Your hero-husband is gone. Your life is turned upside down.What would you do?Rossalyn Channing is a tough-as-nails single mom, who is faced with the reality of starting a new life with her teenage son, after her husband is killed in the line of duty.Irresistibly drawn to a mysterious little building in a small town, Rossie buys it, dreaming of turning it into an eatery that her late husband would … that her late husband would have loved.
Rossie’s barbeque is an instant hit with the locals, but when a body found on her property, and a scary biker randomly drops in to taunt her, she seriously considers throwing in the towel.
The local sheriff has a king-sized chip on his shoulder, and the exhausted mom finds herself in the awkward position of having to prove her innocence in a murder case that rocks the town to its foundations.
more
cozy mystery
Rossalyn Channing needs to start life over with just
her son. Her husband has been killed in Afghanistan so
she and her son must leave the military base where
they live. She returns to her parents home in a small
town in Illinois.
On the trip home, Rossalyn sees a small vacant
building. She decides to fix it up and open an restaurant
featuring pork BBQ, bacon roses along with many other
mouthwatering pork dishes accompanied by a variety of
side dishes.
Between Rossalyn, her parents and her son, Ryan, her
dream becomes a reality.
A young woman is found murdered in a field behind the
restaurant. The murder weapon is found in the restaurant’s
dumpster. Two unsavory characters emerge to threaten
the business. They are related to the Sheriff so he is no
help. In fact Sheriff tries to accuse her and her staff of
being involved in the murder.
A moving story with artfully drawn characters involved
in a complex plot murder mystery. The action moves fast.
It is nice to see how the main character is slow to judge.
She is willing to give people a chance to prove themselves.
Will the town give Rossalyn’s restaurant Hawg Heaven
a fain chance???
I volunteered to read BBQ, Bikers, and Murder. Thanks to
Booksprout for the opportunity. My opinion is my own.
Not very cozy
So many positive reviews! And then there’s me, the odd one out, and I just didn’t like it… I guess there really is no accounting for taste.
The book started really sad, with a funeral. About halfway through and there still had only been sadness (understandable, grieving, but not why I read cozies) and trying to make a fresh start and NO MYSTERY YET. So it wasn’t cozy, there was no mystery until the second half; sorry, but no. Just no. I know cozy mysteries often start with a fresh start, but for a long long time this was ONLY about the fresh start and the grieving. Sad, slow, dark, gritty even.
It also felt as if the story didn’t come FROM Rossalyn, but was just ABOUT her. It felt distant. Example: Ryan, Rossalyn’s 13 yo son, gets called the teenage boy very often. That, to me, feels disconnected. It makes me an observer, ‘outside looking in’, instead of feeling it. The story is mostly told from Rossie’s POV (third person), and in her POV there’s frequently mention of ‘his mother’ which implies Ryan’s POV. Often changing the POV in the same paragraph thus confusing me, irritating me, distancing me.
I’m being harsh, aren’t I? I don’t mean to be. I’m just explaining why this wasn’t to my taste. Sorry. We can’t all be the same.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. I received no remuneration for it.
The cruelty of the Afghan war comes sharply home to Rossalyn and Ryan Channing when husband and father William is killed while on deployment there. A funeral and the need to vacate military housing lead to a cross country journey to Illinois and the arms of Rossalyn’s parents; a temporary refuge she hopes. A fortuitous stop in the small town of Chatsworth, just short of Rossie’s childhood home brings to light an interesting vacant building, once a restaurant. Its charm casts a spell and puts ideas in her head. Since this is a time of new beginnings, and with the support of Ryan and her parents, she decides to open a café there. Things go smoothly, and soon “Hawg Heaven” is almost set to open. Unfortunately, that is when the obnoxious Willis brothers, Jasper and Merle, show up to ruin and intimidate. Then, when the mysterious mountain sized motorcyclist comes by, and the dead body of a young woman is found on the back of her lot, things begin to look grim. Can she weather the storm? Will she lose her investment? Are their lives in danger? Lots of questions arise. And then there is the crooked Sheriff, Buckley Willis, to consider.
The subtitle, “Cozy Culinary Mysteries” tells you that food central to the story and “Cozy” lets you know you are not going to have to unravel a Sherlock Holmesian conundrum. For good measure “Patriot’s Passing” also manages to be interesting in the bargain. And it is short, sometimes that is very desirable too. My one complaint is that the ending is abrupt and unsatisfying.
This story is sweet, simple and just the right thing for someone who does not want, or should not want, spectacular violence, or language “bombs” of various types to be present in the books they read. If that sounds good to you, go for it. I give it three stars.
Thanks to Summer Prescott Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader’s copy for review.