4 out of 5 stars.

Welcome! I’m still working on getting caught up on reviews. Today’s review is for Pressing the Issue, the sixth book in the Cookbook Nook mystery series by Daryl Wood Gerber. I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time and it did not disappoint at all!

Pressing the Issue (A Cookbook Nook Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
6th in the series
Beyond the Page Publishing (February 20, 2018)
Print version: 350 pages
ASIN: B07955HXRS

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo

Synopsis

As the annual Renaissance Fair comes to Crystal Cove, Jenna Hart’s Cookbook Nook is packed with tasty treats and all things medieval, while her pal Bailey is ready to swoon over her upcoming nuptials at a local vineyard. But when the two friends discover the body of the vineyard’s owner bludgeoned by a winepress, all their merriment fades, along with their hopes for a vintage year.

Which churlish varlet did the deed? Was it the victim’s errant brother, who stood to inherit the vineyards? Or the owner’s crestfallen ex-girlfriend? Mayhap it was the newly arrived comely wench, or her jealous husband. Fie on them all! Verily, Jenna can’t rest until justice is served, and she vows to track down the killer. But can she sniff out the truth before the villainous culprit strikes again?

Review

I was waiting for this book to come out ever since the fifth one, Grilling the Subject had been published in August 2016. I’m thrilled that Daryl Wood Gerber found another publisher to continue the series as I really enjoy it. Even though I’d had a long wait between books, this newest installment in the series did not disappoint at all!

It was so good to be back in Crystal Cove with Jenna, Aunt Vera, Bailey, Katie, Rhett, and the rest of the townspeople. It’s one thing I love about reading series – the characters start to feel like they’re old friends that you’re visiting. These are great characters. Daryl Wood Gerber has done a great job creating well-developed and complex characters. They’re fun to come back to book after book.

This plotline had several red herrings. I did wonder about the villain but I wasn’t sure about my wonderings until just before they were revealed in the end.  I was sorry the victim had to die. We’d met him in other books and I kinda liked him as a character. But alas, what’s a mystery without a victim of some sort?

This is definitely a series that you want to read from the beginning, starting with Final Sentence, the first book in the series. Each of the mysteries are stand-alone but there’s a lot of back story that will make MUCH more sense if you read the books in order.

I do recommend the series for cozy mystery fans. Come join the fun in Crystal Cove and get to know this great cast of characters!

About the Author

Agatha Award-winning and nationally bestselling author DARYL WOOD GERBER crosses genres again with her second stand-alone suspense thriller, DAY OF SECRETS. Daryl also writes the bestselling COOKBOOK NOOK MYSTERIES and will soon debut the new FRENCH BISTRO MYSTERIES. As Avery Aames, she pens the bestselling CHEESE SHOP MYSTERIES. Little known fact: Daryl has jumped out of a perfectly good airplane, and she has hitchhiked around Ireland by herself. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in “Murder, She Wrote.” She loves to read, cook, and golf. She has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!