Review: A Parfait Murder

Summary: When Tally's cousin Bree spots her deadbeat ex-husband strolling the Lantana County Fair with a fat wallet and a vixen on his arm, she immediately files for back child support. But when his lawyer is found dead, things get a little sticky. Did Bree serve up a dish of cold, sweet revenge? Or is she another hapless victim of a parfait crime? -- Signet

I sure am having such a fun time reading all of these mysteries for Mystery Mondays. The latest book that I enjoyed is called A PARFAIT MURDER by Wendy Lyn Watson. A PARFAIT MURDER is a murder mystery set in a small town in Texas. Tally is a local ice cream shop owner who also moonlights as a crime buster. When Tally's best friend and cousin Bree is accused of murder, she steps in to find the real culprit, and in the process, learns a thing or two about the people who mean the most to her.

It might be shallow to judge a book by the cover, but isn't this cover positively adorable? And in the case of A PARFAIT MURDER, I think it's just perfect. This cozy has an interesting cast of characters, a twisted murder case, a good old fashioned love story, and even a few ice cream recipes. For fans of cozies, it doesn't get much better than that!

I read A PARFAIT MURDER in one sitting. It's a cute story and a very quick read, and it definitely entertained me for a few hours. I really liked Tally and her spunky cousin Bree who was good for quite a few chuckles. In addition, I really liked Tally's leading man Finn; and I found their romance to be kind of cute. And for the "bad guys"... there were pretty typical for these types of books but I enjoyed them too.

As far as the mystery goes, I thought it was a pretty good one. While I did have a feeling about the identity of the culprit, I had no idea about the motive. I appreciated that there were lots of twists and turns and there was even a little action and suspense thrown in. All in all, it was a cute and entertaining read.

A PARFAIT MURDER is part of the Mystery a la Mode series. In keeping with my new attitude that I'm allowing myself to read series books out of order, I started with this one, the third book in the series after I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM and SCOOP TO KILL. I probably would have picked up a few more details had I read the first two books, but I don't think it hurt me to start in the middle of this series. Ms. Watson does a good job of informing the reader about past events in Tally's life. And I've found that it's always the private lives of the characters that I miss out on the most by not starting a series at the beginning.

A PARFAIT MURDER is a cute book and perfect for the long, hot summer given all the references to fairs and ice cream. I think fans of cozies, and especially food cozies, will find A PARFAIT MURDER to be a sweet treat (I know... I couldn't resist!)

Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this novel.

Mystery Mondays is a "somewhat" regular feature where I review all types of mystery books -- traditional mysteries, suspense/thrillers, and even cozies! Please feel free to share your thoughts on any recent mystery books that you've read.