Chocoholic Charity Penn must smoke out the killer to stop her newly inherited beachside chocolate shop from going up in flames in Dorothy St. James’ decadent follow-up to Asking for Truffle.Chocolate shop owner Charity Penn is finally settling into life in the quirky South Carolina seaside town of Camellia Beach cooking up chocolate treats. She’s even helped organize the town’s lively beach … the town’s lively beach music festival which has brought rollicking crowds eager to dance the Carolina shag. That is, until one of the band’s lead singers is found dead beside a beach bonfire.
While also trying to balance the amorous attention of music star Bixby Lewis, in town for the festival, and her quest to perfect a new hot flavored bonbon, Charity dives into the investigation. Though it’s more spice than sugar when she discovers a threatening note, comes across decades of age-old secrets, and Bixby comes into the line of fire when a gas grill explodes on the deck of a beachfront house.
Now Charity must turn up the heat and catch the killer before her chance melts away in Playing With Bonbon Fire, the delightful second Southern Chocolate Shop mystery served up just right for fans of JoAnna Carl and Joanne Fluke.
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This is the second book in the Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery Series and my first in the series, that I have read. I loved it! It was such a cozy read with wonderful characters.
While Penn is finally settling in Camellia Beach, she is still struggling to fit in with her family. She is still searching for Carolina, who could possibly be here mother. When Bubba and Penn put together a music festival, Penn sees it as an opportunity to bring business to the quiet little town and quite possibly her shop. But when a singer is murdered and things point to 1975 when her mother disappeared, she may uncover the biggest secret the town has, but at what cost.
This book kept me guessing till the very end. I absolutely loved this story. The book has great world building as the author has created a quaint little town, full of amazing and wonderful characters. You can’t help but fall in love. Penn is a wonderful woman, whose family doesn’t treat her fairly and she has to fight to prove she is entitled to her shop. I love how she doesn’t understand southern slang. I laughed at her misunderstandings of the sayings that the locals had. The small little love triangle created a wonderful romance aspect of the story. I am rooting for Harley though. We shall see what happens in book three.
The story flowed smoothly and the book was not rushed. It had the perfect mix of cute romance, humor, mystery and a little bit of danger. If you are a big fan of cozy mysteries, then you are going to love this book. Even though I did not read the first book, I did not feel too lost reading this one. I highly recommend this book. 5 Stars of Fun
This book is a great read. Easy to pick up and it kept me guessing until the very end. Not only was it a solid mystery, but it also engages the reader in our protagonist Penn’s journey to find a place in this world where she belongs.
Sub-Topics:
Small town, female business owner, southern charm, beach music, outdoor concerts
Can You Start This Series in the Middle?
I have read this series from the beginning and both books in the series are strong and the second builds off the first. I would recommend reading in order.
If You Like …
If you like Death on Tap by Ellie Alexander, you’ll like this book.
https://cozyexperience.com/playing-with-bonbon-fire-book-review/
Okay so I just fell in love with book. We get chocolate, a cute (though vicious) dog, enough family drama for a lifetime, and a mystery to solve all in one book. The chocolate shop alone makes it worthwhile but reading about Penn constantly failing at the treat creation had me giggling I must say though she really seems to have the original creation part down pat. This time Penn is helping with a big music festival that will be going on and her sister got her famous musician to perform for free. Well of course this brings lots of paparazzi and crazy fans with it. After the first concert a body is found dead on the beach under a bonfire and while trying to figure out what happened there lots of other strange things start happening until Penn is wrapped in all kinds of stuff. I was loving the emotional depths that this book took and the mystery itself was more involved then most as well. I think that all chocolate lovers should read this book/series and the cozy mystery fans in general. I loved every page and was actually upset that it ended so I give it 5/5 stars.
The title Playing With Bonbon Fire makes me chuckle after reading the book…That was some bonbon fire alright.
Penn and Bubba have organized the Summer Solstice Beach Music Festival as a highlight for the tourist crowd in Camellia Beach. On the first night of the festival the lead singer of one of the bands is murdered but only after he got in a public fight on the beach with Bubba who in the heat of the moment threatened to kill him. When the dead man is found Bubba is missing….
And will the search for Penn’s mother who left her with her father and his unloving family when she was a baby be successful?
There are several subplots in this mystery that keep the story going at a great pace and come very well together in a surprising ending.
