Book 7, 2026

Sugar and Spite by Carol J. Perry

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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I have today off, so I stayed up late to finish reading Sugar and Spite by Carol J Perry. It’s the 15th book in her “Witch City” mystery series featuring TV reporter, Lee Barrett Mondello.

With Halloween approaching, Lee is tasked with doing a series on local candy shops in Salem. Considering she’s eight months pregnant, she welcomes the easy nature of her assignment, although Lee sometimes finds herself missing the more serious investigative reporting she used to do. While touring Casa de Chocolatte, Lee stumbles upon the dead body of the owner’s ex-husband, Bernie Bingham. Shop owner Shirley Parker had divorced Bernie years ago, but she was still making palimony payments to him. The police naturally focus on Shirley. Lee, however, learns that Bernie had crossed plenty of shady characters in Salem. She tries to focus on her own assignments, but Lee keeps getting drawn back into the drama. She notices that both Shirley and her adult son, Hugh, seem to show up wherever she goes. Lee’s husband, Pete, becomes aggravated and even more protective, as does their cat, O’Ryan. Lee can’t wait for this case to be solved so she can concentrate on motherhood.

I enjoyed the first 70% of this story. Characters were real and relatable, the plot was fast-paced and exciting, and Bernie’s murder was truly confounding. Late in the book, however, things went completely off the rails. The author dropped her fudge, and the editor failed to clean it up.

( Spoilers and Bitching )

Since all of that ‘What-the-F*ckery’ happened late in the book, it gave the impression that the author had tired of it and was just trying to wrap things up quickly. It was sloppy. Even the resolution of the murder was just handed to them when one character came to the police to throw another under the bus, bringing the receipts along to prove it. It was disappointing. Another thing I found disappointing was the lack of the trademark paranormal element. Lee’s pregnancy seemed to have curtailed her ability to see visions in reflective surfaces. The author didn’t indicate this is the last book in the series, but with the way the final chapter ended, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Favorite lines:
♦ “The trailer says there’s a crazy cat lady in it.” We’re everywhere! Muahaha!
♦ “Cats are all kinds of magical, aren’t they?”

I truly enjoyed most of the book until it went tits up at the end. For that reason, it gets an average score of three, and I believe that’s being lenient.