Rents doubled. No affordable housing. Ten pages of help wanted ads in the paper every day. Tourist town Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is in a housing crisis, and Sadie Moose, second generation owner of Moose’s Bakery, is right in the middle of it. Her assistant baker just told her she’s leaving because her rent is being doubled. Sloan Brackenridge, local power realtor and her childhood tormenter, is threatening to bulldoze Sadie’s childhood home to make room for more multi-million dollar condos. Oh, and her dog, Tyrone, is acting funny and needs to go to the vet. Again.
And those are just the start of her problems.
Because the night after her childhood crush, Merritt West, mysteriously away for over a decade, moves back in next door, Sadie finds Sloan dead in the alley between their houses. Suddenly the prime suspect, Sadie teams up with Merritt to investigate, sparks flying between them as danger creeps ever closer.
Mountain Town Murder is a not-so-cozy and includes language and one open door scene alongside the cozy setting, quirky characters, and mystery we all love in cozy mysteries. It's the first in the Jackson Hole Moose's Bakery Not So Cozy Mystery series.
Sue Pepper writes not so cozy mysteries for millennials in the Pacific Northwest where she lives with her two kids, elderly dachshund, and real life action hero husband. A former resident of Jackson Hole, Wyoming pushed out by the billionaire-caused housing crisis, she enjoys writing revenge and redemption for the fictional residents of her Jackson Hole Moose's Bakery Not So Cozy Mystery series, starting with her debut, Mountain Town Murder.
Sadie Moose is the second-generation owner of Moose’s Bakery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A town that is in a lot of trouble. A housing shortage is causing rents to double and most people who work in Jackson Hole can’t afford to live there. Sadie lives in her childhood home and rents out a basement apartment to two of her employees but her assistant baker is leaving town due to a huge rent increase.
Prominent local realtor, Sloan Brackenridge has her own ideas about how to save the town. She is working to buy houses to bulldoze, including Sadie’s, to build more multi-million dollar condos. Sloan has been a thorn in Sadie’s side her whole life.
One evening Sadie’s dog Tyrone is feeling poorly and needs to be taken outside several times. After a mostly sleepless night, an exhausted Sadie heads out to do the early morning baking. But her car’s backup alarm keeps dinging. Getting out she sees something lying in the alley right behind her car. Thinking it was a downed limb she is worried about how she is going to move it and then she notices “an outline of a shoe attached to a leg attached to the bundle under the snow.” Screaming, she is suddenly being held and she hears a familiar voice. Startled she realized Merritt West who used to live next door and her childhood crush was right there in front of her.
Then they focus on the bundle. It’s Sloan Brackenridge and her real estate career is over. Sadie finds herself at the top of the list of suspects.
I was searching for a book set in Wyoming for my Literary Escapes Challenge when I found this series.
Sadie Moose is an interesting protagonist in a town built around tourism at the deterrent of about 11.000 locals. She has a huge heart and tries to help her employees with housing knowing the situation. Her assistant Kayla Velasquez could no longer afford to stay and Sadie not only wrote her a letter of recommendation but also gave her money towards her moving expenses. She has two of her baristas living in her basement apartment. Kendall and Kamari (KitKat) are fun, talented, twenty-somethings and great employees. Jorge Garcia works for Sadie on the mid-morning shift after dropping his grandkids off at preschool. A retired teacher who lost his wife to cancer, he needed something to fill his days. We also meet other shopkeepers and residents, a special friend of Kendall’s with a well-connected family, Merritt West with a mysterious job, and TikTok sensation Tyrone the dog. I appreciated the diversity of the characters Ms. Pepper has created for this series. And who wouldn’t love a dog named Tyrone?
Sloan Breckenridge was a woman on a mission and didn’t care who got caught up in her web. She was behind the greedy landlords raising the rents and causing the housing crisis all as she lined her pockets with shady deals to benefit her Scenic View Luxury Condominiums. It was no surprise she was the victim. I knew there would be plenty of suspects in addition to Sadie and the author didn’t disappoint. Merritt is more than ready to help Sadie investigate. Is he a spy? I enjoyed their banter and the way they worked together. Is he FBI? CIA? Sparks do fly between them but they try to stay focused on the case. I thought I had the killer all figured out but I was wrong. The reveal was surprising, scary, and exciting with an unexpected participant.
Mountain Town Murder has given this series a splendid start. Ms. Pepper has introduced characters I am eager to revisit and wrapped them in a compelling mystery. She also gave a look at Jackson Hole from a different vantage point. I am looking forward to reading Hot Springs Murder soon. I am very happy I found this series.
