book incredibly interesting the author really kept me hooked until the end. very well written I highly recommend.

Double or Muffin is the seventh book in Victoria Hamilton's wonderful Merry Muffin Mysteries.

Having read the previous mysteries in this series, I was so excited to be getting another adventure with Merry Wynter and her friends! This time the adventure surrounds a reality tv show with aspiring opera singers. The show takes a turn for the worse when a reporter turns up dead. Merry must her amateur sleuth skills to the test and find a killer before they strike again!

The one thing I really like about cozy mysteries is I learn about lots of different hobbies, careers and places. Before picking up DOUBLE OR MUFFIN I didn't know a lot about opera singers. It was a delight to read about them, especially in a reality tv setting! There was a lot of drama, and this added to the overall adventure and made for a very fun read!

I've long been a fan of Victoria Hamilton's mysteries. She writes first class whodunnits that will keep you guessing right up to the end! If you haven't picked up the Merry Muffin Mysteries, I highly recommend starting with BRAN NEW DEATH [book 1] and reading them all!

I adore this series, I would love for Merry to be my BFF (maybe she could help me pick out better clothes?) and that castle! Mmmff, I want a castle.

I enjoyed the plot, I love how this series incorporates a lot of characters, but they are so well written that it’s easy to keep them straight. While having so many characters might bog the story down, I’ve found that’s not the case with this series, and I’m sure it takes a lot of skill as a writer to accomplish.

All the hubbub around the tv show was fun (although I’d have to say, I found it slightly weird that people were fawning over opera singers like they were rock stars, but to each their own.) and the investigation into the attack kept me guessing right to the end.

Another great book in the Merry Muffin series and definitely recommend to people who love more cozy (and muffins!) in their cozy mysteries

Merry Wynter has her hands full catering to the endless demands of the distinguished judges and ambitious contestants in a reality TV show where aspiring opera singers are competing at Wynter Castle. There are rumors swirling about the various contestants, their families, background and possible criminal charges. When a reporter who is covering the show, who also has an eye for scandal, is attacked and left for dead, Merry’s determined to discover who wanted her dead and why.

This is the 7th book in this series, and although Merry has a lot of life and changes behind her, you can read this book as a standalone. Merry's friend and business partner, Pish now runs her castle (a venue for events, sometimes hotel/B&B and a catering service) and has invited the cast and crew of an opera competition to film and live onsite. Each of the characters has an interesting backstory, which definitely intrigues everyone, including the reporter hired for the show. Of course with all reality shows there is drama, back-stabbing and some not so nice behaviour. Merry uses her friendly personality to get to know each of the competitors and the reporter, so when she is attacked, Merry is the one to reveal information and investigate the crime on the side. It is important to pay attention when the characters are introduced because there are a lot of them and it is easy to get confused, but they all play a huge part in the story. Merry is a great protagonist. She is strong-willed and doesn't put up with anything. She fights back, stands up for those who are being treated badly and will not put up with disrespectful or mean behaviour. The mystery is a good one. First it was nice that there was no murder, the young woman who was attacked survives. There were a lot of suspects (pretty much everyone at the competition) and enough red herrings that I changed my mind constantly. As the culprit was revealed, everything came together well and I enjoyed the conclusion.

If only Becket the cat could have talked, Merry would have found out where her friend was earlier, but no matter she was found alive, which was a good thing for Merry. I love Merry, she had one rule she wasn’t prepared to lapse with, and that was absolutely no smoking inside the castle. The attempted bludgeoning to death of Gilda was too much for Merry to ignore, now she needed to help find the culprit before things became more fatal and the culprit or culprits escape. This has been an absolutely delightful read, a must-read, and one for your bookshelves.

