Book 67, 2025

[chez_jae]

A Frosty Mug of Murder by Constance Barker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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I finished reading A Frosty Mug of Murder last night. It’s the first book in Constance Barker’s “Grumpy Chicken Irish Pub” series of cozy mysteries. The main character is Ginger O’Mallory.

Ginger and her father own and run the Grumpy Chicken Irish Pub. The pub got its name because it’s allegedly haunted by an angry chicken. Ginger tries to downplay that aspect of the pub, but she has bigger fish to fry when she pays a visit to the town’s resident black widow and finds the woman dead in her home. Ginger dutifully calls the police, one of whom is her Aunt Mae. Aunt Mae assures Ginger they’ll get to the bottom of things, but Ginger is compelled to get involved in the investigation. Soon several of her regulars are involved, too, leading to mayhem. Will the pub’s patrons be able to solve the murder before the police do?

This was a fun story, but it was somewhat vexing to read. Grammar was okay, but the punctuation was a hot mess. There were times I’d have to reread a line to give it the proper inflection in my mind, because it should have ended with a question mark instead of a period. Commas were missing or misused, and it really did lessen my enjoyment of the book. In addition, Ginger spent virtually the entire story haring off to “investigate”. I give kudos to her employee, Dixie, who called her out on her bullsh*t because they needed her at the pub. Characters were portrayed well and included an eclectic mix. There were also the dozens of cats that the victim had in and around her home to add some comic relief.

Favorite lines:
♦ Juicy news gets around a small town faster than a cold in a classroom full of kindergartners.
♦ “You know what they say, the murderer always goes to get a sandwich and then sit in front of the bank after committing the crime.”
♦ “Are you nuts! We’re talking about breaking into a crime scene and picking a team name is your concern?”
♦ “I might need some help here. There is a big black cat chasing me. Oh holy feline hell, there are more of them.”
♦ I wasn’t looking where I was going and tripped over Harry Potter.

Likable enough for a score of four, but poor editing and Ginger’s near-constant sleuthing knock it down to a three.