Love, Lies and Pumpkin Spice

A Slice of Life Cozy Mystery #1

by Rachel Beattie

Welcome to Westhaven - or welcome back, in my case. Hurrying home to be at my dad's bedside wasn't exactly how I planned my small-town homecoming, especially when my shoot-for-the-stars successful life is hanging by a thread. But there's something comforting about being back in my hometown, even if it does mean crossing paths with my high school frenemies more than I'd like.

When my favorite former teacher dares me to enter the winter pie festival I need all the help I can get - and when the festival day ends in a murder, I find myself much more invested in catching a killer than I expected to be...

Book 1 in a fun new small-town cozy mystery series ~ Enjoy your first visit to the Slice of Life Diner!

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Ebooks, Cozy, Fiction

126 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 27, 2024

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining cozy mystery. I enjoyed the overall mystery and thought the characters were fairly interesting. The author did a good job of writing a small town and all of its idiosyncrasies and secrets. I would read more by this author.

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

2022 52 Book Challenge - November Mini Challenge - 1) Dessert On The Cover

This was a enjoyable and quick cozy mystery novel. The murderer reveal could have been much better, and really, the detective should have figured out what had happened much quicker considering his hot shot reputation. As long as you ignored the plot contrivances to make everything just work out for the main character, it was enjoyable, but it's not a book that I'll be rereading.

[Vicky Shore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an alright read.
quick mystery novel

[Amileigh Hodges · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice quick who done it read

[Penumbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love, Lies and Pumpkin Spice is the first book in the ‘A Slice of Life Cozy Mystery,’ series. It stars Veronica as the protagonist, and is told in first person. This feels like it’s in present tense, but at other times it doesn’t. I don’t know if the author is mixing tenses on purpose or not.

The blurb isn’t very clear about describing the plot. Veronica returns to her hometown when her father suffers a heart attack. She stresses about the frequent phone calls she receives from her boss back home and suspects she’s going to be fired. But she ghosts her boss until the end of the book, which I found annoying. Veronica tells us about all her old friends and enemies from high school as she meets them in the town. I found it annoying that all the people acted like they were still in high school.

I didn’t care for Veronica. There wasn’t any reason to get involved in searching for who murdered George. The only reason was she was just as nosey as Pamela and had nothing better to do while she was in town. If she was responsible, she’d have taken care of her dad at home and talked to her boss, and even tele-worked. But she didn’t. She kept making excuses as to why she had to figure out who the murderer was because her friend, TJ, from high school was in jail.

The sheriff was useless. He was supposed to be some sort of hotshot who was new in town. He was supposed to be very good at what he did, but Veronica who was a complete amateur and bad at investigating was better than he was. Pretty much every person in the story was cringey and immature except for Veronica’s father and TJ.

There’s a dangling subplot about selling the restaurant to Matt. Veronica mentioned that her father sold, ‘his share.’ Which meant there is another share that someone owns. Who owns the other part of the shop? Is it Veronica? That’s not discussed. I think there were some other dangling subplots that weren’t answered and I found it annoying.

Love, Lies and Pumpkin Spice was okay. I’ve read better cozy mysteries. This was rather basic with a rather nosy, immature protagonist who’s still emotionally stuck in high school. I found Veronica annoying rather than interesting. This is a fast, easy read which works if you’re just looking to burn some time since it’s not a complicated plot. I give this 3 Stars.

[Jean Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in a new small town cozy mystery. Veronica returns home after her father has a heart attack. Some things have changed since she has been gone, but the one that surprises her the most is that her father sold the diner and never mentioned it to her. The 3 mean girls Veronica had trouble with while growing up don't seem to have changed much, still acting like they did back then. When one of her old teachers is murdered, Veronica decides to investigate and ultimately discovers who the killer is and what his stupid motive was for doing so.

