I liked the setting for this story. A remote island that is a tourist stop from spring through fall, but only residents are allowed during the winter. The residents need to stock up on everything by Halloween for the freezing cold months ahead when deliveries are rare. Halloween is a big holiday there because it signifies more than ghosts and ghouls and trick or treating.

Este is a novice amateur sleuth with a curious nature and she does make some bad decisions but she is a heck of a baker. We are introduced to many of the islands residents in the book, which means we don't get a lot of depth to any of them but they have plenty of room to grow as the series continues.

The mystery was pretty straightforward. Este did find some things the sheriff had not known about but she took some major risks following clues. She was fortunate to have a little luck of her own. I had figured out most of the mystery before Este, the showdown tied up all the loose ends. I appreciated the author's descriptive writing style as she clearly set each scene. It was easy to imagine traveling around with Este all over the island.

With just a hint of magic, characters with room to grow, a unique setting, an interesting mystery, and pie, lots of pie, A Pie To Die For was a delicious debut for this series. I am looking forward to reading the next Lucky Pie Mystery.

A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue is a delectable and engaging cozy mystery that will keep you hooked from start to finish! The story follows pie shop owner and amateur sleuth, Tessa, who finds herself at the center of a murder investigation when a beloved local figure is killed under suspicious circumstances. Rue’s writing is delightful, with a well-crafted plot full of twists, engaging characters, and a charming small-town setting. The mouth-watering descriptions of pies add an extra layer of appeal, making this book as satisfying as a freshly baked pastry. For fans of cozy mysteries with a culinary twist and a strong, relatable protagonist, A Pie to Die For is an absolute treat!

I really loved this book! I am truly a sucker for any cozy mystery that is small business related. Bakeries, sewing shops, bookstores, whatever it is, I can almost guarantee I'll love it.

This was kind of refreshing, because there is not even a hint of a love triangle so far (YAY!) and it has tons of pies in it lol

I will absolutely be continuing with this series as it comes out! So excited for another one to come out!

A pie diner, a murder and a setting in Michigan combine to create a lovely cozy mystery.
I am not sure if there are other books in the series but if there are I am sure to read them.
This was a quick, fun book to read.

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 A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue.

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

An incredible book with wonderful characters and a beautiful setting. It will keep you guessing until the end.

Great 1st book in I hope will be a good series. Este is amazing character. She works hard and is having fun but is scared to leave things alone when she is a suspect in a murder. A real good read a little long winded but otherwise an enjoyable read getting to know the characters.

"A Pie to Die For" is the first Lucky Pie Mystery by Gretchen Rue. The Lucky Pie is a family-owned diner in Northern Michigan. The pies from the diner are from an old family recipe that grants some customers their greatest hopes and dreams. A new produce man charges the diner more for the produce than what is normal, leading to an argument with Este March, the current manager and pie maker. When his body is later discovered, Este and several other business owners who bought produce that day become suspects. An added complication is that a local business owner is trying to buy a piece of property that has been in the Match family for generations.

The setting is on Spice Island in Michigan at the beginning of the off-season, which gives it a nice sense of isolation. The murder victim is despicable, which leaves you with a large pool of suspects. We only get a hint about the magical pies in this book. Hopefully, we'll learn more in the next books.

is is a solid debut in the new Lucky Pie Diner series set on an island in northern Michigan.

Magic pies. Excellent characters who I hope to see more of in the future. An interesting setting, on the last day before the island closes up to tourists and only locals are still around.

A fun read for cozy mystery fans!!

This was a fabulous first in series. The setting an island in Lake Michigan. It is very remote, and I can't imagine being that incredibly isolated, but I enjoyed reading about it, and seeing how Este and her friends manage. Este runs the Lucky Pie Diner on Split Pine Island. In the summer, the island flourishes with tourists, but in the winter, the population is reduced to a couple of hundred long standing residents. Este comes from a long line of women who infuse magic in to their pies. People flock to Este's diner for a chance to get a magical pie.

The setting is at the end of the season when the island is shutting down. Este's regular produce guy is replaced by someone new who threatens to price gouge Este and the other local businesses. Este and the man have words and Este becomes a prime suspect when he is found dead.

There were ceratain nuances I really enjoyed about this book. One of them was Smokey the cat and his offspring. I also enjoyed Este's friends and her grandpa.

I will definitely be reading another in this series. Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC of this book.

