The Way of the Wicked is the second book in the Hope Street Church Mystery series by Ellery Adams. This is a revised version of the book Path of the Wicked written under the name Jennifer Stanley in 2010.

The Hope Street Church Mysteries follows the life of Cooper Lee and the members of her Bible study group as they work in the community and stumble upon murders that they help to solve. The group is volunteering at Door 2 Door, a charity that provides food and minor assistance for senior citizens. When Cooper overhears a couple of conversations, she realizes that someone from the organization is stealing from the clients. When a few of them are also discovered dead sitting up in their chairs, they are concerned that one of their volunteers is responsible for not only stealing from their clients but drugging and killing them as well. Determined to solve the murders and help keep Door 2 Door open and helping seniors in need, Cooper and her friends try to figure out which of the volunteers is the guilty party.

I enjoyed the mystery and the romance of Cooper and Nathan. It is a steady moving story but not as quick as other cozies I have read. The characters are delightful. They all seem genuine in their caring attitudes, have problems anyone can have and are smart, loyal and hard working. I was not impressed with the new employee at the machine company. Emilio is the classic male chauvinist looking for a woman who will take care of him. I did not figure out who the murderer was which always makes a good read for me. This is a Christian Cozy Mystery with biblical references, lessons and with much of the activity taking place in a church or bible study setting. If you enjoy a good clean story with a mystery and a little romance, then you will enjoy this book very much.

Another enjoyable book in this series of characters which feel like old friends when you return to their journey. Great novel.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Welcome to Hope Street Church, where friendships are formed, fresh starts are encouraged, and mysteries are solved.
Cooper Lee and her friends in the Hope Street Bible study group have just volunteered for a local charity, delivering much-needed food and cheer to shut-ins in their community. It seems like the perfect way for the group to do good, and to Cooper it offers the welcome opportunity to get out of the house and spend more time with her new boyfriend, Nathan. But when one of the charity’s recipients is murdered, the police have no choice but to single out the church group and their fellow volunteers as the prime suspects.
Determined to make sure no evil deed goes unpunished, Cooper and her friends decide to discreetly interrogate each volunteer in their search for the killer, even if it means putting themselves at risk in the process. And as serving the needy becomes more treacherous than any of them could have imagined, they just might discover that the road to murder is paved with good intentions.
Includes heavenly recipes from Magnolia Lee’s kitchen!

This is the second book in this series that I have read - and I did find this one a lot better.

The mystery side of this book was a lot smarter than the previous novel - a tighter plot and harder to "discover" the killer. The ending was a bit muddied and made it a little hard to wade through but, overall, the mystery itself was far better.

My big issue with this series, though, is the Hope Street Church Bible Study group - I know they are the central characters to this series but I still haven't really connected to any of them. I find Cooper to be just a little over-the-top and hard to feel any empathy for her.

All together, a better book than the first but still finding its feet for me...


Paul
ARH