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Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles #3
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Can lyrics from Jimmy Buffett’s songs help Bliss solve a month-old murder?
The Texas hill town of Magnolia Bluff looms as a mere distraction for Bliss Jager when the new-to-her motorcycle breaks down under a banner publicizing the annual persimmon festival. Her other thought at the time: What in the world is a persimmon?
Only in town an hour, she’s offered pizza-for-life and a job at Doyle’s General Store. The job comes with two perks: a yellow throat toucan, which is odd enough, but add to that the ghost of Merrick Doyle and life takes a vociferously strange turn. The fatherly man is friendly and much loved, and related to most everyone in town. Trouble is, he’s been dead a month. Townspeople think he died of natural causes but he insists he was murdered.
Can Bliss expose the killer before people find out she’s been getting clues from a ghost, and um…a toucan? More important, can she find the killer before the killer finds her?
The Texas hill town of Magnolia Bluff looms as a mere distraction for Bliss Jager when the new-to-her motorcycle breaks down under a banner publicizing the annual persimmon festival. Her other thought at the time: What in the world is a persimmon?
Only in town an hour, she’s offered pizza-for-life and a job at Doyle’s General Store. The job comes with two perks: a yellow throat toucan, which is odd enough, but add to that the ghost of Merrick Doyle and life takes a vociferously strange turn. The fatherly man is friendly and much loved, and related to most everyone in town. Trouble is, he’s been dead a month. Townspeople think he died of natural causes but he insists he was murdered.
Can Bliss expose the killer before people find out she’s been getting clues from a ghost, and um…a toucan? More important, can she find the killer before the killer finds her?
- GenresFiction
282 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 20, 2022
35 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Cindy Davis
192 books42 followersWhen I lived in New England I stayed indoors and wrote murder mysteries. Now, in Florida, where I can be outdoors twelve months of the year, I write self-help and metaphysical fiction.
Maybe it's the warm weather!
I travel around absorbing earth energy and doing motivational speaking.
www.cindydavisauthor.com, www.fiction-doctor.com
Maybe it's the warm weather!
I travel around absorbing earth energy and doing motivational speaking.
www.cindydavisauthor.com, www.fiction-doctor.com
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 27, 2023
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy is the first book I've read by Cindy Davis. What a fun adventure from the first page to the last. Davis's main character, Bliss Jager, is a hoot. I found myself laughing aloud several times.
Bliss is a free spirit. An adventurer. And on this day, her bike broke down outside of the small town of Magnolia Bluff, Texas, and she's forced to occupy herself in Magnolia Bluff until it's repaired. But things get a little strange when Bliss encounters a ghost who must find out who murdered him. Bliss appears to be the only one who can hear and see him, and before long, she puts her amateur sleuth skills to work.
This book is well-crafted and engaging. It has a brisk plot, wonderfully fleshed-out characters, and snappy dialogue.
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy has plenty of twists and turns to keep you flipping pages. I highly recommend this book, and I'm looking forward to Davis' next mystery novel.
Bliss is a free spirit. An adventurer. And on this day, her bike broke down outside of the small town of Magnolia Bluff, Texas, and she's forced to occupy herself in Magnolia Bluff until it's repaired. But things get a little strange when Bliss encounters a ghost who must find out who murdered him. Bliss appears to be the only one who can hear and see him, and before long, she puts her amateur sleuth skills to work.
This book is well-crafted and engaging. It has a brisk plot, wonderfully fleshed-out characters, and snappy dialogue.
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy has plenty of twists and turns to keep you flipping pages. I highly recommend this book, and I'm looking forward to Davis' next mystery novel.
June 27, 2022
A yellow throated Toucan – that drops clues in your lap? A friendly ghost? How could you refuse to give that book a try. And what a reward you get for trying it. Ms. Davis has crafted a great book, combining a little mystery with a little fantasy.
