Book Review: Plum Deadly

Author: Ellie Grant
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Publisher: Gallery

CHOCOHOLIC CREAM. BOUNTIFUL BLUEBERRY. LOTSA LEMON MERINGUE. EVEN DANGEROUSLY DAMSON.

Who could resist such pies? Who would even want to resist the pie shop that makes them? Certainly not the residents of Durham, North Carolina, and the little bakery and café called Pie in the Sky is one of the most popular meet-up places in town.

Unjustly accused of cooking the books, Maggie Grady is forced to retreat from her high-flying New York financial career to the town where she grew up. Her aunt Clara greets her with open arms and a job at the family-owned business that has baked the best pies in the South for over forty years. Unfortunately, while Maggie is determined to return to banking, her reputation there seems permanently in the pits. That is, until her old boss, Lou, visits with news that he’s found the real crook. Before he can reveal the details, though, Maggie finds his body right behind the pie shop.

With only her own word that Lou planned to exonerate her, Maggie is in the spotlight. The police seem to suspect that Aunt Clara’s damson pie may not be just dangerously delectable, but downright deadly. Maggie doesn’t just have her own name to clear; she has to make sure that her aunt’s beloved business isn’t harmed, either. Yummy local reporter Ryan Summerour appears eager to help, and Maggie can’t help hoping that it’s not just the police who find her a person of interest—but Ryan, as well. She’d thought it challenging to make the perfect pie crust that Aunt Clara demands, but that turns out to be nothing compared with finding a murderer. . . .

This was on the dedication page:

For our Southern mothers and grandmothers, who had patient, pie-making hands and gentle voices. Thanks for the pecan pie and banana pudding. Thanks for being there.

Maggie felt sure she would never make even an adequate piecrust much less the kind people raved over.

Lou Goldberg was lying across the back step. His eyes were open as though he were staring at the blue sky. Except Lou would never see another blue sky again.

“Cheer up, Maggie,” her aunt advised. “It’s not like we killed someone!”

Maggie has just been accused of stealing an enormous amount of money from the bank where she used to work. Now she is being forced, because of lack of funds, to move back to her small hometown in North Carolina to work in her Aunt Clara’s pie shop. One normal, average day her old boss shows up at the pie shop to clear Maggie’s name, saying that he wrongly accused her of taking the money and that he now knows who it really was. Maggie is beside herself with joy, hoping that she will be able to go back to her old life in New York, and possibly take her Aunt Clara with her. But when her boss is found dead right outside the Pie in the Sky, her aunt’s shop, Maggie is the main suspect!

This was one of the best cozy mysteries that I have read this year! I absolutely fell in love with Maggie and her Aunt Clara. Not to mention, Durham, North Carolina is only about four hours away from where I live. Maggie was a genuine heroine who I liked right away. She was real and confident, yet she had this innocence about her. She was the perfect person to go around trying to solve a murder. I admired her even more because she constantly had the best interests of her Aunt Clara at heart. Maggie wanted to repay her aunt for bringing her into her home all those years ago. Their relationship was just as cozy as the mystery!

My favorite place to be was Aunt Clara’s pie shop. It was so warm and inviting, and the names Clara gave to her pies were fabulous. I love the idea of owning a pie shop and I couldn’t think of a better setting for a new cozy mystery series. This is a debut and let me just say that I am hooked and cannot wait for the next in this tantalizing series. The ending was a bit open-ended and left me wanting another slice, I mean another book!

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Gallery Books in exchange for my honest review***