Book 12, 2024

[chez_jae]

Pancakes and Corpses by Agatha Frost

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished reading Pancakes and Corpses last night, which is the first book in author Agatha Frost's "Peridale Cafe" cozy mystery series. Main character is Julia South.

Julia is on the verge of divorce; she only has to sign the papers. In the meantime, she's returned to her hometown of Peridale to open a cafe, which has been a lifelong dream of hers. Julia's dream is about to implode when someone writes a scathing review of her cafe. Intent on confronting the woman, Julia goes to her house, only to find that someone else was there ahead of her and murdered Gertrude. When she feels patronized by the infuriatingly smug new Detective Inspector, Julia launches her own investigation. What she learns is Gertrude had a lot of enemies, and someone in their sleepy little town is a killer.

Ho-hum is the first thought that comes to mind after reading this. It's a run of the mill cozy, complete with ALL THE TROPES, from Julia's job to her love interest being in law enforcement (perhaps you should sign the divorce papers before dating him, yeah?) to her discovering the body and nearly meeting her end at the end. I mean...is there a formula somewhere that cozy authors must adhere to? There was nothing wrong with the story; it was just basic.

Favorite line: "Life is too short to miss out on parties."

Average story, average score


1. Does the mc work at/as one of the following: baker/bakery/sweet shop/tea shop/coffee shop, library/librarian, antique/vintage shop, book store, fashion/boutique, bed & breakfast? Yes, she's a baker
2. Does the mc live at her (or his) place of occupation? No
3. Is the love interest involved in law enforcement? (Police officer, sheriff, detective, PI, FBI) Yes, blah
4. Does the mc have a dog/cat as a pet? Yes, she has a cat
5. Is the mc's BFF either a gay guy or a ditzy/zany woman? No
6. Did the mc find the body? Yes
7. Did the mc wind up in mortal danger at the end of the book? Yes
8. Is the mc's mother either: dead, absent, far removed, ditzy and dithering, or overbearing/disapproving/meddling? Yes
9. If mother is dead/absent, does the mc have another mother-figure (grandmother, aunt, mom's friend, or an older friend)? No
10. Is the mc child-free? (Either no children or else grown children--i.e. no small children to look after) Yes

Comments

[felaine]

Does sound like a fill in the blanks reader.

Just once, make the main character's smug future boyfriend cop turn out to be the killer, okay?
Maybe a few books into the series. Not Cozt but not Noire. Semi-cozy.

Subject change: my sparkly donut card came, you are a sweetheart. Just what I needed.

[chez_jae]

OMG, that would be awesome, to have the jackass cop turn out to be the killer. Muahahaha!

I loved those little cards when I first beheld them. Whee!