Bliss, the young woman who is pushed into solving the murder, is a great character. She’s open to make friends with the ghost and charm the toucan, whom most of the people in the book do not like. And the toucan doesn’t like them much either. Add to this that Bliss hears lyrics from Jimmy Buffett songs which seem to predict what lies ahead for her.
It seems the man died and the locals called it natural causes. But when the ghost befriends Bliss, he says no, it was not natural and not suicide. It was murder. He doesn’t know who did it, but he was poisoned and insists that Bliss find out who did him in. Fortunately, the Toucan helps.
I recommend this book if you enjoy solving murder mysteries, or if you like a little fantasy, or great characters, or just like a good book that draws you in and entertains. Pick up The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy. You won’t regret it.
Bliss, the young woman who is pushed into solving the murder, is a great character. She’s open to make friends with the ghost and charm the toucan, whom most of the people in the book do not like. And the toucan doesn’t like them much either. Add to this that Bliss hears lyrics from Jimmy Buffett songs which seem to predict what lies ahead for her.
It seems the man died and the locals called it natural causes. But when the ghost befriends Bliss, he says no, it was not natural and not suicide. It was murder. He doesn’t know who did it, but he was poisoned and insists that Bliss find out who did him in. Fortunately, the Toucan helps.
I recommend this book if you enjoy solving murder mysteries, or if you like a little fantasy, or great characters, or just like a good book that draws you in and entertains. Pick up The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy. You won’t regret it.
July 14, 2022
A fun, sizzling mystery with the heroine bunking out with a ghost!
What does a small Texas town, a host of quirky and often suspicious characters, a ghost and a toucan have in common? You’ll find out the answers in THE GREAT PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY by Cindy Davis. In Book 3 of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, we have a wonderful, new mystery to solve.
Bliss Jager is forced to stop in Magnolia Bluff when her motorcycle breaks down. However, she doesn’t plan on staying very long. She’s anxious to continue on with her journey as soon as her bike is fixed. A series of events set her on a different course. Before she knows it, she has a job at Doyle’s General Store. For Bliss, it’s a stroke of good fortune since she needs money for the bike repairs and a place to stay. Little does she realize she’s going to be bunking out with the ghost of a murdered man and a feisty toucan named Diablo. When Bliss is able to see and communicate with the ghost, he is determined to enlist her aid in finding his killer.
This is a lively whodunit with lots of twists and ghostly turns, fun moments with Diablo the toucan, and scary situations when the killer is out to murder Bliss Jager too. There are clues throughout, however, you’ll need to be in your super-sleuth mode to ferret out the killer in this clever, murder mystery. It’s a very entertaining read that I can highly recommend!
What does a small Texas town, a host of quirky and often suspicious characters, a ghost and a toucan have in common? You’ll find out the answers in THE GREAT PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY by Cindy Davis. In Book 3 of the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, we have a wonderful, new mystery to solve.
Bliss Jager is forced to stop in Magnolia Bluff when her motorcycle breaks down. However, she doesn’t plan on staying very long. She’s anxious to continue on with her journey as soon as her bike is fixed. A series of events set her on a different course. Before she knows it, she has a job at Doyle’s General Store. For Bliss, it’s a stroke of good fortune since she needs money for the bike repairs and a place to stay. Little does she realize she’s going to be bunking out with the ghost of a murdered man and a feisty toucan named Diablo. When Bliss is able to see and communicate with the ghost, he is determined to enlist her aid in finding his killer.
This is a lively whodunit with lots of twists and ghostly turns, fun moments with Diablo the toucan, and scary situations when the killer is out to murder Bliss Jager too. There are clues throughout, however, you’ll need to be in your super-sleuth mode to ferret out the killer in this clever, murder mystery. It’s a very entertaining read that I can highly recommend!
January 12, 2024
Entertaining entry in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicle Series. Highly recommended!