This can be read as a stand alone but if you plan on reading the first book in the series as well than I highly recommend reading that first.
I requested this book from NetGalley and am thankful that Crooked Lane Books and the author provided me with an advance copy.
Charity Penn is back again. She is still trying to figure out who her biological mother is and where she may be while trying to learn how to make chocolate. Bixby Lewis is a rock star that once dated her half-sister. He sweeps into Penn’s life and knocks her a little off kilter. The glass front window of her shop is shattered by a rock with a threatening note. Bixby is unconcerned. This happens to him all the time. Bixby is in town to perform at a local beach music festival that Penn is helping organize. But a band member, an former member of the community is killed. Now Penn is trying to figure out who killed him.
This is a fun cozy. It is enjoyable and kept my attention. The town of Camilla Beach sounds quaint and the people around town are great. It’s also interesting that Penn is also dealing with the mystery of her mother. A mystery within a mystery. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cozies and wants to escape for a few hours.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Camellia Beach is going to be filled with music and people as the Beach Music Festival begins. Thanks to a little help from her half-sister Tina, Penn is able to book the famous Bixby Lewis to be the headliner of the festival. The event is also going to mean The Chocolate Box is going to have tons of customers. She is still learning to make the perfect bonbon, but with Bertie’s help, they will have enough chocolate treats to serve the masses.
But the first night of the festival brings tragedy. A body is found in the bonfire and Penn can’t help but jump right into the investigation. She is also helping Bixby with a stalker, trying to keep her business open after several freaky occurrences, plus she is dealing with a lawsuit over ownership of The Chocolate Box and oh, she also wants to create her own special spicy hot bonbon while trying to find her birth mother.
We are getting to know these characters better and Penn is opening up more in this story. She is making friends and getting involved in the happenings in Camellia Beach. But top on her list is finding her mother and proving that the chocolate shop left to her should be solely hers. I don’t know how any person could handle everything that she had to deal with in this short time span. Thankfully she had her friends and her sister to lean on and step in while she was running all over town chasing down leads and trying to keep the festival on track.
The author really blends two mysteries together in this book. A murder mystery and the search for Penn’s mother. They coexist very naturally together. Both have surprising twists. The main mystery, the murder, had many topsy-turvy turns. There was so much going on and I was not sure how the whole plot was going to come together, but when we reached the end, it all did.
I usually read a book like this over 2 evenings, but I was having a very hard time putting this book down the first night. Finally, my body made the decision for me, when I could no longer keep my eyes open. I hated having to work the next day because I would have rather been reading, but I escaped back into it before supper was even on the table. The ending was surprising and not what I was expecting at all. Fantastic storytelling by this author.
I can’t forget to mention the bonbons, the truffles and all the other goodies for sale at The Chocolate Box. You may want to have some chocolate on hand while reading this story because the descriptions will have you drooling.
I enjoyed everything about this story. Dorothy St. James has packed these pages full of mystery, drama, action, and chocolate. I am excited for the continuation of this series.
What a delicious treat it was to read this book. I love chocolate and enjoyed reading about how different chocolate treats are made. I don’t think I have tried a bonbon before, but I certainly will be looking for them. I would love to go to Penn’s shop and sample all the delectable concoctions displayed in the glass cases. Wouldn’t it be exciting to inherit a chocolate shop? Penn has her hands full trying to keep the shop running when relatives get in the way. Learning about Penn’s upbringing was fascinating. The author draws readers in with two mysteries surrounding Penn.
The town is all abuzz about the musical festival set along the beach that brings in a well known singer. Bixby Lewis blows into town with an air of “Hey I’m famous and women swoon over me.” I didn’t like him at first, but he kinda grew on me. The festival sounded so fun and I could feel the excitement as Bixby took the stage for the opening night. Everything seems to go well until a body is found burning on the beach. I gasped when Charity thought the victim was someone she was growing fond of. With the expert writing from the author, she leads us on a trail that shook me when the victim was identified. The town goes into a tizzy trying to figure out who the killer is.
