“An unusual murder weapon is just one of the surprises in this enjoyable tale of high-cal crime.” —Publishers Weekly Desperate for a solution to their endless struggles with weight loss, the supper club members decide to sign on with Wellness Village, a new-age health center promising life-changing improvements through hypnotherapy. It’s a mesmerizing experience, to say the least, but when the … village’s fresh food festival is disrupted by an angry mob of protestors and a local councilman is found dead, librarian James Henry and his friends trade in their newfound sense of calm for a tense hunt for a cold-blooded killer. Sorting through a list of suspects that includes an herbalist, an acupuncturist, and various other holistic healers who are all cool as cucumbers, the supper club members begin to suspect that all is not well at Wellness Village. But before their efforts can bear fruit, the body of another murder victim is discovered, and James and his friends realize they’ll have to sink their teeth into the investigation to help root out a rotten apple. Includes delectable recipes!This is a brand-new, fully revised edition of a book originally published under the name J. B. Stanley. Praise for the Supper Club Mystery Series: “Heavy on fun, light on gore, this savory mystery comes complete with yummy recipes.” ―Publishers Weekly“Foodies will love the recipes and fans the new adventures of the five friends.” —Kirkus Reviews
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This series just keeps getting better and better. The characters are developing stronger personalities and their personal lives are progressing in interesting ways even while they continue their friendship and their uncanny knack for discovering dead bodies! Great series with real life characters that you really would like to have as friends. I really can’t wait to see what happens in the next book! If you haven’t started reading this series, you really should and the added bonus is that the entire series is available via audiobook too!
Black Beans and Vice by Ellery Adams is the #6 in the Supper Club Mystery series. I love this series and this one did not disappoint.
There is humor, a couple of different “who done its”, and romance. The story flows and the characters are likeable and relatable. Also included, are some yummy sounding vegetarian recipes.
Every time I read one in this series I want to visit Qunicy’s Gap.
I was given a copy by Netgalley for an honest review.
In this next book of the series things are going well for James, him and his ex-wife are reconnecting while raising their child together, he has started hypnotherapy to help deal with losing weight, and his new hire for the library is working out great. When his young son decides he wants to be a vegetarian James takes him to the local fresh food festival to help with the process but while there they are met by angry protestors who think it’s wrong to eat meat. Later at the festival James son finds the body of a local councilman dead in the bathroom, it looks like he died of a heart attack so there is no mystery to be solved or is there? However when the body of one of the young activist is found dead in her apartment in a similar fashion to that of the councilman James begins to wonder if he might have been murdered also. Follow along as James and the other supper club members investigate this young woman’s death and come across some sordid secrets along the way. Will they be able to find the killer before it’s to late? James has to deal with someone leaving his ex and himself cryptic messages and his father has a stroke during a going away party will these setbacks keep him from finding the answers they all seek? This is such a fun read filled with terrific characters, I always look forward to each new diet plan and finding out if will work for the supper club. I can’t wait to see what they try next.
Black Beans & Vice is the sixth book in The Supper Club Mysteries series.
The Supper Club members, James, Lindy, Lucy, Gillian, and Bennett are in need of additional help in their dieting efforts. Lindy proposes that they check out the hypnotherapist at the Wellness Village outside of Quincy Gap. After some cajoling by Lindy, they agree to give investigate the use of hypnosis to get back on track with their diets. The Wellness Village features, in addition to the hypnotist, a herbalist, an acupuncturist and holistic healers. The members see that a Village Fresh Food Festival will be held over the upcoming weekend and decide to see what it has to offer.
They all show up for the festival and are enjoying all the fresh local foods when a disturbance catches there attention. An animal rights group is protesting the inhumane killing of animals in slaughterhouses but the police arrive before the protest gets violent. James has to take his son, Eliot to the restroom and asks herbalist, Roslyn Rhodes if they could use her restroom. When the entered, they found the body of Ned Woodman, a Quincy Gap councilman. The police at first feel that he died of natural causes, but James had seen him earlier at the festival and he seemed worried and upset. They find help investigating from an unexpected source, Murphy Alistair. Alistair, editor of the local newspaper had previously written a “fictional” book that unflattering to the members of the Supper Club. Alistair had found that Woodman was possibly embezzling from the city’s coffers. Then when Tia Royale, the leader of the animal protest is killed they then to get cooking to find the killer.
Also going on in Quincy Gap with the club member, James is taking it slowly with renewing their relationship and he is also enjoying getting to know his son Eliot. Bennett and Gillian’s relationship continues to grow, while Lindy is still hoping the Luis will come to his senses and ask her to marry him.
New characters to series are Willow Singletary who has stayed in Quincy Gap after her employer was murdered in A Battered Body, and is now working for Milla, James’ stepmother. Also new to Quincy Gap is Fern Dickenson. Fern is a freelance photographer and has started working for the library.
This is another excellently told story, well-plotted and with a wonderful cast of characters. All members of the Supper Club are well developed and with their own personalities. I would love to be friends with all of them.
Delicious sounding recipes are also included with the book.
I am looking forward to reading the next book this series, Pasta Mortem.
Stalking, Blackmail, and Murder
Black Beans & Vice is the sixth book in Ellery Adams’ Supper Club Mysteries series and is an enjoyable read. The storyline is well thought out and the well-developed characters are affable. As their friendship continues to evolve, the members of the Flab Five have developed an enviable camaraderie as they continue to support each other in their quest to lose weight, supply moral support, and work together to solve mysteries. There aren’t any graphic adult situations or violence, but there is some adult language. I’m looking forward to reading the next installment in this series.
Librarian James Henry is settling into the house he recently purchased and married life is going well for his dad, Jackson, and his new stepmother, Milla. James recently reconnected with his ex-wife, Jane, and discovered he has a four-year-old son, Eliot. James loves being a dad and is spending as much time as he can with Eliot, but wonders what course his relationship with Jane will take. Murphy Alistair, his former girlfriend and author of “The Body in the Bakery,” a book about the “fictional” account about Quincy’s Gap, the lives of the Flab Five, and their crime solving endeavors, has moved back to Quincy’s Gap, Virginia and purchased the Shenandoah Star Ledger, the newspaper she used to work for. Bennett Marshall and Gillian O’Malley are together after Bennet declared his love for her on national television when he was a contestant on Jeopardy. Lucy Hanover is delighted that Sullie will be returning to the Sheriff’s Department and hoping to renew their relationship now that she and James have broken up. Lindy Perez is nervous about meeting Luis Chavez’s mother and hoping he will pop the question even though his mother wants him to marry her friend’s daughter. At Lindy’s urging, the Flab Five has agreed to sign up for hypnotherapy at Harmony York’s A Better State of Mind in their continuing endeavor to lose weight. A confrontation between farmers and animal rights activists breaks out during a fresh food festival being held at the Wellness Village and Ned Woodman, one of the town councilmen, is found dead in the bathroom at herbal healer, Roslyn Rhodes’ Health House in the Wellness Village. The Flab Five try to solve Ned’s murder and the murder of Tia Royale, an animal rights activist while also trying to figure out why Murphy moved back to town and identify the person tormenting and scaring James, Jane, and Eliot. A medical emergency brings fear to the Henry family.
I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.