July 17, 2022
This is my third trip to Magnolia Bluff. And after the first two books in the series, I was eagerly awaiting book three. Author Cindy Davis shows us another side of this small Texas town that was not seen in the offerings from CW Hawes or Caleb Pirtle III. Oh sure, we still get to visit with a few familiar faces, like Harry Thurgood, owner of the Really Good Wood-Fired Coffee Shop, but the author also introduces us to some new characters that help round out the quirkiness of Magnolia Bluff. And we are treated to a bit of a paranormal spin in this cozy mystery crafted by the talented Ms. Davis.
Bliss Jager’s experience in this small town begins when her motorcycle breaks down in Magnolia Bluff. She is trying to escape her past and really only expects to be held up long enough to have her bike repaired so she can hurry along to her next destination… wherever that may be. But like most of the folks who find their way into Magnolia Bluff, she finds it difficult to find her way back out again. The parts for the repairs are going to take a couple days to come in, so what’s a girl to do? Bliss soon finds herself wrapped up in a murder mystery with enough suspects to rival the game Clue, and a ghostly partner that just happens to be the victim. Throw in a Toucan that seems to be able to communicate with her, Jimmy Buffett Lyrics that pop into her head and can only be described as somehow clairvoyant, and you have the making of a fun, page turning mystery.
Davis has a way of drawing you into the story. Her characters are people you want to get to know, and the story develops at a pace that keeps the reader interested from the first page to the last. Her writing seems effortless even though you know that a lot of thought and care went into each word written. I’ve read a couple of books by this author, and she never disappoints. I love the fact that Magnolia Bluff and The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy is just the first stop for Bliss Jager, and I am looking forward to seeing what other mysteries she gets tangled up in along her journey.
Definitely a 5-Star reading experience!
Bliss Jager’s experience in this small town begins when her motorcycle breaks down in Magnolia Bluff. She is trying to escape her past and really only expects to be held up long enough to have her bike repaired so she can hurry along to her next destination… wherever that may be. But like most of the folks who find their way into Magnolia Bluff, she finds it difficult to find her way back out again. The parts for the repairs are going to take a couple days to come in, so what’s a girl to do? Bliss soon finds herself wrapped up in a murder mystery with enough suspects to rival the game Clue, and a ghostly partner that just happens to be the victim. Throw in a Toucan that seems to be able to communicate with her, Jimmy Buffett Lyrics that pop into her head and can only be described as somehow clairvoyant, and you have the making of a fun, page turning mystery.
Davis has a way of drawing you into the story. Her characters are people you want to get to know, and the story develops at a pace that keeps the reader interested from the first page to the last. Her writing seems effortless even though you know that a lot of thought and care went into each word written. I’ve read a couple of books by this author, and she never disappoints. I love the fact that Magnolia Bluff and The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy is just the first stop for Bliss Jager, and I am looking forward to seeing what other mysteries she gets tangled up in along her journey.
Definitely a 5-Star reading experience!
July 7, 2022
Author Cindy Davis adds the third book to the incredible Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles. Bliss loves riding her motorcycle, eating pizza, singing Jimmy Buffet songs, and learning new things. She’s never met a stranger and proves it when her bike breaks down on the edge of Magnolia Bluff. This endearing girl gets someone to work on her bike, gets a job, and befriends a Toucan named Diablo.
Author Davis teases out the attributes of Bliss and all the characters with realistic interactions. When Merrick Doyle, father to her benefactors and owner of Diablo, appears in his ghostly embodiment, he is delighted that Bliss hears and sees him. They team up to find his murderer. The early conversation between them sets the tone of their relationship.
This is too freaky. “Okay, guy, we have to set some ground rules for this relationship. I need privacy.”
Understood. There is silence, and I close my eyes again, but he continues, By the way, I’m pretty sure you can talk to me from inside your head. You know, think at me. Then you won’t shock people.
The mystery grabs the reader from page one with unexpected twists and turns, flashes of whimsy, and characters you’ll want to meet next time you visit Magnolia Bluff. A fun element of this story is the clues come from the lyrics of Buffet songs into Bliss’s mind. Making the connections to identify the culprit takes input from the ghost, the toucan, and several town folks.