[Anne Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Veronica (Ronnie) has rushed back to Westhaven because her father had a heart attack. She has to stay to look after him once he is discharged from hospital. There is the Pie Festival & she bakes a pie for it. One of the judges dies at the event, an allergic reaction to cinnamon which virtually every one knew about. Her friend TJ, the local pharmacist knows the man should have had an epi-pen on him, but he didn’t & there were none in the first aid tent either. This leads to an interesting finale, which, of course, Ronnie is involved in. An enjoyable read.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyable read

Nice Cozy Mystery. Easy read. Kept my interest. Likable characters. I’ll read the next book. I do love the father/daughter relationship. Wish they fleshed out Veronica’s backstory more. What is her career, etc. maybe as the books go on. Felt like we really don’t have the full story on the gambling and Matt’s seems like not a good fit either Anna?? Overall, I enjoyed it.

[Melissa Basnight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pumpkin Spice pie

Good start to the series. Veronica comes home to take care of her father and runs into several people she went to school with. One of her teacher's died at the Pie Festival and one of her friends was put in prison for the murder so she is looking for the real killer. Possible romance starting and now she plans on staying in her hometown. I am hoping the next book will finish some subplots and the characters will be developed more.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's alright. I won't be rereading it, but it was a speed read.
I don't know if I will be bothered to read more of the series - what with the 3 potential love interests.

... I just realized something. What the heck was her actual job?
This was more or less a hallmark movie with murder, but nobody got together - yet.

[J Shu · Rating 2 out of 5]

11/25. Veronica returns to her small hometown to help her dad after his heart attack. Has the town and its inhabitants changed since she left? And why has a former English teacher of hers suddenly died during a pie judging contest? OK - sometimes you need a little fluff in your choice of books and this was it.

[Sara Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, short and Sweet

I would recommend this book for anyone who loves a mystery that is cute, fun and pumpkin spicy! Loved the characters, the environment and the dynamic storyline. Can't wait to read the next!

[Vanessa Ouellette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not originally what I was expecting at first. I found this book entertaining still.  Book 1 in this series starts with Veronica coming home after her dad's heart attack. Reunited with friends  & foes she finds herself solving murder to clear her friends name.  

[Claire Eymin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars / Classic cozy mystery. Not very lovable characters though.

[Kathryn Riddle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book, slow start but picks up to the end. Overall I enjoyed it and will read the next one to see if it keeps getting better.

[Dar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good cozy mystery!

Easy read, short, but good writing. Lots of suspense as to who the killer was. Good character development. Liked it.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice simple murder

I enjoyed this easy read, but surprised that so many "adults" in this town still act like teenagers with high school grudges and all.

[April House · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing

Really enjoyed the friendship dynamics between characters, even with the not so close individuals. I'm wondering about the future of Ronnie and her men????

[Monique Vala · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming Cozy Mystery for the coming long evenings.

[Alexandria Figueroa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and quick read. I wish it had a little more romance, but a good cozy mystery. Nothing gory. Small town fall vibes

[Theresa Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

good read

Good cozy little book although there times when I had to go back and reread a page or two as I had become confused about who was who.

[Berenise Orozco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy and cute

Cozy read and cute. Unsure if I will.continue series. Maybe as library books cause they sound Cozy and fun for the fall.season

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars
Super cozy murder mystery. I absolutely loved this one.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Veronica returns to her hometown after her father has a heart attack. Whilst home she meets up with old friends, old teachers, the resident mean girls and a handsome new sheriff. But when one of her kindly old teachers is murdered at a pie contest Veronica has to work hard to clear the name of her friend who is firmly in the frame. - I should learn not to judge a book by its cover cos this book was actually a far more enjoyable read than I thought it would be just by looking at the plain & simple illustration on the front. The murder itself didn’t take a lot of guessing but I did like reading about Veronica’s past schoolfriends etc, so for me the murder almost felt like a bit of a side story. My other gripe was that having read the book I still have no idea what anyone looked like. Descriptions of the main characters were few & far between. This was a short book so surely a few more descriptions could have been painted for the reader’s eye? So, a book I enjoyed but not sure I’ll continue with the series.