The small town
of Wrensdale, Massachusetts, is hosting a cooking contest,
sponsored by Steeltop Foods. They are promoting the Flavor
Dial, their new product that features a variety of spices
in a spin dial. Talia Marby is one of the contestants. Her
restaurant, Fry Me a Sliver, does good business, but she’s
renovated the place recently, and the $25,000 prize would
pay off her debt.
There are five other contestants, and when
the winner, Norma Ferguson, is murdered right after she wins,
Talia’s friend (also a contestant) Crystal Galardi is
arrested. One of Talia’s employees, Lucas Bartolini,
is also injured, most likely by the killer, and Talia knows
in her heart of hearts the Crystal is innocent. Yet the police
are sure they have their killer, and despite warnings of dire
consequences from Detective Patti Prescott, Talia dons her
Nancy Drew cap and starts to scout for suspects, sticking
her nose in where she knows she shouldn’t.
Author Linda Reilly has done a really good
job getting all of the elements of a successful cozy mystery
down pat. There was enough suspicion to go around to several
suspects, enough clues to keep the reader guessing, and I
found the pages almost turned themselves as I eagerly awaited
what would happen next.
I enjoyed
my visit to Wrensdale very much, and look forward to future
books. There’s a lot of promise to this series, and
if “Fry Another Day” is a good example of what
is to come, I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for the next
installment. Highly recommended!
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