Book Review: Death Over Easy by Maddie Day (Country Store Mysteries #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Fun characters; interesting mystery

Cons: Colorful expressions overused at times

The Bottom Line:

Bluegrass festival

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In charming series

Did Robbie Open Her Bed and Breakfast to a Killer?

A couple of threads in the Country Store series come together in Death Over Easy.  Robbie Jordan, our main character, recently found her father, and she has been working on finishing a few rooms above her store to turn into a bed and breakfast.  Add a murder to these new developments, and you’ve got a winner.

Not only did Robbie finish just in time for her father and his wife to come visit from Italy, but also for the local Bluegrass festival.  She has a couple of the musicians staying with her in addition to her family, and she is heading over to the festival in the evenings, after her store has closed, to enjoy the music.

The festival seems to be running smoothly, but it isn’t without conflicts, especially when Pia Bianchi is in the area.  She seems to attract hostility, and Robbie witnesses several people have issues with her in one evening, including Robbie’s boyfriend Abe.  The next morning, Pia is found dead on a covered bridge in the area.

The festival has brought a lot of tourists to the area, and Robbie’s store, Pans ‘n Pancakes, is hopping between the tourists and locals.  Plus, she wants to spend as much time with her father as she can.  But she can’t help but poke into the investigation as well, especially when the police start to look at her bed and breakfast guests as suspects.  Can she figure out what is happening?

Having Robbie’s guests as suspects in the murder is a natural step forward for the series, and it makes a great plot device.  As always, Robbie’s restaurant seems to be a hub of activity relating to the murder, and she is able to sleuth while serving meals, an aspect of the series I always enjoy.  We are treated to several viable suspects and twists before we reach the logical and creative climax.  I really enjoyed how everything wrapped up in this book.

Since Robbie finding her father has been a large part of the earlier books in the series, it was nice to finally get to meet him.  This also allowed us to see a different side of several of the characters and touch on another storyline introduced in a previous book.

We get to see plenty of several of the series regulars, including my favorites, Danna, one of Robbie’s employees, and Robbie boyfriend Abe.  The suspects are strong as well.

Since this book is set in the southern part of Indiana, some of the characters use local expressions.  The series walks a fine line with this between being cute and fun and being annoying.  A couple of times, this book crossed the line to annoying, but fortunately, that didn’t last for very long.

If some of the talk about food in the series makes you drool, you’ll be thrilled to hear there are several recipes in the back, including one for an Asian noodle salad and a Sugar Cream Pie.

It’s always a pleasure to visit Robbie and Pan ‘n Pancakes, and Death Over Easy is no exception.  Kick back and enjoy this pleasant cozy.

Enjoy more time with Robbie with the rest of the Country Store Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book