The other mystery going on in the story is about Penn and the identity of her mother. The author grasps the full emotions of a woman wanting to know her roots and explores how much it can affect someone. Will Penn ever find out who her mother is? Why has it been a secret all these years? I liked the little romance in the book but I’m not saying much about it. It is one that the author will keep readers guessing about to the end. I loved the story and I didn’t want to see it end. Are you wondering who the killer is? My advice is to get a copy and get comfy. The story is a page turner and one you will not forget. The story reminds me of the days when concerts were popular. It would be an all day event with bands on stage, food vendors everywhere and people having a great time. This is one story that will satisfy cozy mystery readers with intrigue, secrets and danger, There is a treat waiting at the end of the book. Don’t miss out on the enticing recipes that will have you rushing to the store for ingredients.
I received a copy of this book from The Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour. The review is my own opinion
Charity Penn is finally settling into life in the quirky South Carolina seaside town of Camellia Beach and cooking up chocolate treats, sometimes. She has helped organize the town’s lively beach music festival which has brought rollicking crowds. That is until one of the band’s lead singers is found dead beside a beach bonfire.
While also trying to balance the amorous attention of music star Bixby Lewis, in town for the festival, and her quest to perfect a new hot flavored bonbon, Charity dives into the investigation. Though it’s more spice than sugar when she discovers a threatening note and comes across decades of age-old secrets. Bixby comes into the line of fire when a gas grill explodes on the deck of a beachfront house, and a crazy stalker is chasing after him.
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Series: A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery – Book 2
Author: Dorothy St. James
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Culinary
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books – Publishing Date: March 13, 2018
Charity (Penn) is an evolving character who is slowly opening up and enjoying the love and attention of those around her. This is a lively and exciting story filled with all the elements of a good who-done-it. Playing with Bonbon Fire is the second book in the “A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery” series and is a wonderful adventure into the past and the present.
Penn is not used to having anyone care about her. When her new friends who have shown her nothing but kindness and love find themselves under suspicion, she does whatever it takes to help the police find a killer bent on framing one of them.
Penn is a likable character who is becoming more and more loveable. In the first book of this series, Asking for Truffle, Penn was always downcast with no hope for the future. In this latest installment, she has become more outgoing, more trusting, and fiercely protective of her friends even though her heart is breaking over the past.
Tina, Penn’s sister, plays a much bigger role in this book and readers will love her. She is everything Penn is not but is the one-person Penn has always loved and knew that she was loved in return. Other returning characters such as Harley are also present and play important roles in the discovery of the killer.
The ocean side setting is a lovely picture of everything a seaside town should be minus the murder. Camellia Beach is a caring community that doesn’t hesitate to lend a helping hand when Penn needs it the most. It has become home, and she will protect it for as long as she can.
Playing with Bonbon Fire is a great addition to the series and readers will be left wanting more. Ms. St. James is a talented writer who knows how to grow characters into loveable members of a reader’s fictitious family. This book and series are highly recommended to lovers of chocolate and intrigue.
Penn has finally settled into the town of Camellia Beach, South Carolina where everyone knows your business. She has got the chocolate shop back up and running.
She has helped to organize a beach music festival which has brought many people to the town ready to dance. As well as Bixby Lewis music star to entertain. Penn finds one of the lead singers from a local band dead by a bonfire on the beach.
Penn decides to try her hand at making a new hot flavored bonbon. Will she succeed?
Threatening note, old secrets keep Penn trying to catch a killer.
The second book in the Chocolate Shop Mystery is a delightful read that left me wanting chocolate and bonbons. Recipes included.
Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read this book.
Why This Book
I belong to a cozy mystery group that offers a few giveaways to read ARCS each month. I won Playing With Bonbon Fire by Dorothy St. James and picked it up in between my Agatha Christie Readathon books this week. I adore cozy mysteries, have a sweet spot for chocolate, and am growing more interested in living in the southern part of the US. Good combo, eh?
Approach & Style
It took me 3 hours to read a hard copy of this ~335 page novel, the second in the Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery series. It is told in 1st person point-of-view with the perspective focused solely on the main character, Charity Penn (see more on her later). It has a typical cozy feel with easy flow from chapter to chapter, dialog, and descriptions. I usually read books in order, but this had a rush due date to deliver a review, so I couldn’t go back to the first one. I think it’s important to read this series in order, as there are details about the character in the first book that would have been helpful, but still, it was a quick and fun read.
