Mexican bakery – Valerie's Musings

Banner - Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours Presents: Kneaded to Death by Winnie Archer - February 27 - March 12, 2017 - Photo of author & Cover of book included

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Today I’m hosting the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Kneaded to Death by Winnie Archer. This is the first in the brand-new series, Bread Shop Mystery series. It was a wonderful beginning to this new series!

Kneaded to Death: A Bread Shop Mystery by Winnie Archer book cover - Features the front of the bread shop, Yeast of Eden, which has a display window full of various types of bread, a cafe table with chairs on the front sidewalk, and a pug sitting on one of the chairs

Purchase Links: Amazon – B&N – BAM – Kobo

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Line of chocolate donuts with sprinkles — © Cute Colors

Brief Synopsis

Everyone swears by Yeast of Eden, the Mexican bread shop in town. But tonight, the only thing on the menu is la muerte . . .

Struggling photographer Ivy Culpepper has lots of soul-searching to do since returning to seaside Santa Linda, California. That is, until the thirty-one-year-old enters a bread making class at Yeast of Eden. Whether it’s the aroma of fresh conchas in the oven, or her instant connection with owner Olaya Dias and her sisters, Ivy just knows the missing ingredients in her life are hidden among the secrets of Olaya’s bakery . . .

But Ivy’s spirits crumble when a missing classmate is suddenly discovered dead in her car, riddled with stab wounds. Even more devastating, the prime suspects are the Dias sisters themselves. Doubting the women could commit such a crime, Ivy embarks on a murder investigation of her own to prove their innocence and seize the real killer. As she follows a deadly trail of crumbs around town, Ivy must trust her gut like never before—or someone else could be toast!

Review

I really enjoyed this first installment of this brand-new Bread Shop Mystery series.

The characters in this series are unique, complex, and delightful. It’s always hard to come back to where you were raised and even harder after a tragedy has struck, but I thought Ivy handled seeing old friends/boyfriends and dealing with her grief very well. I like the fact that it’s Ivy’s friend who is part of the police force and not her romantic interest. It makes for a nice change.

The setting descriptions were okay, but not quite as detailed as I would have liked. Other than the bakery itself, I had a hard time imagining the various places in the book.

The story line was clever and interesting. It moved along at a decent pace. There were plenty of suspects to choose from and I didn’t figure out the culprit before it was revealed (yay!).

I didn’t give this 5 stars partially because while I enjoyed it, I doubt this will be a book I read more than once. The other reason was my thought that there should be more description if the settings. However, I did enjoy the book and would definitely recommend it! I look forward to the next book in the series.

** I was given an ARC of this book by the publisher through NetGalley. I was not compensated for my review. All opinions and conclusions are my own. **

About the Author

Winnie Archer, author, aka Melissa Bourbon-Ramirez - Middle-aged white woman with blond hair done in an up-twist, no glasses, wearing a grey shirt and dark grey blazer The indefatigable Winnie Archer is a middle school teacher by day, and a writer by night. Born in a beach town in California, she now lives in an inspiring century old house in North Texas and loves being surrounded by real-life history. She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with both yoga and chocolate, adores pumpkin spice lattes, is devoted to her five kids and husband, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.