Book 65, 2018

Death By Pumpkin Spice by Alex Erickson

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



Last night, I finished slogging through Death by Pumpkin Spice, which is the third installment in Alex Erickson's "Bookstore Cafe" mystery series, starring Krissy Hancock. Since I haven't read any other books in the series, I was going in blind, but I don't feel as that I was missing anything.

Krissy is asked to go to a Halloween costume party at one of the ritziest homes in Pine Hills. She's afraid she won't fit in, but she learns that a few other people she knows will be there. The night of the party, there is a torrential downpour that makes the roads impassable, thereby stranding the guests in the Yarborough home. When one of the guests is murdered, Krissy is ecstatic to be asked by Officer Paul Dalton, whom she had a fizzled relationship with, to assist him until other police officers can arrive on the scene. Krissy is torn between helping Paul and still trying to spend time with her date, Dr Will Foster.

Many of the well-heeled guests are acting suspiciously, and none of them appreciates being questioned by either Paul or Krissy. When her ex shows up, wanting another chance, Krissy's night goes from bad to worse. Now the race is on to find a killer before everyone is allowed to leave, but Krissy is determined to find out whodunnit before the night is over.

Well now. For one thing, the trope of everyone being confined to a small space during a murder investigation has been over done. For another, some of the guests said or did the most bizarre things, presumably as a red herring for the amateur sleuth and the reader. However, the biggest disappointment was Krissy herself.

Seldom have I ever read a book where the main character was this utterly obnoxious. Krissy is so smug in her belief that the crime cannot possibly be solved without her assistance that it made me want to gag. ( Spoiler Alert and Spoiled Diva )

Favorite line: "Shouldn't you be back home ruining someone else's life?"

I spent several hours reading this that I will never get back. Characters were two-dimensional, including Krissy, and the plot twists were confusing rather than dazzling. Needless to say, I will not be seeking out any others in the series, and I sincerely doubt I'll look to read anything else by this author.

One star:

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