I can't imagine living on this remote island. This book is a great way to start this new series , Lucky Pie Mystery.
Este March runs the family-owned Lucky Pie Diner on Split Pine Island in Northern Michigan. The pies at Lucky Pie aren’t just good, they’re magical, with a family recipe that grants certain customers their greatest hopes and dreams when they eat the pie. The remote island is closed to outsiders over the winter months, but on the last day of the season, the unpopular new produce vendor, Jeff, turns up dead on his boat, and Split Pine Island’s peace goes up in smoke.

Princess Fuzzypants here; Living on an island in Lake Huron is delightful in the summer. Winter provides more challenges with the loss of tourist incomes and the difficulty in getting supplies from the mainland. So when a new guy shows up with a much depleted fruit and veg order and charges the businesses double the going rate, no one is happy with him. He seems to want to provoke the customers to anger and he does a good job. But does that give someone the right to murder him?

Este, who had irate words with him, finds the body. She, naturally, becomes a person of interest. Determined to find the real killer, she ignores the warning of Tom, the cop investigating, who also happens to be her best friend’s brother. Este is now on his radar and not just because of the crime. She skates close to the line when she goes breaking into sheds to investigate and then ignores a warning that is given to her. She is not quite a Darwin nominee but she does get very near. It is a good thing she is an interesting character and she and her lucky pie shop provide good entertainment. And the story has some fun and unexpected twists.

Clearly she and Tom are going to get closer as the series develops. I hope he can keep her from crossing that line. Four purrs and two paws up.

Este is my new favorite character! Ok, so she makes delicious pies and runs diner, but she is also smart, witty and fixates on finding the truth! That makes her a perfect amateur sleuth in this new cozy mystery series! The author has woven a well-developed plot with ample twists and turns to keep you guessing and yes, you will also be hoping the guilty party is the town bully, but make sure you follow the clues or you just might miss an important one along the way! Great character development throughout the community and cast of characters to draw you into this small community and make you feel like one of them rather than a reader of a story! This book has the makings of a great series and I personally can't wait to see where the author takes us next!

Split Pine Island sounds like a great place if not for the cold. With the end of the season arriving and the last visitors leaving, Jade is looking forward to one last produce delivery. When the new delivery guy is found murdered, Este is frightened of her hometown for the first time. The mystery was strong, and the characters and setting are interesting.

Gretchen Rue begins the Luck Pie mysteries with A Pie to Die for. Este March bakes lucky pies in the Lucky Pie Diner on Split Pine Island in Northern Michigan. The last day of tourist season a new and unpopular vegetable salesman winds up dead. The local sheriff is suspicious of Este as the last person to see him alive. Plots are behind the scene to takeover people's property, but not all is as it seems. Magical mystery.

My first read from this author and it won't be the last. Fun first in a series. Excited to see where this series goes.

Magic pies on an island in Michigan, what could be better?
Now, i may be biased because I live in the Midwest and I’ve visited Mackinac Island and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula before, but this novel felt so immersive to me. I felt like I was sitting at a table in this diner drinking coffee and eating a piece of pie, or taking a bowl of chowder outside to watch the boats on the lake. The fictional diner, The Lucky Pie Diner, in this book, really embodies the unique unassuming atmosphere of the diners and cafes I’ve been to in the Upper Peninsula. It may not be the most glamorous place you’ve ever seen, but the food is going to be really tasty. I think that brings a lot of authenticity to this book.
Honestly not every cozy mystery with a cute town grabs my fancy, a lot of times the town is 2-dimensional or the locals are *too* sweet/cute. The fictional island of Split Pine is a memorable one. Its local characters are quirky and well fleshed out. It kind of feels like a Gilmore girls town except in Michigan so its citizens are a bit more rugged and salt of the earth.
Este is a great amateur sleuth & main character. She’s carrying on her family’s traditions and she gets great pride out of her business. She’s also annoyed by a lot of people and tells everyone about it , which was very relatable and funny. She’s spunky and gosh darn it she’s got heart lol.

I hope there’s more books in this series coming! I would definitely return to Split Pine for another mystery, and I hope we see more of that intriguing sheriff. The magic lucky pies were really a fun twist, because they don’t magically find the murderer or serve any lazy plot device. Instead the lucky pies are like the icing on top of a cinnamon bun or a slice of cherry pie after a good meal - wonderful, but subtle enough to not overpower the main attraction.

