Title: Smothered
Author: G.P. Gottlieb
Series: Whipped and Sipped Mysteries #2
Publisher: D. X. Varos, Ltd.
Release Date: February 16, 2021
Pages: 204
Book Source: ARC
“Alene Baron doesn’t go looking for mysteries, they find her. When the highly disliked owner of a business neighboring the Whipped and Sipped Cafe turns up dead, the list of potential suspects is pretty long, including all of the members of his quarrelsome family. Missing wills, convenient accidents, and enough red herring to feed the lunch crowd spice up this tantalizing tale. As always, while pondering the evidence, Alene also comes up with creative vegan dishes to serve her customers and share with you.” – Amazon
Kim’s Review
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Smothered by G.P. Gottlieb is the second book in the Whipped and Sipped Mysteries. Gottlieb provides the reader with a cast of characters at the beginning of the book, which I highly recommend you read. There are a lot of characters in the first three chapters or so and I found myself reading very slowly and checking the character list to make sure I understood who was who. I was able to pick up reading speed after a bit and the characters were easier to remember who everyone was.
Gottlieb does an excellent job portraying a single mother with three kids and an ageing father with medical conditions. I fell a lot of people my age and older (even younger) will find a kinship with Alene and her day to day struggles to keep her life running sort of smoothly… and then you throw in trying to solve and murder mystery, and Wow! Never a dull moment.
Towards the end when you have that a-ha moment as to why the book is titled the way it is, was fun. And the final murder reveal was a twist and diferent then any cozy mystery endings that I can remember reading… which is also fun.
If you’re looking for a cozy series with lots of characters, like a classic Agatha Christie novel, you should give the Whipped and Sipped Mysteries a try, with Battered being the first in the series.
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