Is Merritt the next James Bond? I hope we find out more in Book 2.
*This book does contain some explicit language hence the “Not So Cozy Mystery”
*This book is from my private collection. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
I’m not sure what to think of this one to be honest, I had mixed feelings about it. This was a fun and entertaining read with some interesting tidbits. However, It was a bit slow at times and I found myself skimming through a few paragraphs here and there. It felt a little underwhelming. I loved that Sadie doesn’t hesitate to stand up for what she believes in and the focus on Jackson Hole’s housing situation was interesting.
The author took care to include a variety of diverse characters, it was a nice change from the usual cozy that not all the characters are white and straight. There’s something about the small western mountain town setting that really intrigues me as well. Overall, it was an okay read, I wanted to love this a lot more than I did but unfortunately it just didn’t excite me enough. Despite this, I’m still looking forward to reading the sequel to see where this story goes.
I’m was the fence with this author. First time reading one of her books and quite frankly probably won’t read any others.
I dislike politics in a supposed “cozy”. The author tried too hard to be “woke” and the descriptions of gender and race and obvious dislike for people who financially comfortable were not necessary for the storyline. Snap judgments on people without facts.
On the plus side the storyline was good and the characters we’re interested and sometimes funny.
I loved this book. It has all my favorite cozy mystery catnips - small western mountain town, romance subplot, fiesty and smart heroine, an animal! This one also has a bakery, which is another personal favorite plot for me. The author took care to have a wide variety of characters, which is rare for a small town cozy, not everyone is skinny and white and straight. I loved this! I also loved that our sleuth is concerned about social issues and fighting for housing (I live in a mountain ski town and this is a real issue). The mystery is interesting, I had no idea who did it, even when I thought I did I wasn't sure. Highly recommend this book. Cannot wait for the second one!!
I did receive an advance copy. All views are my own.
Great Story, amazing characters. I love Sadie and I love all of her friends and employees. The mystery was engaging and the outcome was satisfying. As much as I am glad they solved the mystery, I am now invested in Sadie and the other characters. This book has caused me to break out in an incessant itch to visit Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Can't wait to start book 2.
Set in Jackson Hole Wyoming, this cozy mystery has lots of potential and a decent plot line as well as interesting characters. But I won't read anymore in this series due to sprinkled obscenities and sex.
Author Sue Pepper's Mountain Town Murder is a delightful, delicious, thrilling cozy mystery. Now, you must be wondering why I called it delicious! Yes, you are right! It involves a bakery with a baker cum sleuth who gets involved in the murder case of her nemesis and a town bully. I enjoyed reading every page. There were some amazing twists and turns to keep you glued to your seat and rather impossible to stop reading. Sadie Moose runs a bakery in Jackson Hole, a small town in Wyoming. The first scene was rather heart touching. Sadie's assistant baker, Kayla Velasquez, informs her with a heavy heart that her landlord has doubled the rent and she's forced to quit and move to Red Lodge, Montana with her boyfriend, Hunter. She's unable to offer them a residence at her place because of her two baristas, Kendall and Kamari, staying with her.
Her childhood nemesis, the town's most powerful realtor, Sloan Brackenridge, has influenced the greedy landlords to raise the rent, causing the housing problems in the town and sealing crooked deals to keep her business, Scenic View Luxury Condominiums, going strong. To make matters worse, Sloan Brackenridge, is arguing with Jorge and openly makes fun of Kayla's quitting the job. Sadie argues with her and Sloan leaves the place only to be having a heated verbal exchange with Paige, her best friend. Sadie is worried because Sloan can go to any extent to seek revenge. Her fear turns out to be true as two back to back incidents have Sadie thoroughly alarmed. Her dog, Tyrone, is poisoned and Sloan Brackenridge is found dead on the back alley where Sadie resides, making her a prime suspect. Almost the whole town had witnessed her exchanging words with Sloan. She's also shocked to find her childhood crush Merritt West when she accidentally discovers Sloan's dead body. Her name and reputation is at stake. They join hands to investigate the case and then follows a series of exciting sleuthing with danger lurking around Sadie. To sum up, this is my kind of a perfect cozy mystery. Enthralling, charming and fantastic. Besides Sadie, Kendall and Kamari are my favorite characters as they add the humor element.
