Book Review for The Peppermint Mocha Murder

What could be better than a trip to a small New England town for Christmas?  That’s how Hayden Mundy Moore, a chocolatier, feels when her financial advisor and friend, Travis, invites her to his hometown.  He invites her to join him and his friend Albany for the premier of the musical adaptation of Albany’s recent book.

On her first night in town, Hayden can’t sleep so she decides to make chocolate peppermint truffles to surprise the owner and guests of the B&B where she is staying.  Instead of making her way into the kitchen, however, she finds herself in the dining room.  There she discovers the body of a woman who she later finds out is the producer of the musical.  The police seem to think her death was nothing more than an accident.  Hayden has questions though, and she decides to investigate it herself.  Along the way she discovers what secrets this little town holds.

I really appreciated the setting for this book.  It did a great job of setting a Christmas atmosphere even with a murder hanging over the town.  The delicious sounding chocolate treats don’t hurt either.  There is a great cast of characters in this book.  However, I don’t feel like Hayden was able to ever really able to find out the who, what, when, why, and how about each of the characters.  It makes her conclusions at the end of the book seem a little weak.  The book was still very enjoyable to read, and I hope to go back and read the first five books in the series.

I think fans of other cooking mysteries will enjoy this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.