Cheers to Gretchen Rue on a wonderful mystery, may we all find that our next slice of pie is lucky

For my money, an idyllic island community that practically shuts down at the end of tourist season every October until spring rolls around sounds like a fine, quiet place to live—assuming the murder rate isn't too high. Unfortunately, that's exactly the problem in A Pie to Die For.

In Gretchen Rue's first in a series, Lucky Pie Diner proprietor Este March is looking forward to serving up the last of the tourists before a sleepy winter takes hold of Split Pine Island in Northern Michigan. It's been a busy season with folks coming from all over to sample her restaurant's magical pies (their secret recipe's said to offer up bits of luck to certain diners). Unfortunately, after the island's new, rotten produce supplier, Jeff, is found dead, there's zero chance of a quiet off-season. And when police discover Este had a spat with the deceased shortly before his demise, well, she might need some luck of her own.

So, if Split Pine isn't the best place to live, it's at least a great place to read about. In the early chapters, Rue's rich descriptions—something she excels at throughout the book—reveals a tight locale where houses are clustered together and neighbors know everything about everyone. Her use of a quaint community on the verge of shutting down provides a unique backdrop that, as the eventual mystery unfolds, begins to feel somewhat claustrophobic.

It's a danger that, in another book, would tip A Pie to Die For into the light thriller category. However, Rue's quick with jokes that are actually funny, and the addition of hints of magic is enough to keep everything feeling light. It also helps that Este herself is a grounded sleuth, thrust into an investigation because of bad luck more than anything. While she's not prone to totally outlandish sleuthing, she keeps things lively with a few risks. And of course, a cozy detective has to make the handsome sheriff worry every now and again. She's also just plain likable, and this is the kind of cozy where I found myself equally invested in her personal life—Rue has effective subplots involving running the diner and a land development disagreement—as the mystery itself.

But that's not to suggest the mystery isn't solid. It is. As Este tangles with other denizens, Rue unfurls an abundance of questions with each new twist and I found myself consistently changing what I thought the solution would be. All the clues are there, but the murderer doesn't make it easy for Este and, in turn, Rue doesn't make it easy for us readers either.

I hope A Pie to Die For marks the first book in a long, long series, because it's one of the best new cozies of the year. I might not want to live on Split Pine Island, but I'd sure like to visit again.

While I do my best to ensure my reviews are spoiler-free, I may inadvertently reveal information that could help you connect plot points. So, here’s my TL;DR spoiler-free review: A cute cozy mystery set on an island with touches of romance and magic.

My latest cozy read is my first venture into Gretchen Rue’s storytelling, “A Pie to Die For.” This book marks the beginning of her new series—a blend of cozy mystery, a touch of romance, and a dash of magic. Este March runs the family-owned Lucky Pie Diner, situated on Split Pine Island, a quaint island town in Northern Michigan. The island buzzes with activity during the tourist-packed summer season but is essentially isolated from the rest of civilization through the winter.

Each pie Este bakes holds something special. But, notably, two “lucky pies” are baked daily, promising unparalleled fortune to those who eat them. Everyone is on the hunt for these lucky pies, yet only Este knows which ones carry the magic. She honors a family tradition by keeping it a secret, although she’s been known to steer someone she feels could use a bit of luck towards one of these extraordinary pies. Conversely, there are those she believes should never receive a special pie, as they are simply not deserving.

The mystery in “A Pie to Die For” revolves around a valuable piece of property Este owns, a determined real estate developer who wants to seize it, and a new, unreliable produce man who fails to deliver and then turns up dead.

When all signs point to Este as the person of interest, she finds herself in a predicament. Determined to clear her name, she hasn’t been formally charged or implicated in the crime. Nonetheless, in a small seaside community, rumors spread quickly, and Este keeps stumbling upon clues.

I absolutely love this book. There’s something about cozy mysteries that just resonates with me. The premise of “A Pie to Die For” is particularly charming, and I found it to be a swift, enjoyable read. I had my suspicions about the real culprit and spotted several red herrings, but I didn’t piece everything together until the very end, which is always a satisfying conclusion. Gretchen Rue has crafted a solid four-star book. I eagerly anticipate reading more of her work in the future and continuing with the rest of the series.

On sale now, you can grab your copy here.

Thank you to the author Gretchen Rue, the publisher Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book.

I enjoyed this pie shop mystery. It's neat to read a mystery set in Michigan it doesn't seem like we get that enough cozy mysteries set in Michigan. And while it wasn't a favorite. I am looking forward to reading more in the series.