Tastes Like Murder

Cookies & Chance Mysteries, Book 1

By: Catherine Bruns

Narrated by: Karen Rose Richter

Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Sally Muccio's had her crosses to bear: a cheating ex-boyfriend, crazy Italian parents, and an unfaithful husband, just to name a few. After her divorce, she returns to her hometown to start a novelty cookie shop whose specialties include original fortune cookies, served with a sprinkle of foreshadowing.

But there's no warning when her ex-husband's mistress drops dead on Sal's porch, and police confirm it's a homicide. Determined to stop her life from becoming a recipe for disaster, Sal takes matters into her own hands.

With two very different men vying for her affection, dead bodies piling up, and a reputation hanging by an apron string, Sal finds herself in a race against time to save both her business and life - before the last cookie crumbles.

©2015 Catherine Bruns (P)2017 Catherine Bruns

Awesome

I loved this book. Great story. Great characters. Will be buying book two. I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Great fun!

I love this story! It was funny and entertaining. I will definitely read the rest of the series!

pretty fun listen

I received this book for free for an honest review.

This was a good story, good plot twist to keep you listening and a little love storyb that doesn't take away from the overall book. I could have done without the narrator's version of what I assume was a New Jersey accent for Josie but overall it was good. We'll worth a credit.

Not my taste

I was gifted this book with the understanding that I would leave an honest review. I enjoyed the narration by Karen Rose Richter she does a great job of keeping you listening. The story is a Culinary Mystery but I am a big fan of Culinary mysteries and this one falls short. I would say this book is more of a teen romance with mystery thrown in. It is a clean book just not my taste.

Very Good!

I couldn’t stop listening to this one! It kept me engaged and waiting to see what happened next. The end was frustrating, so I had to go buy the kindle book right after to see what happened.
Sally and her best friend Josie recently opened a bakery. After a bitter divorce, Sally just wants to move on with her life and begin a new chapter. Some parts of this story were laugh-out-loud-funny! I especially enjoyed Sally’s Italian family. There were a lot of unexpected twists and turns that kept the pace going.
Karen Rose Richter has a very pleasant reading voice. I enjoyed her performance very much. I hope she narrates the rest of the series.
I was given this free review copy audiobook (courtesy of Audiobook Blast) at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Entertaining listen

After getting a divorce, Sally Muccio decides to go back to her home town and open a cookie shop. But coming back means meeting old friends and foes, and Sally might not be ready for that. After being verbally attacked by Amanda, an old acquaintance from high school who stole one of Sally’s boyfriends, Sally discovers Amanda dead just outside her shop. She seemed to have an anaphylactic shock after eating one of Sally’s cookies.

The plot of this book reminded me a lot of Death by Scones, where one of the characters also suffers an anaphylactic reaction after eating something from a cookie shop. Curiously, both books were originally published in the same year, 2015. The rest of the plot is quite different, but it also has all the ingredients that should be in a cozy mystery.

The main character is Sally, from an Italian family that wants to see her married and with children, something typical in cozy mysteries. She has a sidekick, making the story a bit more interesting through the interactions between both characters.

There is a love triangle, totally prescindible in my opinion, but as romance is often an ingredient in cozy mysteries, I think many people would appreciate it. The issue with this is that Sally seems to have no personality, and with a body just in front of her shop, she seems too busy trying to decide which one of the men she will choose.

Something I didn’t like at all is that one of these men is very jealous and possessive, and several people try to justify his attitude towards Sally saying that he had a difficult life. This is no valid excuse, and I think anyone should stay away from a partner with such personal issues. It is like stalking and kissing someone drunk is excusable and could be okay in some occasions. And it is just NOT. The other one wasn’t much better, but it seems everything is okay if the guy is handsome. The rest doesn’t matter at all. What do we need brains for?

Karen Rose Ritcher’s narration was okay. Her languid tone went well with Sally’s weak personality, but her voice range was somewhat limited. Ritcher had three different voices, and things got complicated when there were more than two characters in the same scene. It especially bothered me when Sally, Josie and Sally’s sister were together. Suddenly Sally’s sister sounded like Sally, and Sally like Josie. It was a bit confusing. I also found the narration to be slower than average, and I needed to speed it up a bit to be able to focus on the story.

Despite these minor issues, it was a very entertaining book, and it was fun trying to guess who killed Amanda, and why.

I received a copy of this book in audio format from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.

Nice Listen

This was a nice listen. The narration was good with each character having their own voice.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

who killed the evil one

I truely enjoyed this mystery , it started off with trouble & drama then led to murder. I was tickled by sal family especially her parents, the grandma is a riot. her best friend Josie is a true character supporter. looking forward to reading more on this series.

Fun read!

Great book with a cliffhanger that makes me know I have to read the second! Good mystery and a fun read. I received a free copy and left my honest review

3 and a half

This is an OK but typical story. I figured out who did it early but continued to listen because I liked the characters and wanted to see how the story unfolded. My only other complaint about this story is the unnecessary love triangle that seems to be part of every cozy mystery.