FIRST IN THE DOMESTIC DIVA MYSTERY SERIES!Domestic diva Sophie Winston is about to learn that some dishes are best served cold…Few can compete with local celebrity Natasha Smith when it comes to entertaining, but Sophie Winston is determined to try. Her childhood rival may have stolen the spotlight—and her husband—but this Thanksgiving Sophie is determined to rob Natasha of the prize for … Natasha of the prize for Alexandria, Virginia’s Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown. She just needs the right ingredient.
But Sophie’s search for the perfect turkey takes a basting when she stumbles across a corpse. And when the police find her name and photo inside the victim’s car, Sophie will have to set her trussing aside to solve the murder—or she’ll be serving up prison grub…
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WHAT a fun read!!
While some these characters (the main police guy, not Wolf) are so NOT believable, most of them are very! Natasha channels Martha Stewart in such a way that is so grating that you cannot help but like and “pull” for Sophie even more! And you want her to “win” so even more when she is paired against Natasha.
With a great supporting “cast”, this was a fun, fast read. I enjoyed every minute of it, especially the fact that I had NO idea WHO did it and why. WHICH was very refreshing!! An going out and buying the next two ASAP!!!
THE DIVA RUNS OUT OF THYME by Krista Davis is the first book in the Domestic Diva Mystery series. It’s the story of Sophie Winston entertaining her family and friends during the Thanksgiving holiday while competing against her childhood rival, Natasha Smith, in the Stupendous Stuffing Shakedown contest and dealing with being a suspect in not one but two murders.
The list of guests invited to Thanksgiving is comical to say the least. There’s those that Sophie’s Mom invited without asking Sophie like Natasha, who just happens to be the girlfriend of Sophie’s ex, Mars, and the strange mortician Humphrey who has had a crush on Sophie since school days. Also add the ones that just show up uninvited like Bernie who needed a place to crash, Jane, Mar’s Mom who can’t stand Natasha and didn’t want to share a home with her, and a neighbor or two. Then you have the sister who is consumed with her upcoming wedding, her financee who Sophie doesn’t trust, and an overbearing mother. How far can you stretch a turkey??? What could go wrong? EVERYTHING
Besides the trials for hosting a holiday for tons of folks, Sophie wants to win the stuffing contest so she can one up little Miss Perfect Natashia. However first time round, the contestants ingredients were tampered with and the organizer of the contest if found murdered by none other than Sophie. This after she had found the owner of the cute kitty dead in the dumpster when she went to find him after shopping to take home that adorable face kitty.
All the clues to both murders seem to point to Sophie and since Detective Kenner is sure she did it and Officer Wolf is always in her face, she has no other choice but to try to solve both murders to clear her name. The big problem is the only other possibilities are either family or friends.
Loved the way the author brings both the community of Old Town Alexandria and its inhabitants to life so that you feel like you are one of the neighbors – one that Sophie would welcome into her home for that holiday feast. You are with her every step of the way sifting through clues trying to figure out who did these crimes and why as well as to figure out if all these events are connected.
Love a book where you can’t figure out whodunit until the author reveals it. Once she did, it all made perfect sense. Well done!
Enjoyed the holiday hints at the beginning of each chapter. I will say though that I’m more of a Sophie person than a follower of Natasha. Also glad that recipes from the feast were including in the back of the book.
I’d recommend THE DIVA RUNS OUT OF THYME to anyone that loves a great cozy or if you just love a clean, fun read. Can’t wait for the next book in this series!
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme is a great start to a new series. I wish I had started this series at the beginning , but I am happy to catch up with the fun characters, the perfect cozy town, and a well plotted mystery to solve.
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis is a well-written novel that makes me feel like I’m apart of the story.
Will Sophie solve this murder before she gets put behind bars?
Sophie Winston
Sophie Winston is our sleuth and point of view character. I have to say, following Sophie around and reading how stubborn and snarky she is hilarious. Sophie is trying to live her life the way she wants to while dealing with her childhood nemesis being everywhere. I feel so bad for her, especially when her own mom sides with Natasha on what to do for their Thanksgiving meal. There is a lot more to Sophie than just being an event planner, and she shows it in this first novel to her series. There isn’t really anything that I have found that I dislike about her. She is a fabulous character.
The Mystery
The mystery is of a dead private investigator offering up a kitten for sale and looking into Sophie. The big clue for the police to suspect her. She has to figure out who hired the PI to look into her but not only that, why he was killed in the first place. Was it because he was offering up a kitten for sale at the grocery store? Or did it have something to do as a private investigator? Ms. Davis answers all of these questions and more in the story.
5 Stars
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis is a sublime author who clearly has a remarkable series on her hands. I love how she includes certain things at the beginning of each chapter. It was wonderful to read those, and I learned a lot about them too. I am giving this book five stars and recommending it to anyone that likes cozy mysteries.
Don’t forget to check the recipes at the back of this book.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis.
Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness
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One of my favorite series.
This is the first book of the series, and I was hooked! Great story that’s well written and I can’t wait to find out what happens next to the wonderful characters. I’ve read them all and always look forward to the next book. I bet you will, too.
I enjoy this series very much
I was impressed how the books started about the main character, Sophie Winston planning a busy Thanksgiving holiday and at my house we were doing the same thing. The other people coming to Sophie’s were her parents, sister and her sister’s new fiance plus surprise guests arrived. I love how the characters interact with each other and this kept me guessing how the murderer was. I listened to this on an audio book and was able to finish it quickly because it was good and I could take it with me all through the house while I cleaned, cooked, did laundry etc. I did have down time and listened to it with a cup of coffee and it entertained me.
This was a fun fast read. Something was happening all the time and there was enough humor to keep everything light. Really enjoyed it.
Sophie Winston is hosting Thanksgiving for her family and facing off against her high school rival, domestic diva Natasha Smith, in a stuffing contest. The last thing she needs is to find a dead body while out grocery shopping. Worse yet, the police think she is a suspect when they find her picture in the dead man’s car. What is happening?
I’ve heard lots of good about this series, and it is obviously well deserved. The large cast of characters are so well developed I never had a hard time keeping them straight. The plot starts out strongly, but it does get bogged down in the middle before reaching a wonderful climax. I’m certainly curious to see where Sophie goes from here.
Ert
Love the series