Victoria Hamilton writes several cozy series, and this book, Double or Muffin is the seventh installment of the Merry Muffin series. Having read some of the previous novels, in this series, I am familiar with the characters, and especially Merry Wynter who has grown and changed throughout. Merry inherited a castle and as the series has evolved, done major renovations and has made it a great place to host film crews for documentaries. When Merry’s partner, Pish, accepts a last minute filming of a reality show featuring opera stars, things become chaotic. A reporter who is part of the opera group goes missing at the same time Merry’s cat, Becket, stays out all night in the woods. Merry then lets her cat lead her to the missing reporter who has been left for dead in the woods. The reporter is rushed to the hospital and remains in a coma. It is upsetting to Merry and because there have been several suspicious murders in the past at the castle, she investigates to find the would-be murderer. Merry is uncomfortable knowing that several of her guests have a motive for murder, and she must find who it is before she is also a victim.

While there is fun information about operas, and the story is good, there is a lot of information in the book that really doesn’t have much to do with the story. In fact, the story drags in a few places and gets a little bit boring. The references to food will make readers hungry, but the recipes aren’t found at the end of the book as expected like in the previous books. While Hamilton’s main characters are well developed and quite likeable, the supporting characters, especially those connected to the opera reality show, are unlikeable and readers will probably not care who the murderer is or who wins the contest.

While this isn’t the best in the series, it is a good cozy novel and those who follow the Merry Muffin series will want to read it.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book

My rating: 2 of 5 stars, it was okay.

Book 7 in the series.

I've enjoyed this series, but this one really wasn't my cup of tea. Once again, a reality show is filming in the castle, but instead of ghost hunters, this time it's opera singers. I know nothing about opera, and I don't particularly care to, so I just wasn't able to really connect with the story, or really care much about what was going on.

But honestly that's all on me, and I will hope for another in the series.

Double or Muffin by Victoria Hamilton has Merry Wynter welcoming the cast and crew of a reality competition for aspiring opera singers to Wynter Castle. Merry is kept hopping with baking meals, cleaning rooms, catering the food services tables, and handling the requests of the guests. It is a mystery as to why the group was asked to leave their last hotel. Merry also has the windows of the castle being washed for the next group to descend on the stately home. As if Merry does not have enough on her plate, items begin to disappear around the castle and from the window washers’ van. Before Merry can look into the matter, the industrious reporter writing an article on the competition disappears. A search party is organized, and the reporter is found wounded in the woods. She was stabbed and left for dead in the cold. Merry is determined to discover who harmed the woman and begins working through the lengthy suspect list. Can Merry find the guilty party before they fly the coop? Double or Muffin is the 7th A Merry Muffin Mystery. It can be read as a standalone for those new to the series. I thought Double or Muffin was well-written with developed characters. There is an interesting cast of characters. It appears that everyone with the show has a secret. The story has a good flow, but I did find the pacing a little slow in the first half. The mystery was well-plotted, but it does not occur until halfway through the book. There are a number of suspects for Merry to consider. The singers in the competition all seem to be hiding something and it is up to Merry to ferret out the information. There are clues to aid readers in solving the crime before the solution is revealed. I thought one detail was particularly clever. I enjoyed Becket’s antics and his participation in the mystery. It was great to catch up with Merry, Pish, Virgil, and their friends. Double or Muffin ends on a sweet note. Double or Muffin is a lively cozy mystery with problematic prima donnas, mouthwatering muffins, a cunning cat, missing materials, a prying reporter, and attractive operatic arias.

Usually I love a cosy mystery, and I have enjoyed many of this author's works. However, I found this one to be rather disappointing, despite a perfectly good plot. What I didn't like was that many of the characters were just annoying, from their names to their rather stereotypical actions and total lack of development.
Regarding names, Pish just did for me :-/ A little research by the author would have revealed that this is the Scottish version of piss and a very widely-used expression. Too often US authors forget that they have wide readership in the UK and other English-speaking countries. There were a lot of alliterative names for characters, something which is fine for children's books, but frankly a bit patronising for adults. We know this is intended to be a light-hearted mystery so don't need slapstick elements.
Not a fan.