Plot, Characters & Setting
Charity Penn, known simply as Penn because she dislikes her first name, inherited the chocolate shop from her maternal grandmother. She was abandoned my her mother at birth, delivered to her rich but seemingly difficult or abrasive father and his family. She grew up feeling alone and isolated, but is starting to develop a better relationship with her half-sister, Tina. Penn hasn’t quite adapted to cooking and running the bonbon shop, but she has support from her late grandmother’s friends and wants to make the woman proud. In this caper, Tina sends ex-boyfriend, Bixby, to help sing with his band at the town’s festival, as it will help cement Penn in a more admired role. The town hasn’t quite warmed up to her yet, and her grandmother’s other children don’t believe she’s really one of them or should have inherited the shop. All she wants is to find her mother who disappeared years ago. Bixby suddenly fights with another band at the festival over rights to a song, and then the current song owner winds up dead. Penn’s mother’s history is tied up in this mystery and it all comes to a head in a big scene at the end of the book. She now knows who her mother is!
Key Thoughts
It’s a good example of a typical cozy mystery with a few standout moments, including the connections and mysteries surrounding Penn’s family (both her mother’s and her father’s sides), the bonds she has with a few of her late grandmother’s friends helping to transition the store, and the romances she could potentially have with some of the men in the town. I like Penn’s personality and style and she seems to have a fair balance of when to push and when to back away in terms of investigating any crimes. I like that there’s only one or two recipes so we don’t lose too much page space to non-story items. I also enjoyed the descriptions of how she works in the bakery preparing food and securing the chocolate beans from a remote South American jungle.
The mystery was medium-complex with a few red herrings and several paths to trace before landing at the true culprit. It kept me guessing most of the way through and even had me traveling down a wrong path. One of the issues I had was not knowing a few people’s ages, so I could never be sure if they were a candidate to be Penn’s mother and/or date someone else. Of course people can date someone a generation older or younger, but it’s not that common in a cozy mystery so I was trying to line it all up. That said, when the details came out, it was believable, but a tad rushed. We stumble upon the criminal and learn some secrets, yet we don’t quite get all the details surrounding the why/how from ~35 years ago when a song was created… but it mostly all fits together. I think it just needed a bit more detail and explanation, but that could be coming in the next book in the series. I’m open-minded!
Summary
I’d give the book 3.5 stars and would recommend it as a solid read. I see a lot of potential in the series with the family drama and the chocolate shop, but the ending came a bit too quickly, so there is some room for growth. All in all, I’m glad I read this one and will definitely read more in the series and from this author.
Penn is starting to feel at home in Camellia Beach, SC. She is doing well in her store, The Chocolate Box (she is still having some issues the making bonbons) and she is getting involved with the community. Penn agrees to help put on a summer beach music festival. When big rockstar Bixby shows up; things start to get a little crazy around town. Penn’s store window gets broken, Bixby (and Penn) starts receiving threats, Bertie keeps mysteriously disappearing, and a body is found beside of a bonfire with some of Penn’s chocolates.
This is the second book in the series but it can definitely be enjoyed as a stand-alone mystery. Besides the murder mystery, there is the secondary storyline of the identity of Penn’s mother. Penn’s newly discovered family are not the most welcoming group of people but this is nothing new for Penn. Both main and secondary characters have great character development. I really enjoy the unique backstory of Penn and that she personal issues (ie trust) that she is dealing with as she is going full speed ahead with her new life. The main mystery has several twists and turns to keep you in suspense until the big reveal. I recommend this book to mystery lovers. As a bonus for food lovers there are great recipes included.
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy provided. This did not affect my rating. I have provided an unbiased and honest review.
I liked the concert/festival story line of Fire and enjoyed the read. I appreciate the author making Penn a more original character with plenty of flaws/responses explained by her family situation. However, I still think some of Penn’s actions don’t make sense such as her wearing pencil skirts, heels and silk blouses after 5 or 6 months when working in the shop. By this point, she should have realized the stupidity of it. She is supposed to be a well educated individual. It’s also mentioned that she had a strong hand in organizing the festival, but there weren’t any details to back that up, nor did she spend much time at it. It just rang false and it didn’t benefit (or hurt..other than to stand out as not realistic to me) the story line any.
Her half sister, Tina, shows up and I’d look forward to seeing them work together more. Penn’s relationship with Tina (so different from the rest of her family) is explained by a few brief sentences which was enough. I could use a whole lot less “sillybean” name calling. I find it condescending and makes me question Tina’s motives. Hmmm, maybe that was planned?!?
An important fact is discovered and dropped. I would have though Penn would be more proactive with it, but I have a feeling it will ended up being a big part of the next book.
I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.