You’re invited to visit Deep Lakes, Wisconsin and meet a new friend, Francine “Frankie” Champagne. The 40-something owner of Bubble and Bake — bakery by day, wine lounge by night — Frankie is a spitfire pastry maker, vintner, and budding journalist.Frankie finds herself on the perimeter of a suspicious death that upends the peaceful winter slumber in Deep Lakes when the local pastor is found dead … found dead inside his fishing shanty on Lake Loki. Frankie sticks her curious nose into the investigation, despite warnings from the local sheriff to leave it alone. But she has something to prove, maybe to the newspaper editor who wouldn’t hire her as a reporter, maybe to herself as she searches for fulfillment. Regardless, her fierce independence won’t allow her to back down. Follow Frankie as she stumbles upon one discovery after another, trails potential suspects, and solves the case!
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Welcome to winter in a small Wisconsin town. It’s cold outside, but there’s plenty of hot gossip, as well as hot quiche and paczkis to go around. And then there’s Frankie Champagne, clever and resourceful entrepreneur and part-time journalist, who is hot on the trail of a local mystery–who killed Pastor Rawlins in the ice house with an auger. The story fired my imagination and warmed my heart. What could be cozier?
I really enjoyed this book! If you love a good mystery, wine, and food all combined. This is a great series to start. Looking forward to reading book 2 (Deep Bitter Roots) in this series!
If you’ve been a reader of my blog, you know I love finding the first book in a new series, and really, really love finding the first book in a new cozy mystery series! I came across Deep Dark Secrets by Joy Ann Ribar when our local library had a local author con back in February. Since I’m a Virgo, a nerd, and former library worker, I did some research on which author’s would be there, and knew I wanted to stop at Ribar’s table.
Ribar and her husband were a joy to talk to, having many of the same interests as my husband and myself, including the love of wine. We exchanged some of our favorite wineries around the state of Wisconsin, and once the stay at home ban is lifted, I’m really looking forward to checking out some new vineyards.
On Ribar’s facebook page I saw that book two in the Deep Lakes Cozy Mystery series, Deep Bitter Roots, was coming out soon, so I wanted to get the first one read before then. And it was fantastic. I’ve read various cozies that take place in Wisconsin, but this one takes place near Stevens Point, which is where I lived for part of my childhood, and where my step-dad still lives. And it’s only about a 20 minute drive from where we currently live, so I really felt a kinship to the book and the characters in it.
Ribar did a great job writing about the area and really nailed the type of people you’ll find in a small town in Wisconsin, as well as all the social and church events.
The way she describes the winters here is completely accurate, including how keeping extra boots, food, and other essentials in your vehicle is a must. And like any good cozy, there’s a possible love interest on the horizon.
And while Frankie and her business partner, Carmen, run the bakery and wine shop, Frankie also writes some articles for the local newspaper. She wants to write articles with more depth, but the editor thinks women should just write about the home and entertainment. So Frankie decides to try getting the scoop on the murder for the Stevens Point paper. Good thing Frankie has such a great partner and staff that they are able to run the bakery/winery while she’s out looking for clues! Combine living in a small community, running a business so many people go to, with being a journalist, and Ribar has the perfect combo for any amateur sleuth.
I’m looking forward to reading the next book, Deep Bitter Roots, and finding out where Frankie’s reporting and sleuthing skills take her and her friends.
Frankie Champagne is a delightful character, and at least as scattered as I am. Ribar builds a solid story at the same time having fun with the local scenery – who knew Wisconsin was this interesting? The ending was very satisfying and there’s a nice bit of possible romance happening. Will definitely have to read book two soon.
An intriguing new series beginning
Joy Ann Ribar bursts onto the cozy mystery scene with a complex who-done-it set in small town Wisconsin.
Her main characters are multi faceted and relatable, and the mystery to be solved is intriguing, keeping the reader guessing to the very end.
