STIRRING UP TROUBLE
Snowflake, Vermont, is known for its skiing in winter—and its soup all year round, thanks to Lucky Jamieson’s By the Spoonful Soup Shop. Autumn brings golden leaves, pumpkin rice soup, the annual Harvest Festival… and murder.
Lucky’s soup shop is busier than usual this October, with groups of itinerant travelers in town to work the Harvest Festival. One newcomer seems to take a particular interest in Lucky’s young waitress, Janie, spying on her from across the street. Is the stranger stalking Janie?
After an unidentified man is found murdered in a van by the side of the road, simmering suspicions about the travelers are brought to a boil. But when Janie is put in harm’s way, Lucky must join forces with the travelers to turn up the heat on a killer….
Recipes included!
REVIEW
A Roux of Revenge is the third book in Connie Archer’s A Soup Lover’s Mystery series. This was my first time reading the series and I didn’t really have a problem getting into the book. I was, however, a little overwhelmed in the beginning by the large cast of characters. By the time I was on page 24, I was already introduced to at least 13 characters and the list just kept growing.
The story takes place in the small New England town of Snowflake, Vermont. The people are all friendly and seem to be really close to one another. The story centers on Lucky Jamieson, the owner of By the Spoonful Soup Shop and Janie Leonard, an eighteen-year-old waitress for the restaurant.
It’s autumn and Halloween is around the corner. The town is in the midst of the Harvest Festival, an event that has pony rides, a farmer’s market, craft stands, and live bands. The festival tends to bring visitors to the town daily; as well as gypsies/travelers there to work the festival.
A Roux of Revenge gives you two mysteries to figure out, with the possibly of several suspects to choose from. The story starts out with an accident on the side of the road and the driver is found dead. Being a small town, the news spreads fast. But something about the accident and the victim isn't right. Just as the investigation gets under way, evidence starts to go missing.
With the town focused on the murder, one of the towns long time residents gets a visit from their past. This puts the life of Janie and subsequently Lucky in jeopardy.
Unlike other cozy mysteries, I didn’t get the sense Lucky was really out to investigate anything. She more or less just kept getting pulled into the mayhem. In addition to that, Lucky has to deal with her relationship with her boyfriend, Elias, which seems to possibly be at a standstill or coming to an end. In the love department, Lucky is going to have to figure out what she really wants and realize “Love has nothing to do with age or beauty or brains or anything for that matter. Love is love. It comes to us when it comes to us, and I wonder if we really have a lot of choice in the matter.”.
I found A Roux of Revenge to be a very enjoyable page turner. At the time of reading, I hated that I couldn’t figure out whodunnit. At least, it took awhile for my spidey senses to tingle. But in the end, I liked the way Connie weaved the storylines together. However, I didn't care for the ending as I felt it was incomplete and left a cliffhanger.
Rating: 4
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Book Length: 304 pages
Source: Publisher via Blog Tour Promoter
Reviewed by: Kim
Reading Format: Available in eBook and Paperback
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Enjoyed your review. Sounds like a good mystery rlrlaney at yahoo dot com
ReplyDeleteThank you Rhonda. I hope you entered the giveaway. It's along with the interview Connie did with me.
DeleteHi Rhonda ~ catching up, I've been away at other stops on my blog tour. All the best to you for the giveaway and thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDelete