A Tale of Two Cookies is the third book in Eve Calder’s delicious Cookie House Mystery series. Set in a small island town in Florida, you can expect lots of sunshine, cookies and… murder?
Title: A Tale of Two Cookies
Author: Eve Calder
Series: Cookie House Mysteries #3
First Published: April 27, 2021
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genres: Mystery,
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, for providing me with an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Pastry chef Kate McGuire is loving life on the laid-back island of Coral Cay, Florida. As junior partner in a bakery renowned for luscious desserts–especially her cookies–life is pretty sweet. So when an old friend arrives and announces a spur-of-the-moment beach wedding, that’s just the icing on the wedding cake.
But the groom vanishes right as a television crew descends on the town to film a hot, new show. Is there a connection? Is her friend Desiree somehow involved? Or did groom Judson simply get cold feet? The bride and groom were paired better than warm cookies and cold milk, so Kate doesn’t buy it.
As the show’s cast runs amok on the island and the investigation into Judson’s disappearance heats up, Kate and her pal Maxi, along with town dog Oliver, will brave the rambunctious world of reality TV and a wedding weekend gone awry, in an all-out effort to find the missing groom.
Welcome back to Coral Cay
Right from the start, this book had pulled me in and didn’t let go until the last page. The first few chapters were so engaging – we quickly become acquainted with Kate’s friend Desiree and her new fiancé, Judson (aka Judd) and the fact that they’re going to tie the knot in a casual, beach wedding. The couple seems well-suited and very Much in love, despite the fact that Judd’s kids disapprove of the union (according to Judd, they worry it will cut into their inheritance). I couldn’t read fast enough. Even though this was the third book in the series, you can definitely start this as a standalone without any confusion.
When Judd doesn’t show up for the wedding, things look bleak for Desiree. Especially when no one can recall Judd even mentioning that he was getting married. Was Desiree more in love with Judd than he was with her? Did he just run away? Kate’s not convinced (and frankly, neither was I).
Along with her best friend Maxi, and popular pup Oliver, Kate starts to look into Judd’s disappearance. They also have the help of Kate’s friends in the Coral Cay Irregulars book club (I love that name!) and the local detective, Ben Abrams.
In fact, the characters are one of the reasons I love this series (also… cookies – who doesn’t love cookies?). All of the people we meet from Coral Cay are charming and friendly. It seems like a lovely place to live (well, except for the murders). The residents are a stark contrast to the film cast and crew who have descended onto the island town to film their new show. It added for an interesting mix of personalities.
Kate is a wonderful protagonist – she’s smart, capable, loyal and is a talented pastry chef (you know there’s always bonus points from me for any cozy mystery that involves food!). I love baking, but cookies in all forms are a favourite. But to be honest, when the Kate mentions that she had made a “3-tier key lime wedding cake with buttercream frosting”, I started drooling. Key lime is definitely a Florida thing and one of my absolute favourite pies. YUM!
A race to the finish
The pacing of this mystery is quite quick and it kept me turning the pages until really late into the night. I couldn’t put this one down because it seemed like there was always a new clue or suspect to look at. I was kept guessing until almost the very end and even then it was a very eye-opening and satisfying reveal. The mystery was well put together and the reader was given enough clues to be able to put together a solid case in their own head, but with enough twists to keep things from getting too easy. It had a lot more twists and turns than I’m used to in some cozies but it was totally worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
And I can’t end my review without mentioning – SEA TURTLES. I can’t give away too much but turtles are mentioned quite a bit in this book and there’s a beautiful scene where baby turtles make their dash from the nest to the ocean. I have a very soft spot for sea turtles (one swam right next to me when I was snorkeling in Hawaii once) and I could very easily picture the beach scene with all the tiny turtles racing for the water. That scene alone made this book extra special for me.
Eve Calder was kind enough to do an Author Q&A with me in anticipation of the release of A Tale of Two Cookies. You can read her interview here.
Read A Tale of Two Cookies for yourself
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Wonderful review, Stephanie! You completely sold me on this book although this series is a new one for me.
I will definitely check this one out!