A Chocolate is Announced

Bean to Bar Mystery, #7

by

Amber Royer

Cozy Mystery / Culinary Mystery / Women Sleuths

Publisher: Golden Tip Press

Date of Publication: June 25, 2024

Number of Pages: 277 pages

Scroll down for Giveaway!

Synopsis

Felicity Koerber is finally getting her life together.  She has a fiancé, her bean to bar chocolate shop on Galveston’s historic Strand has become a gathering spot for the community, and she is ready to embrace whatever the future holds.  She’s ready for another launch party – despite the disaster at her grand opening when she’d first gotten involved with solving a murder.  And this time, she’s embracing her status as a sleuth.  She’s hosting a murder mystery weekend to celebrate the new Mystery Flavor line of craft chocolate bars.  She’s held a contest to choose the attendees, who will all stay at her aunt’s flip hotel and enjoy the island.  It’s all supposed to be perfectly random – only Felicity starts to uncover connections between her guests.  When one of them winds up murdered, Felicity has to keep her aunt from becoming the main suspect.

The killer is very clearly calling Felicity out, leaving clues that mean little to anyone other than her.  But that doesn’t narrow down the suspect pool.  Her guests are there because they love the true crime podcast she’s been featured on.  And she can’t decide whether the killer wants her to catch them – or just wants to taunt her.

Meanwhile, Felicity is also playing host to her future in-laws and discovers that her fiancé’s sister, who is also a cop, is very competitive.  Can Felicity hold her own and make a good impression while keeping her business together and her aunt out of jail?  And can Felicity solve it in time to protect the people she cares about from becoming additional victims?

Satchmo, the retired police dog turned therapy dog, returns to help her sniff out a few clues, and one of the guests brings along a ferret named Cheeseburger, who keeps showing up in the most unexpected places.

Amazon Paperback | Amazon Kindle | Kobo | Apple Books

Review

This has become a favorite series because who can pass up chocolate, a cute bunny, and the Texas coast?

Felicity (aka Fee or Lis, depending on who is addressing her) is hosting a murder mystery weekend at the hotel she and her aunt are flipping. As with the previous books, people end up dead. However, how the guests ended up being there is quite interesting because it seems like someone has manipulated the guests for this contest. Everyone has a secret, but is it enough to kill for?

Felicity and Logan are newly engaged, and this is her opportunity to meet his family. Will they like her? Will she like them? It is obvious that she still has some insecurities about herself and her relationship with Logan, but nothing a little communication won’t resolve.

The murder itself is a locked room murder. How did it happen? Who was involved and why? I loved all of the clues that were peppered throughout the book. There aren’t so many that I could solve it ahead of time, but enough to leave me wondering who was at the center of it all and why. The guilty party is not one I would have guessed, even with some hints from the characters.

While we don’t see Knightly (the bunny) very much in this book, there is the addition of a ferret named Cheeseburger. Cheeseburger takes a liking to Felicity for some reason, but it helps her overcome her fear of ferrets. I have to say that Cheeseburger is one smart ferret.

This would not be this series without a “murder book.” Whenever Felicity receives a book, there tends to be a murder that she helps solve. The book she receives is Frankenstein. There are many possible reasons for this particular book, but you will have to read this cozy to decide how it ties. There is also something hidden within the book that makes it even more interesting. I had to do a little research to learn more. I don’t think that particular scenario would be possible, but it is fun to imagine. Did I whet your appetite to grab the book? Yes? Good!

I am looking forward to what happens next for Felicity and Logan. There is some news for her friend Autumn in this book that will carry over to the next one.

While this book could be read on its own, you will benefit from reading all the previous books first. This will set up the characters, the shop, and so much more.

We give this book 5 paws up.

About the Author

Amber Royer writes the Chocoverse comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series and the Bean to Bar Mysteries. She is also the author of Story Like a Journalist: a Workbook for Novelists, which boils down her writing knowledge into an actionable plan involving over 100 worksheets to build a comprehensive story plan for your novel. She also teaches creative writing and is an author coach.

Amber and her husband live in the DFW area, where you can often find them hiking or taking landscape/architecture/wildlife photographs.  If you are very nice to Amber, she might make you cupcakes.  Chocolate cupcakes, of course! Amber blogs about creative writing techniques and all things chocolate.

 Website  ◆  Blog ◆  Facebook  ◆  X (Twitter)

  Amazon  ◆  Goodreads  ◆ Instagram ◆  YouTube ◆  BookBub

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!

(US only; ends midnight, CDT, 07/05/24)

Visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page

For direct links to each post on this tour, updated daily.

blog tour services provided by