What a great Christmas mystery! I really enjoy this series. The characters are engaging and defined well through conversations and actions, and with regards to Roxy, her thoughts. The mystery is well-plotted and executed. The Bean Hive Coffee Shop sounds like the kind of place I would enjoy, especially with the seniors who work at and frequent the shop, Pepper, and the adoptable pet of the week in the shop.
The Bean Hive Coffee Shop is Roxy’s happy place; opened when she returned to her hometown after catching her ex-husband and law office partner providing a special consultation to a female client. She has since married her high school sweetheart, Patrick, who sounds like the perfect guy for her. Roxy keeps her license current, occasionally taking on work for those who request her help.
Christmas is almost here, and Roxy and Patrick have a date night at the elegant Washershed Restaurant. The couple at the next table are having a heated argument, with one of the final exclamations from the husband being “over my dead body!” Their argument continues to the parking lot, where Patrick recognizes them as Ryan Moore, who owns the butcher shop where he purchases their favorite cuts of meat, and his wife, Yvonne. The Moores are ahead of them as they head for home, and they watch the Moores’ vehicle veer across the line, then back, then down the embankment…into the lake.
Patrick dives in, gets Yvonne out of the truck and to the shore. Ryan doesn’t fare as well. When Patrick brings him to shore, the EMT’s arrive but cannot revive him. The next morning, Sheriff Spencer Shephard comes to interview Roxy again, this time about the argument they overheard the couple having. Preliminary toxicology reports showed Ryan had a lethal dose of hemlock. Shortly afterwards, Yvonne comes in to see Roxy. She has to see the sheriff for questioning, and she wants Roxy to be her attorney.
As if that doesn’t present enough challenge, Kirk, Roxy’s ex-husband arrives in town. He is representing the late Ryan and his daughter, Jo Beth, pregnant with his first grandchild. Ryan, according to what he told Yvonne before they were married. He promised that when Jo Beth has a child, she would inherit his fortune for herself and that child. Jo Beth believes her pregnancy gave Yvonne motive to kill Ryan.
Plot twists and turns reveal several possible suspects, including one with questionable business practices, and another that I was almost completely convinced of after Yvonne was booked for murder. Yvonne maintains her innocence until hearing about a piece of evidence, then confesses to the murder herself. Did she know she was caught, or was there another reason? I don’t know why, as an attorney, Roxy shares details about the murder and aspects of it and Yvonne’s life, but it does help give her reciprocal information to investigate and find the real culprit. And it surely doesn’t take away from the excitement of finding the bad guy. Small town folks really do know all the secrets!
Don’t miss this exciting, challenging Christmas mystery! I highly recommend it to those who appreciate well-written cozy mysteries, coffee, dogs, Christmas, recipes from Tonya’s readers, and more coffee!
From a thankful heart: I received a complimentary copy of this novel and this is my honest review.