Book Review: Assault and Buttery by Kristi Abbott (Popcorn Shop Mysteries #3)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Unique storytelling approach works

Cons: A couple minor things

The Bottom Line:

Cozy mystery

Different plotting structure

Works well in this book

The Diary in the Wall

If you read my reviews regularly, you’ll know that one of my pet peeves is the storytelling devise that plops us into the middle of an exciting moment of action and the flashes back to what lead up to that.  I will be the first to admit when that approach works, and Assault and Buttery is one of those times.

When we join Rebecca Anderson at the start of this novel, she’s just landed in jail.  The sheriff, aka her best friend and brother-in-law Dan, has just put her there for interfering with a police investigation after she was asking questions at the funeral of Lloyd McLaughlin.  He died after eating some popcorn that Rebecca had made – popcorn that had turned out to be poisoned.  Naturally, this is affecting her reputation, so she does have an interest in finding out what happened to clear her name and save her business.

Not that she set out to investigate a murder.  Instead, Rebecca’s attention had been captured by a diary she had discovered in the wall of her shop’s kitchen while it was being renovated after a fire.  It appears that the diary writer knew Rebecca’s grandmother, and there are hints of danger in the diary writer’s life.  Who wrote the diary?  Who killed Lloyd?  And will Rebecca get out of jail?

All of this is told is a series of flashbacks that Rebecca is telling the woman in the cell next to her after landing in jail.  This gives us a chance to get updates on Rebecca’s time behind bars while also hearing what led her to her current predicament.  Maybe that’s why I didn’t mind so much, the story moved forward both in the present while filling us in on the past.  The flashbacks are fairly lengthy in the first half of the book, but it is never confusing and kept my interest the entire time.

The main character in cozies is often threatened with jail for obstruction of justice just like what happens to Rebecca here, so I also enjoyed seeing that threat carried out.  Her time in jail is actually pretty funny, and I got quite a few laughs from this book.  There were some things I think were supposed to be funny that actually irritated me more than made me laugh, but they were minor.

Naturally, with the plot of this book, the normal cast of supporting characters were in short supply.  Their scenes were fun, but I did miss those who had the fewest page time.  I was also a bit annoyed with Rebecca’s relationship with Dan and Garrett, her boyfriend who had a hand in her landing in jail.  I actually think I was harder on them than Rebecca was, all things considered, which is a funny place to be.  Or maybe the reconciliation just didn’t quite work.  Again, this is a minor point.  On the other hand, I loved how one relationship evolved in this book.

Sometimes, when an author tries an unconventional plot for a sub-genre, it doesn’t work.  In this case, I thought it worked perfectly.  It does take us about half the book for the flashbacks to catch up to the present, but I was never bored during that time.  The plot only got stronger when we got into the back half of the book.  The strong suspects kept us guessing, and the way things came together was wonderful.

And yes, we have two popcorn related recipes in the back of the book.  Personally, I really want to try the S’Mores Popcorn Bars. 

If you’ve enjoyed the previous book in this series, you’ll enjoy Assault and Buttery as well.  And if this series has yet to pop on your radar, you really should change that.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

Giveaway!

Thanks to the publisher, I have one copy of this book to give away.  Because it is a physical book, the contest is limited to residence of the US.

Just leave me a comment with your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you if you win.  I will pick the winner next Tuesday, November 14th, so please leave your comment before 12:01 AM Pacific Time on 11/14.  You will have until midnight on 11/19 to get back to me, or I will choose a new winner on 11/20.