Julie has her freedom, a dream job as a pastry chef, and a corpse growing cold on her floor…Welcome to Beldoc, a small town in the heart of Provence, imbued with lavender and fresh baked bread! You can idle around, or you can puzzle out a murder mystery.When a man dies on her watch in her pâtisserie, newly divorced chef Julie Cavallo is dismayed. Usually, she can bake her way out of the blues. … can bake her way out of the blues. But not this time. It isn’t that she’s a suspect. The local gendarmerie captain signs off Maurice Sauve’s death as a natural event. A heart attack.
But for a reason she won’t discuss, Julie suspects Maurice was poisoned.
What’s a girl to do? She’ll ignore the risk and seek justice for Maurice on her own!
Well, not quite on her own. Julie’s eccentric grandmother, her snarky sister and her geeky sous chef are keen to help.
The team’s amateurism is a challenge. But there’s also the pesky matter of no evidence, no clues, and soon, no body. The murder—if it was a murder—was planned and executed flawlessly.
Can a small-town baker solve the perfect crime?
“The Murderous Macaron” is a twisty whodunnit mystery perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich, Alexander McCall Smith, Jana DeLeon and Rhys Bowen.
“Fun characters and unexpected plots twists make this story a delightful read.” — Manhattan Book Review
➤ The Killer Karma (Julie Cavallo #2) will be released in March 2020.
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Julie has just gone through a rather quick divorce. After her divorce, she decides to move back to her hometown. Julie opened up her own bakery shop. Julie loves to cook and is a chef. After opening her little bakery shop she decides to teach a class on how to make Macarons.
On the first day of her class, one of her students falls over dead. The local police right the guy’s death off as a heart attack. After having a vision Julie becomes to believe that the man did not have a heart attack but instead may have been poisoned.
Julie’s sister and grandmother encourage her to look into the guy’s death. They believe that it will be very therapeutic for Julie with her recent and quick divorce. Julie is a wonderful person as she takes it all in stride although she is looking into the man’s death because she believes the man was murdered.
The Murderous Macaron was a fun sweet little murder mystery. It kept me guessing from beginning to end. It started out with a bang at the very beginning with a guy dead on the floor of Julie’s bakery shop. Julie had a list of suspects who may or may not have had a reason to kill the guy.
The Murderous Macaron had the same feel to it as Murder She Wrote. I pictured the houses in the town of Beldoc with soft light colors and white picket fences with little old ladies peeking out the windows. A usually quiet, quaint little town where everyone knows each other and gets along very well.
Although Julie tied up this little murder mystery nicely something tells me that there are going to be more murders and mysteries for her to solve. I can’t wait to see what mystery she finds herself into next. While The Murderous Macaron was tied up nicely there were still questions about Julie and her past that I hope to learn more of in future books.
I would recommend The Murderous Macaron to anyone looking for a cozy little murder mystery. One-click your copy of The Murderous Macaron today!
The Murderous Macaron by Ana T Drew was a easy, relaxing, fun read, and overall agood book.
ARC REVIEW
This book is filled with wickedly wonderful characters, intriguing plot twists, and enjoyable, suspenseful, mystery scenes!!
I love cozy mysteries and this book did not disappoint!!
This book is the perfect easy-going, leisure, effortless read that can be soaked up in just a few, short hours!!
I enjoyed the story line and felt engaged in the story structure and plot points. The writing style was steady and easily flowed. This book falls on the average to longer side at 268 eBook pages. But like I said, I thoroughly adored this book and every scene felt necessary for its success.
I really enjoyed the charming and delightful characters!! It’s clear the author made them a focal part of the story, and for good reason – they entertained!! Whether it was the silly bantering, witty comebacks, or the just the accents – these lovable characters certainly brought their A-game!!
I really liked Julie, the main character, and found an easy, relatable, connection with her. She was likable, realistic, and genuine. Also, of course, I loved Julie’s Grandma, Rose, (she’s hilarious!!), Julie’s Sous Chef, Eric, Julie’s Sister, Flo, Julie’s Twin-Sister, Cat, Capitaine Gabriel Adinian, Pascale, and all the rest of the folks of Beldoc!!
I loved the beautiful European setting!! There were lots of vivid details that made it very easy to picture many of the scenes.
I was hoping for a bit more of a French theme and overtone. Perhaps, this will develop over the course of the book series. Or was limited to not scare anyone away looking for a relaxing, easy read. Having personally taken French all through high school and college, I was looking forward to dusting off the old cobwebs, but then again, that was a few more years ago then I’d like to admit, so maybe I should be glad I didn’t have to worry about stumbling over a language I was once proficient in lol.
I really enjoyed the baking story line!! I love baking – errr, well, trying to lol!! Anywho, I still appreciated the delicious gluten-free delights Julie and Eric made. I think it would have been a nice extra if the author included a couple recipes at the back of the book of some of Julie’s favorite gluten-free delights that would sure to be baked in her adorable shop!!
This book also reminded me a bit of the “Murder She Baked,” Book Series by Joanne Fluke, which also went on to become Hallmark TV Movie successes!!
There are some predictable scenes. However, there are still a few very unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!
This book is Book One of The Julie Cavallo Investigates Book Series. It can be read as a standalone. It seems the author has already written a total of three books in this series, with the last to be released at the end of this October. Like book one, book two seems well received with readers, as I am sure book three will be as well! I look forward to checking out the other books in this series!
