Maddie's Recipe of Mysteries

Rockcrest Cove Mystery #1

by Emily Page

The sweet smell of success... a bitter dose of death! For baker Madeline McDougal, life is sweet, literally. As a bakery owner, Madeline spends her days baking a large variety of tasty treats. A skill passed down to her by her late Mother. Madeline's pastries are a hit with not just locals, but people from all across the country. But as of late... business has been waning. Yet everything changes when Madeline notices that the backdoor of her shop has been tampered with, and is led to an even more gruesome discovery. When the local police chief begins his investigation, Madeline becomes the prime suspect. Is she really a suspect? Or just a pawn in a dangerous game?

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Food and Drink, Cozy, Contemporary, Mystery Thriller

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 4, 2015

Reviews

[Kristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick & easy read… as expected for this free kindle book

[Heart DeCoupeville · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kindle edition acquired when offered free on Amazon.

One star for triple-spacing between indented paragraphs. Has the author never opened an actual book to see what it looks like?

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book/series. I did enjoy the actual story and the characters. But I had a hard time with the way it read. Sometimes you couldn't tell who was speaking and had to rewind to connect the comment with the person saying it. Also the picture of the main character maddie on all the covers of these books shows a young brunette girl in her 20's maybe 30's yet she is supposed to be a grandma. Bailey her granddaughter is old enough to be in college, meaning maddie should at the youngest be in her 50's. This just messes with your head.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had given this three stars but on reflection dropped to two. The principal character is a grandmother, though only just 'past the half century mark' but on the cover she's in her twenties. A rival baker with an old grudge is found dead behind Maddie's bakery, and the police officer investigating thinks Maddie must have done the deed. We learn quite a bit about how the two bakeries got established and the different characters of their owners.
No recipes, though.

When the lady suspects a burglar is in her shop, she picks up a potential weapon and tries to creep towards the burglar, and then wishes she wasn't wearing her steel toe boots, and stops and takes them off to walk in her socks. Anyone who wears steel toes for protection is certainly not going to take them off when about to face a criminal. Last thing you'll do. You'll be hoping to break his kneecap, not to make yourself vulnerable to slipping or broken toes. And in America, where criminals carry guns, why not just step back and phone for the police?

I did find quite a few typos, and padding by means of hitting return too often, but what annoyed me the most was that the evildoer spends many pages at the end detailing every step and thought of their crime, as soon as confronted. Usually they call for their lawyer and shut their mouth.
I really didn't find this realistic, but some people will be happy enough with the cosier of cosy mysteries.
I downloaded a free offer. This is an unbiased review.

[Tari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes this book was really hard to follow. I'd read another series first by the author and thought the same thing, but chalked it up to it being a novella. I think the difficulty in following conversations was mainly from the formatting. I liked Maddie as a character and the flashbacks were interesting, but as some other reviews said, I have to agree the cover looks more like it represents her granddaughter, not a woman in her fifties. I wasn't happy with the police chief at all. He's probably one of the worst as far as mouthing off to someone he suspects then back pedaling when he discovered it wasn't her and tried to get on her good side.

I'm mildly interested in continuing the series, mainly because I have all of the books from one time or another when they were free on Amazon. I might give the second book a try sometime.

[Dallass · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my kind of cosy

I did not enjoy this as much as I’d hoped to. While some of the characters, like Maddie, Bailey and Kyle were okay, others like Chief Nolan were tedious. I found the characters to be lacking in depth, yet they tended towards being overly dramatic and exaggerated. The murder mystery and revenge plot was fine, but my favourite bit was the ending with the final brief conversation between Maddie and Chief Nolan.

Don’t think I’ll continue with series.

2 stars ⭐️

[Natelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maddie McDougall opens her bakery one morning to find something amiss. The body in the back alley turns out to be someone she knows and had a falling out with years ago, so she becomes the sheriff’s number one suspect. She enlists the help of her granddaughter and a young attorney to help her find the real killer. Along the way, she discovers far more secrets than she expected.
This cozy mystery provides a good, quick diversion, but it didn’t capture my interest or amuse me quite as much as others I have read.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first in the series and the first time reading this author. The main character is Maddie who owns a bakery. She comes in one morning and finds the body of a woman who was murdered there. The chief decides it must be Maddie who did, for no other reason then the body was at her bakery. Maddie decides she is going to have to figure it out herself or the chief will figure out a way to frame her. I enjoyed this book.