If you are a fan of in depth descriptions, this book, with its extremely detailed backgrounds and descriptions of people, places and things will be right up your alley. I personally found such lengthy descriptions to be distracting from the story itself, prompting me to skim over many paragraphs at a time in order to stay focused on the actual mystery. I realize that this is a personal preference, however, and point out that the descriptions are well written and speak to the author’s dedication to her material and setting.
I enjoyed the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, and the recipes and book club discussion points at the end are added gifts from the author.
Congratulations on a strong debut novel!
An engaging cozy mystery that showcases the grit of Frankie—a female entrepreneur who owns a bakery/wine bar, a vineyard, and is a budding journalist who just scooped the town’s newspaper editor. I can hardly wait to read the next book in the series.
I am not normally a cozy mystery reader, but Deep Dark Secrets was a light read and a fun way to escape for a few hours each day. I appreciated Ribar’s nuanced understandings of small town power dynamics and the hidden, often underestimated power women hold in these communities. I look forward to escaping with Frankie and crew again in the next book.
I won this book in a giveaway. Thank you Joy Ann Ribar! This was was great book. There’s so much to love, a twisty mystery, delicious recipes, and wine making in Wisconsin. I can’t wait to read the second book!
You’re going to love the community of Deep Lakes created by author Joy Ribar. This setting along with a charming (and potentially deadly) cast of characters and well-written plot creates an entertaining story that will make you laugh out loud (at times) and definitely keep you guessing about who is guilty. Frankie is fabulous and if she were real, I’d want to be friends with her!
This story takes place in a Wisconsin winter and I read it during a record-breaking Arizona summer. The fantastic contrast could not have been more refreshing! The story follows Frankie, a full-time baker with aspirations of investigative reporting. The setting includes all the ups and downs of small town life, and how murder disrupts the tranquility while exposing secrets. When you read this cozy mystery, settle in with a blanket, fresh baked muffin, and a glass of wine. Recipes included!
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Welcome to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin where the lakes like Lake Loki are filled with ice fishing shanties and fundraisers, where cars are set on the ice and people guess when the lake will thaw enough to send the car to a watery grave. Unfortunately, a local pastor is the one being buried when he is found dead in his ice shanty covered in blood. Francine “Frankie” Champagne the owner of Bubble and Bake — bakery by day, wine lounge by night, inserts herself right in the middle of the investigation to get the scoop for a newspaper article she hopes to write. Short on clues, she just keeps digging until she breaks through the ice and uncovers some deep, dark, secrets and all the clues fall into place.
Frankie Champagne has a lot on her plate. Baking, wine-making, and bottling that wine, managing the Bubble and Bake, divorced with two daughters in college, a new romance or two on the horizon, all while trying to follow her dream of becoming a newspaper journalist. Thankfully she has her best friend Carmen as a partner at the Bubble and Bake and a lot of good help, including her mother, because she is bound and determined to find out who killed the pastor and why. I liked Frankie but the woman is in non-stop motion. For me, it was almost too much as she traveled across a lot of Wisconsin and even to Iowa in her quest to solve the murder. All the characters we meet, and there are a lot, are very fleshed out for the first book in a series.
The mystery itself was not quite as forthcoming. Yes, there are secrets and while the innuendo about the pastor was there, I wished the suspects had been more clearly spelled out. Frankie talks to several people but I never was able to form a real list or eliminate people as I usually do with a cozy mystery. It was a journey from having the method of death explained clearly to Frankie taking some risks until the final reveal. I did like that we did get to read Frankie’s article at the end, it wrapped the mystery up nicely.
Deep Dark Secrets has some good bones and is a nice start for this series. There are a few things I feel could have been omitted or pared down to help the story flow better. It had first in a series -itis, where the author has to introduce the characters and the setting along with a good mystery to hold our interest. The author does this satisfactorily but sometimes less detail is more conducive to a successful introduction. As a Wisconite like the author, I can say she described the state very well and made Deep Lakes a place I would love to visit. The characters are engaging and I am looking forward to seeing where the author takes them next. Deep Bitter Roots us already downloaded to my Kindle. I hope to be reading and reviewing it soon.