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KILL 'EM WITH CAYENNE
by Gail Oust
Minotaur Books, December 2015
320 pages
$25.99
ISBN: 1250011051


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

A BBQ contest is coming to Brandywine Creek, Texas. Piper Prescott, the owner of Spice it Up! was anticipating an uptick in business if the contestants decided to come in and look for their last minute "special ingredients." But almost from the first, things didn't go quite as expected. Barb Bunker Quinlan, the host of a cooking show comes to town to cover the contest. It turns out Barb is former resident that few recognized - a real life "ugly duckling turned swan" story with more than a few grudges against her former schoolmates. Things quickly turn ugly. And then Piper's dog finds the body of Becca Dapkins. Did Barb Quinlan resort to murder to settle a score or was it one of her fellow BBQ contestants?

Piper becomes involved in the investigation right from the start not only because she found the body, but because Maybelle Humphries is the number one suspect from the beginning. Piper just cannot believe Maybelle could murder anyone so she sets out to find the real killer. Eventually the case is solved, but along the way is much more of day-to-day life in Brandywine Creek than clues and detecting.

KILL'EM WITH CAYENNE, Oust's second Spice Shop Mystery is a comfort read. Piper Prescott is a likable protagonist who has the expected circle of friends, a couple of children, a dog, as well as a slightly convoluted relationship with her ex, his fiancée and his mother to add an ongoing sources of woes to her life. The setting of the series is a small town in Texas with the assorted town characters and petty jealousies that come with small town living. It is, as a whole, a pleasant place and an interesting group of people to visit with occasionally. Piper's spice store gives a slightly different twist to the "foodie" mystery genre. Readers who enjoy mysteries with food, pets and no graphic violence will find The Spice Shop Mysteries by Gail Oust enjoyable.

§ Caryn St.Clair resides in University City, Missouri and is a former elementary school media specialist, President of the Parks Commission and a docent at the St.Louis Zoo.

Reviewed by Caryn St Clair, March 2015

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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