Review: A Slice of Murder by Chris Cavender

Genre:
Cozy Mystery

Format:
E-Book

Publisher:
Kensington Publishing Corporation

Release Date:
July 2010



Eleanor Swift dedicates her life to her pizza restaurant, A Slice of Delight, situated in the small town of Timber Ridge in North Carolina. Her late husband dreamed of making a success of the place and Eleanor is determined to carry on for him. With the help of her sister, Maddy, Eleanor is fulfilling his dreams as well as her own. Then, during a late night pizza delivery run, everything takes a deadly turn. She finds her customer dead and she’s the number one suspect.

The police chief is an old sweetheart of Eleanor’s and apparently holds a grudge, even though he’s married with a child now. He suspects her immediately and won’t listen to anything she has to say, but he doesn’t have the evidence to make an arrest. It doesn’t help when Eleanor, along with her sister, do their own investigation and constantly get in his way.

When Maddy and Eleanor uncover dark secrets about the victim, both of their lives are in danger. They are desperate to find the killer, before the killer finds them.

This is the first book in a cozy mystery series and it’s setting is a pizza place. There are six books in all. This has been sitting on my e-reader for awhile waiting for me and finally I had a chance to read it.

I thought the characters were realistic and I especially enjoyed the relationship between Eleanor and Maddy. They felt like real sisters. I, also, thought the author portrayed Eleanor realistically as a widow, who deeply loved her husband, and wasn’t interested in jumping into another relationship all that quickly. Often we see the characters be deeply in love but able to start over pretty fast with someone else. Not with Eleanor, which made her feel very real to me.

I couldn't believe how the entire town quickly jumped on the "Eleanor is a murderer" bandwagon so fast.  Also, regardless of the police chief's previous relationship with Eleanor, he seemed just a bit too willing to accept her as the killer without looking any further.  I thought there may be a relationship brewing there, but he's married and there doesn't seem to be any trouble in that marriage.  I don't think a main character would be a homewrecker :)  There is another guy in the mix but, like I said above, she's taking it slow...one step at a time.

The mystery was fast-paced and moved along quickly but I didn’t think the outcome was all that shocking. There weren’t too many twists and turns. The storyline wasn’t very complex, but it did make for an enjoyable, relaxing read. I already have the next two books in the series on my e-reader and looking forward to reading them. But, I must warn readers, you will be craving for pizza while reading and long after you close the book. I know I was!




For reading challenges:
2014 Just For Fun Reading Challenge

Disclosure: This book is part of my own e-book library. All opinions expressed are my own.