Another entertaining story by this author! Engrossing, fun to read and well written.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is book 7 in the Merry Muffin series, featuring muffin baker Merry Wynter, but it's the first in the series that I've read. I didn't feel lost at all, despite it being clear that there were backstories to each of the characters and these backstories were alluded to in dialogue or descriptions, but overall I think the author did a good job in making this series one you can start anywhere. Merry inherited a large castle in upstate New York, and has turned it into a boutique hotel with out buildings and rooms in the castle that can be rented for short stays or for special events. In this entry to the series, she is also deep into plans to create a performing arts center on the grounds. It's not clear from this book if Merry inherited a lot of money with the castle, but I am assuming she did. The series and the character have fans online, but I confess to finding Merry quite annoying on a certain level. By Chapter 5, we had already read about her Birkin tote bag, a not-so-subtle play on the Birken tote bag that costs tens of thousands of dollars (or more!) and which probably none of the readers of this series could afford (this reader, convinced by the name dropping that it was real, had to look it up and was not impressed). So I began the book having a hard time relating to the main character. She's great a muffin making, and the castle has a huge professional kitchen that is presumably fully stocked, and she feeds the crew frozen lasagna the first night (understandable, they dropped on her doorstep) and then spaghetti on night number 2? After multiple trips to Costco are mentioned? I'd want a fancier meal than that if I was paying to rent the entire castle. And while amateur detectives have to be nosy, her inserting herself into an argument over what a contestant should wear was spurious at best and unwarranted at worst (she's catering and housing, not production). The arrival of a reality TV production centered on contestants vying for an opera career is topical (although this reader has only seen one episode of a reality TV show ever, I know they are hugely popular), with just that edge of distinction (classy opera) to stand out. Merry's business partner, Pish, has agreed to do the production company a favor and convinces Merry to rent the castle to them for a week's worth of filming. Naturally, nothing is as easy or uncomplicated as it would appear, and secrets, tangled relationships, and murder ensue. There is one plot device that was used three times at pivotal moments that I found very irritating: Merry will be in the middle of a conversation with someone and about to reveal her suspicions or information she's learned, and the dialogue ends. We the reader are not privy to the rest of the conversation. The information is revealed later and is crucial to solving the mystery. This plot device is quite annoying, as it removes the reader from being part of the story and identifying with Merry. And what is up with the names of people: Pish, Brontay, Merry's former married name of Paradiso, Sparrow? Just a bit too twee. The mystery itself is pretty good, the opera show cast and contestants were mostly interesting, the setting in upstate New York sounded divine, yet the irritations add up to a C+/B- for me. It remains to be seen if I will read others in the series

Book 7 in the series.

Merry is hosting a reality Tv show for opera singers at her Wynter castle. They where asked to leave there last hotel and Merry wants to know why. When a reporter shows up looking for the latest scandal on the singer’s she is attacked and left for dead in the woods.

Merry is determined to find out who is behind the attack, and she has quite a few on her list that had something to hide from the reporter and would do anything to keep her quiet.

I love Merry and all her friends that are there to help her with solving this mystery.

I can’t wait for the next book in this series.
I love reading about Merry and her friends.

I enjoyed visiting Wynter Castle and Merry once again. Merry is a smart, strong, confident, and caring host. She makes most of her guests feel at home and the ones that don't are usually up to something. Wynter Castle is a wonderful setting for artists not only for its beauty but the calm it inspires. The mystery is full of red herrings and no shortage of suspects to keep the reader engaged and solving the mystery right along with Merry. I look forward to more in this series.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.

I have read many others from this author and series, but this one was not like the rest. I feel the author has changed her style. I was disappointed in this book.

At first glance, Double or Muffin, the 7th book in the Merry Muffin Mystery series by Victoria Hamilton, seemed to have the recipe for everything I like about a cozy mystery read. The setting is an inherited castle in upper state NY that has been made into an estate for rent; a proprietress (Merry Grace Wynter) who likes to bake, has a cat and a cute husband, and stumbles across mysteries and solves them; and a cute small town atmosphere. However, from the beginning I had a hard time engaging.

