Deadly Sweet Tooth (Vintage Sweets Mysteries #2) by Kaye George

Deadly Sweet Tooth 

(Vintage Sweets Mysteries #2)

by Kaye George

Kindle Edition

Expected publication: June 2nd 2020 by Lyrical Press

Goodreads synopsis: 

In a darling tourist town like Fredericksburg, Texas, a vintage sweet shop offering delicious old-fashioned favorites is a perfect fit—until someone decides to debut a recipe that’s lusciously lethal… 

With Tally’s Old Tyme Sweets finally—well, almost—turning a profit, Tally Holt is taking one busy Saturday off to host a grand party for her parents, traveling performers who spend most of their time on the road. Tally’s counting on the publicity and free treats to attract new customers. And the event is a sweet success—at least until Fran Abraham, the town’s foul-tempered theater director, drops dead after a bitter confrontation with Tally’s mother.

Murder was definitely not on Tally’s menu, but it’s clear that Fran’s death wasn’t natural. The list of possible culprits includes not just Tally’s mom, but her protective dad too. Relying on Yolanda Bella, her best friend and the proprietor of Bella’s Baskets next door, for help, Tally will need to unwrap the sticky pasts and unsavory presents of everyone from her own parents to her new hires before Fran’s death sours everybody on her fledgling shop….

***

4 Stars 

This is the second book in the Vintage Sweets mystery series by Kaye George.

The premise: Tally’s parents are always on the road performing. So when they come to town, one of the town’s own, a theater director named Fran, ends up dead. And with the suspect pool so large, Tally’s parents are at the top of the suspect list.

This book has a bit dual perspective but I am not sure that was their initial intention. Tally is the main POV but the basket shop owner, Yolanda had some scenes where she was front and center too. That alone made it a a bit difficult to jump back and forth. I think I would have enjoyed it more if Tally was the only POV character.

Tally doesn’t really follow the cozy rules of the basic mystery. Things around her just seem to happen without her being involved in the actual whodunit plot. I wish she had done some true investigating. I mean, come on, do you not want to dig up dirt on your parents in order to keep them from going to jail? Really? The situation surrounding her parents was pretty much dropped after they fell off the police’s radar. I would want to personally know what was bothering Tally’s mother so much that she had to keep facts from her daughter.

The best part of this was the vintage sweets and they really didn’t stand out as much as I thought they would. Book one did a better job of making the sweet shop shine.

When the real killer was revealed, I didn’t totally understand why they did it. Maybe I need to go back and reread the final section of the book. I still had my mind on all Tally’s parents issues.

The ending of this seemed a little odd too. Tally is running to escape and suddenly the scene shifts and her parents are somewhere else doing their traveling. I was like, wait a minute, why would they skip over that? To me, that would have been the best part to see how it all shook out, watch them get arrested and see what the killer’s motivation was. I have read enough of these to know something was missing from this book. But that doesn’t make it horrible. I just wanted more. I wanted clarity. I wanted the characters to leap off the page and make me want to live there. I didn’t get that from this. This series is still in its infancy so I am holding out hope this will snowball into greatness.

If you want to read a good cozy mystery, definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.