I’m going to be honest here. I’m not a cozy mystery fan. I love a good mystery, especially a suspense-filled gore fest. I had previously read and reviewed Judy Alter’s Texas is Chili Country, and really enjoyed learning about the history of one of my favorite foods. Being familiar with the author’s writing, I was looking forward to reading her fiction. Being the third book in the Blue Plate Café , Murder at the Peacock Mansion is easily read without having to read the others. There may be a few things that you might question, but not enough to be confusing.
Kate is the owner of the Blue Plate Café, and has a ton of internal dialog; to the point where it interferes with the actual conversation. The plot had potential, but there were so many details that really didn’t add much to the story, so it detracted from the actual mystery. The "whodunnit" part begins to turn into "just tell us" after about page 178. Alter does a good job maintaining the small town feel throughout the story, where everyone knows everyone and their business. As for character development, there’s not too much there, as the story takes place over just a few weeks. But I feel as though no one really learned too much from everything that happened throught the story.
Fans of cozy mysteries would probably enjoy the story and the series, because this is one that also includes recipes of the foods that were mentioned throught the story.
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