First of all, there is a listing of the cast of characters at the beginning of the book. That's OK for a tome like Game of Thrones, but made me raise my eyebrows for a cozy mystery. There was an overuse of alliterative names.....Moze Markunis, Gilda Greenwald, Brontay Bellini, Sparrow Summers, Anokhi Auretius, Gogi Grace, and other odd names such as Pish, Daffyd Rhys. This vast cast of characters felt more like caricatures, as little time was spent on in-depth personal details that might have served to really draw in the reader and help each character become differentiated and important to the story. Instead the reader has to rely on stereotypes like the boisterous Scottish man, the child prodigy, the international mystery girl, the flirtatious frenchman, etc . to get a sense of each character.

Finally, instead of being drawn in through descriptive narrative details, the reader is treated to a lot of Merry Grace Wynter's thoughts on the mystery as she tromps through the woods and sits in her arm chair, exhausted, drinking tea. Other authors in this genre actually include the recipes of the scrumptious food they are making in the text....in Double of Muffin there really aren't a lot of great food descriptions, and no recipes. If you want them, you have to click through to the author's website and follow a link from there! Hmmmm.

There are a lot of higher reviews for this book, and perhaps it was hard for me to engage because I haven't read from the beginning of the series. However, I think I will pass on the rest of the series. Thanks to #Netgalley and Beyond The Page Publishing for an ARC in the digital format. #DoubleorMuffin.

This is the 7th book in a series featuring baker Merry Wynter. I have not read any of the previous titles, but did not feel that it made reading this one any more challenging. The author does a great job of providing a bit of background from previous titles when it is needed.

A fun read for a lazy weekend afternoon (or bring it to the beach in the summer!)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital advance reader copy.

Double or Muffin (A Merry Muffin Mystery #7) by Victoria Hamilton
Publisher: Beyond the Page Publishing
Genre: Cooking, Food & Wine | Mystery & Thrillers
Release Date: February 23, 2021

Double or Muffin by Victoria Hamilton is the seventh book in A Merry Muffin Mystery series. I had not read the previous books in the series, but was easily able to read this as a standalone book.

This was a fun book with interesting characters. The storyline was great and focused on a reality tv show for aspiring opera singers being filmed. The mystery was fun with lots of twists and turns.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the other books in the series.

I'm so grateful to Victoria Hamilton, Beyond the Page Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Right upfront I admit, I loved this story. Anytime a kitty like Becket gets his just rewards and is the ultimate hero of the piece, well, you know, it is going to get my paw of appurrval. And the rest of the story was pretty good too.

Merry’s plans for her Castle and the surrounding grounds are coming along well. She has booked several big things for the near future and she figures she can easily accomplish all her jobs, calmly without rushing. Things change drastically when her partner Pish agrees to let a reality series film in the Castle. It is an American Idol for opera singers. Surely, this will be a staid, well behaved group. Right? Not. In fact, they are desperate for a location having been turfed from the hotel where they had been working for questionable behaviour..

It’s an interesting group of finalists, three men and three woman. There is a teenage girl with the stage mother from hell. There is a mysterious foreign woman with an overbearing uncle. A former boy-band alumnus from Scotland, a Quebecois singer, a black opera singer and a woman whose presence in the finalists baffles everyone who hears her. There are lots of behind the scenes shenanigans and even more nefarious back stories about both cast and crew. It was going to be a diva-fest regardless but when a journalist who is writing a story about the series is left for dead in the woods, the stakes are for more than the spotlight.

The aforementioned Beckett proves to be the hero-cat more than once as he is instrumental in saving both the journalist and his mistress. I can understand why Merry was not sure about the identity of the villain as there were some convincing red herrings that will keep the reader guessing right up to the end.

Lots of plot twists and fun, even if opera is not your cup of tea. Five purrs and two paws up.

Double or Muffin is a well written cozy mystery. Good plot and character dynamics. Mystery fans will love this book.