[Deborah J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needs a serious edit

I liked the premise, but the writing is just plain bad. I read the first two chapters and gave up. The initial scenes were protracted and boring, eventually leading to the discovery of the body, BUT so many plot holes. Strangely printed: paragraphs between sentences etc. Needs a development edit and a good design edit.

[DE Jorgensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good cozy mystery

Maddie, her granddaughter and granddaughter 's lawyer boyfriend solve the murder of Emma, a sneaky, competitive b***h. Book is quite satisfying as the bad person confesses and is hauled off. The paragraph spacing on my Kindle version is not good and leads to confusion about who's speaking. Otherwise, a perfectly good cozy.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story itself was okay but there were problems. Maddie is a grandmother of just over 50 years. Her granddaughter is in her early twenties. The maths only works if both mother and grandmother were in their mid teens when they had children. Secondly, the paragraphing drove me insane. Conversations were particularly problematic and very hard to follow.

[Ellen White · Rating 4 out of 5]

With an ex employee found behind the bakery, she is the likely suspect. Why investigate seems like there was a motive. Thankfully she had a few that believed in her to find out the truth. A nice cozy mystery

[Yvonne Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast read.

I enjoyed reading this book very much. It was a entertaining light book to read while waiting at the hospital with my sister. I was able to enjoy it while my mind was overwhelmed.

[Deborah R Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life is a mystery

This book was very interesting have the love of two couples and what wonderful out comes, even when life goes south and you get scared. Good read. Very much enjoyed😁☺☺

[Rodney D. Wharton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice cozy mystery for a summer afternoon. Small town murder involving a bakery shop. Slow on character development and not quite enough plot or originality so only three stars. Not motivated to read series but we will see

[Sharon M. Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

From Baker to Suspect!

Madeline opens her bakery one morning and finds an ex employee that she had fired murdered in her alley. Surprise, surprise, the Chief of Police accuses Madeline and gives her a hard time. Could she find the real killer and clear her name?

[Janet Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maddie 's Recipe of Mysteries (Rockcrest Cove Cozy Mystery Book 1)

I really liked this book. It was great to see Maddie,Bailey & the lawyer trying to decipher who had murdered Emma.

[Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I honestly struggled to get through this book and it's less than 200 pages. As other reviews have said, the spacing was super annoying. The dialogue was corny and the ending was weak. I don't understand all the five star reviews.

[Jane Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maddie finds her rival Emma whom she had not seen or spoken to for 2yrs dead behind her shop but who would it, will Maddie and Kyle and her granddaughter find the truth

[Sarahanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

That cop, Nolan is gonna be trouble...

[Paula Clouser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good quick read

Entertaining and easy to read, though a little predictable. Grumpy cop, brash young lawyer, and 2 crime fighting females who are easy to like.

[Nola Arganbright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good plot

A fun mystery but a little simplistic for me. The characters were good. The writing was good too. I feel a little more depth would have helped.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

This book is one murder mystery where a police chief refuses to look for any other person.he is incomped.enjoy ir.

[Sherry McWilliams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this cozy mystery and the characters. Plan to read more of the series.

[Kathy B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Madeline

Good story line. Not fan of extra spacing to enable more pages. Noticed so punctuation errors. But quick read and good story line.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relaxing easy read.

No thinking required & no sex or profanity & minimal detail about the murder so perfect read for a quiet coffee break.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much and finished it in one sitting. The ending was quite a surprise.

[Joni · Rating 5 out of 5]

quick quick read

A bakery and a rival. One ends up dead the other suspected of murder. But who really did it? This was good and I will read the second in the series.

[Tracey Pearce · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5*

[Jacqueline Sabulsky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I felt that pacing of the book was too fast. It was an easy read but nothing that makes me want to engage in the rest of the series.