All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely recommend it! I think all cozy mystery fans will like this book too – and this book series! So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading – you won’t be disappointed!
**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**
I loved Julie’s first mystery! Her side kicks were hilarious. I loved all of the banter. The mystery was great and the touch of romance has me waiting for more! I can’t wait to see the next mystery unfold!
This was a fun read and a little different flavor than other cozies. Excuse the pun 🙂 Having a pastry chef that bakes gluten free products is obviously different. This bakery cozy is set in a small French village. Something new indeed.
I will say one thing about this plot. They sure got to the dead body part of this mystery quick. There’s nothing wrong with this I suppose but I felt a little lost until I read farther and figured out who was whom, so to speak. I thought this slowed down a little but as I looked back, I realized it may have only seemed that way because the beginning seemed to run ahead a little. Maybe one pace affected the other.
Nonetheless this was a quick and fun read. Quirky fun characters galore. A gluten-free bakery amateur sleuth. Wonder what will happen next, don’t you?
3.75 stars
“The Murderous Macaron” by Ana T. Drew stars Julie Cavallo, whose gluten-free bakery has been the site of a death. Julie’s sense that there is more to it than meets the eye puts her at odds with Capitaine Gabriel Adinian, who wants to get this cut-and-dried case off of his plate.
This cozy mystery with paranormal elements is part of the ‘Provence Cozy Mysteries’ series, and has the typical kooky cast of colorful characters, including a grandmother who teaches doga (doggy yoga), and a smart-mouthed and sometimes wise younger sister (I love her advice that…. “if you keep mentally photoshopping the ugly truth out of people, you’ll surround yourself with friends you can always rely on to backstab you.”).
The special talent that Julie evidently shares with her estranged twin was unexpected and added an odd element to the story, which already has its share of twists and turns. I enjoyed following the investigation and the red herrings as well as the opportunity to armchair travel to a small town in France, plus who could resist the sexy capitaine? Julie will undoubtedly have more adventures to come, and I look forward to reading about more of her madcap adventures and their alliterative titles.
A copy of this title was provided for review
Julie Cavallo returns to her hometown of Beldoc in the Provence region of France, to open her own patisserie, Julie’s Gluten-Free Delights, and get a fresh start after her recent, and sudden, divorce. Business has been slow to build up but Julie is optimistic that her planned marketing events will get the word out: free Wi-Fi, free samples during the upcoming lavender trade show, and a class on making macarons at the shop. However, when one of her students drops dead in the first macaron class, the effect on her business is anything but positive.
Then when a friend of the deceased comes to the shop, Julie gets a “vision” that Maurice was being poisoned rather than experiencing a heart attack, she asks the local officer handling the death to look deeper. When the gendarmerie goes ahead and closes the case anyway, she decides to investigate the murder herself and prove that the shop was is no way responsible.
This first in a new series by author Ana T. Drew is a solid mystery with great characters in a small town setting. It is set in France but other than a few French terms and phrases, it really could have been any small town, not a lot of flavor, but not a detractor at all.
Julie has three sisters and is a twin to one, Catherine. “Cat” is mentioned regularly but really doesn’t make much of an appearance; the girls are estranged over the existence of their psychic abilities. (Cat makes her living using her skill while Julie has hidden it from everyone her entire life, and Julie is uncomfortable with Cat’s making this ability public.) But other than the intermittent psychic “snapshots” she gets, Julie seems to be a pretty normal woman working through some past traumas. I liked her curiosity and willingness to go ask questions of anyone involved in the deceased man’s life and then doubting and re-thinking her choices. She’s confident enough to approach her hostile next door business neighbor, Magda, and to attempt to mend fences she doesn’t even know she broke.
Other characters of note include Julie’s grandmother, Rose Tassy, a youthful and sassy survivor of the 60s who teaches “doga” classes and knows everyone in town. Also, the local notary, Maître Serge Guichard, a nice older man who is attracted to Rose. And then there is the potential love interest for Julie, Capitaine Gabriel Adinian with the Beldoc gendarmerie.
On the other hand, there are a number of characters introduced in this first book that don’t get completely into this story but are perhaps being set up for the future such as Denis Noble, a former junior-high-level classmate of Julie’s that is trying really hard to interest her romantically. But even Julie doesn’t know much about Denis and we were both left wondering what his true motives are in showing up now. Another interesting character is Julie’s sous chef, Eric Dol. He’s funny, sweet, sometimes a little awkward, and has his own tragic past.
In all, I liked one enough to give it 3 stars out of 5 for a “Good” rating, and to put it on my list to look for more books in the series in the future. I would recommend this book to cozy mystery readers, especially those that enjoy culinary settings.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.
This first book in the Julie Cavallo Investigates series by Ana T Drew was definitely an entertaining start to this cozy series. Many questions and suspects are presented for discussion and elimination by the amateur detective squad as they attempt to solve a murder that officially was a heart attack. To say that Julie was a quirky character would be an understatement. My only complaint about the book was that it took way too long to explain what happened to put Julie into therapy for nearly four years, otherwise heartily endorse it. Looking forward to reading other books in this series. This is a voluntary review of an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Hidden Gems Books.