Product Description

In her rare free time, newlywed Lee McKinney Woodyard works on TenHuis Chocolade's newest offerings, chocolate jewels. But soon the town of Warner Pier has its very own jewel heist, and then a body is found in the lake. Lee can't help but wonder if the crimes are related. Maybe if she digs up some dirt, she'll hit the mother lode.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60223 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780451221889
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Familiar characters, thin plot
I was really looking forward to this installment of the Chocoholic Mystery series. The town of Warner Pier has been experiencing a rash of break-in thefts. Lee McKinney-Woodward, newly married, doesn't have a lot of time to spend worrying about the burglaries. She has a house full of guests, and her new husband, Joe Woodward, is busy with his boat making business. Joe's father has been dead over twenty years, but a man claiming he is Joe's father shows up on lee's doorstep. Before she can break this news to her new husband, she has another scary experience. Lee and Joe are tied up at a dinner party while their host is relieved of some very expensive jewelry, Lee decides to investigate. I knew who the culprit in this mystery was from very early in the book, and the twists and turns added by the author were interesting but did not add to the mystery. Many of the characters who are usually so much fun in the series (Lee's Aunt, Lee's best friend, etc.) were absent from this book. Not my favorite in this series. You could probably pick this up at a discount(used) or at the library for free if you really must read it.

Not the Jewel of the Series
Lee and Joe Woodyard have a house full of guests. Just what every newlywed dreams of, right? There are the two teens working at TenHuis Chocolade, Joe's two mysterious friends, and Joe's aunt. All this in an old house that only has one bathroom.

But housing issues aren't the only thing on Lee's mind. There has been a string of robberies in town recently. Since it's the start of the summer season, many of the summer people are returning to find their cabins have been robbed. Jewels and antiques are the prime targets.

Lee's been pretty busy making sure her guests are provided for and running TenHuis Chocolade since Aunt Nettie is in Europe on her own honeymoon. But then fate takes over and Lee is forced to care about the robberies. And there's the strange man who shows up claiming to be Joe's dad, who died 30 years ago. And the body found floating in the lake. What is going on?

The books in this series have always been light and fun, but this book turns out to be too light. The plot seems to be meandering all over the place. While it does come together in the final third, the lack of focus early on hurt the book.

The story doesn't suffer from a lack of characters. Even so, I spotted the villain earlier then I should have. And the number of characters means that series regulars like Aunt Nettie and Lee's best friend are noticeably absent. The characters that are here are fun, however.

The chocolate chats this go around spotlight a few non-fiction books on chocolate. They sound tempting. Still, this is one "feature" that I wouldn't miss if they took them out.

This is one of the weaker entries in the series, yet it is still fun enough to please fans.

Time To End This Series
This series has gone downhill. Too bad, really, because it had a lot of promise.

This particular entry hits the reader over the head constantly with the fact that it's hot in Warner Pier. And there doesn't seem to be any reason for the long descriptions of the weather other than to take up room on the page. We are supposed to believe that Lee has to suffer with the heat and may lose her business because her central air goes out and they only have casement windows so they can't put in window units. Well, you know what? We don't have central air and we don't have window units. For YEARS they've been making rolling AC units you just take from room to room with you. Is everyone in Warner Pier too backward to know about such a thing? What kind of business owner doesn't know exactly where to lay her hands on something so vital to her business?

Plus, Lee's verbal tick is really, really annoying.