This was a great cozy mystery with the main character, Sadie, attempting to investigate the murder of her "arch nemesis". The sleuthing is fueled by a mixture of small town gossip and dubious methods, however it supports the reader attempting to solve the mystery themselves. However, the author lacks an understanding of show, don't tell and shares needless descriptions in order to add to the narration. If you're able to overlook the excess descriptions, the plot is interesting and has you rooting for Sadie to solve the crime while reconnecting with her first crush/best friend Merrit who is supporting her in her sleuthing, but also she has this silent, but hot sexual tension with the lead detective. I would not call this a love triangle, but it does add some spice for the next four books in the series! Also, despite being set in Wyoming there was a diverse cast of different races, sexualities, and body types which was refreshing to see. Overall, it's just a quick, fun read!
I wanted to like this book so much, in fact I made it through half of it trying to get past the constant political/ethical lessons the author felt the need to shove into her writing, but I had to call it quits. It felt like a caricature of wokeness, almost comically so. To this day I'm very unsure why writers do this. This might resonate with some, but it's polarizing and doesn't make for an enjoyable read, regardless of what opinions the author has. All I wanted was a cozy mystery, the proselytizing isn't necessary in this genre.
While the inappropriately opinionated writing was the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak, the writing itself is nothing to write home about. I noticed multiple typos and instances of repetitive phrases that got to be a bit grating, and had me saying out loud "What kind of editor didn't catch these? Did the author even proof read this?". All in all, fun premise ruined by mediocre writing and preachy subtext.
Usually I’m not much of a mystery reader but it was something about the small town vibe and picturesque community that had me absolutely hooked from the start. I loved Sadie’s personality and how she is a strong and independent woman who doesn’t hesitate to stand up for what she believes in. Her characterization was SO enjoyable to read and I was so sad to finish the book!
As for the mystery part, I definitely couldn’t solve it for myself because there were so many believable options! Not quite knowing what was going to happen kept me on the edge of my toes and allowed me to be swept away into this world. I found myself reading with one eye closed, cringing at parts that I just couldn’t tell what was going to happen!
Definitely 5/5 stars. Cannot wait to read the next one!
I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed the Books 2 Hot Springs Murder and Escape from the Northpole. The main character are very interesting to learn about their lives and how they react to any given events that come up during their every day lives. It took me a little long to figure out who the murder was this time but it was very interest to see how you came to the same answer as I did. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes cozy mystery but read Book 1 first before reading any of the others just so that you don't miss any of the basic info on all the characters.
Jackson Hole baker Sadie and her crew of mismatched friends and employees find themselves in the middle of a cold blooded murder that happened almost in David's backyard. The new detective in town thinks Sadie's the murderer, but everyone else is convinced she didn't (or couldn't) do it! Can you help Sadie solve the mystery before she finds herself in the hot seat for murder?
I almost didn’t bother to read this after some of reviews ripped it for being too woke, and I’m so glad I ignored them. This is a fun mystery. It’s well written, and the plot had me questioning till the end. I enjoyed the different characters, and their varied friendships. I also enjoyed the..”not quite cozy”…atmosphere. If someone had sworn, I would enjoyed even more…lol
This cozy definitely nails the “small mountain town vibe” with its characters and setting. I appreciate it makes the housing crisis central to the plot and characters as it grounds it more in reality, in my opinion.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the series and getting to know the cast of characters even better!
When Sadie Moose returned to Jackson Hole Wyoming to take over the family's bakery, she never expected to have a hard time keeping help because of the housing market. While trying to keep the bakery running she is being investigated for the murder of her archnemesis. Good reading with plenty of twists and turns and romance thrown in
First I wasn't sure. Yet, as I kept reading I was drawn into their lives. Aligning with each character and trying to solve all the issues! Can't wait to read the next! Definitely has me interested on where this series will go. Good Job!
I loved this book! Great characters, the mystery was layered and kept me guessing and the setting was perfect. Having lived in Jackson before this one hit home for sure. Can’t wait to read the next one.
Thought that this was going to be an “ok” read…turned out to be much more….looks like an interesting series..good characters, action, food (who doesn’t like good food?), a variety of players…I’ll read more
Mountain Town Murder is an engaging first book in this series set in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with a great cast of characters. As a former Wyomingite, I really enjoyed the very real issues the author addressed about living and working in a tourist town.
I enjoyed this book immensely! I enjoyed the quirky characters, the insight to the area and housing crisis. It was informative as well as entertaining!
Fun new cozy series for me. Extra fun because I've been to Jackson Hole. The writing was good and the characters were awesome. I love how diverse the cast was, so many colors from the LGBTQ rainbow. Definitely plan to continue this series.