I highly recommend The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy by Cindy Davis for lovers of murder mysteries with a distinctive flair. CW Hawes and Caleb Pirtle III delivered the two previous books in this series with their style and characters that you won’t want to miss. This unique town has a penchant for crime, and the Underground Authors will share their stories, each as a stand-alone reading treasure.
Author Davis teases out the attributes of Bliss and all the characters with realistic interactions. When Merrick Doyle, father to her benefactors and owner of Diablo, appears in his ghostly embodiment, he is delighted that Bliss hears and sees him. They team up to find his murderer. The early conversation between them sets the tone of their relationship.
This is too freaky. “Okay, guy, we have to set some ground rules for this relationship. I need privacy.”
Understood. There is silence, and I close my eyes again, but he continues, By the way, I’m pretty sure you can talk to me from inside your head. You know, think at me. Then you won’t shock people.
The mystery grabs the reader from page one with unexpected twists and turns, flashes of whimsy, and characters you’ll want to meet next time you visit Magnolia Bluff. A fun element of this story is the clues come from the lyrics of Buffet songs into Bliss’s mind. Making the connections to identify the culprit takes input from the ghost, the toucan, and several town folks.
I highly recommend The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy by Cindy Davis for lovers of murder mysteries with a distinctive flair. CW Hawes and Caleb Pirtle III delivered the two previous books in this series with their style and characters that you won’t want to miss. This unique town has a penchant for crime, and the Underground Authors will share their stories, each as a stand-alone reading treasure.
December 2, 2023
Review rolled to 3.8 stars
A toucan and a girl meet by coincidence. Life is forever changed for both of them.
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy: Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is book #3 in this series. Author Cindy Davis created a fast-paced, unputdownable book about Bliss, a girl escaping her past.
As the story began I did not know where it was going with its initial pages. Then everything changed for the better when the ghost of Merrick entered the story. He asked Bliss to help find out who killed him. What ensues in the story is Bliss and Diablo, a toucan becoming endeared to one another, in the chaos of someone trying to murder Bliss, while she’s doing her best to uncover who murdered Merrick.
After being stranded in Magnolia Bluff after her bike breaks down, Bliss makes the best of her situation. She finds employment and a place to stay. Bliss’s sleuthing begins and is like a winding mountain road being driven at 75 mph. Hence the unputdownable aspect – who is out to keep their murderous deed secret by killing Bliss?
There are elements to the story that I wish had closure. Like how did Olivia know what Bliss wanted on her pizza? Somehow, I must try a serrano, mushroom, tomato, and hamburger pizza. That actually sounds yummo, than a standard pepperoni.
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy is a fab little book for a quick weekend read with its brisk plot and snappy dialogue.
Personal note. Diablo is a toucan. Not a parrot. They are two different bird species as evidenced by their beaks. The author got this right. It’s everyone else who is getting wrong.
A toucan and a girl meet by coincidence. Life is forever changed for both of them.
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy: Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles is book #3 in this series. Author Cindy Davis created a fast-paced, unputdownable book about Bliss, a girl escaping her past.
As the story began I did not know where it was going with its initial pages. Then everything changed for the better when the ghost of Merrick entered the story. He asked Bliss to help find out who killed him. What ensues in the story is Bliss and Diablo, a toucan becoming endeared to one another, in the chaos of someone trying to murder Bliss, while she’s doing her best to uncover who murdered Merrick.
After being stranded in Magnolia Bluff after her bike breaks down, Bliss makes the best of her situation. She finds employment and a place to stay. Bliss’s sleuthing begins and is like a winding mountain road being driven at 75 mph. Hence the unputdownable aspect – who is out to keep their murderous deed secret by killing Bliss?
There are elements to the story that I wish had closure. Like how did Olivia know what Bliss wanted on her pizza? Somehow, I must try a serrano, mushroom, tomato, and hamburger pizza. That actually sounds yummo, than a standard pepperoni.
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy is a fab little book for a quick weekend read with its brisk plot and snappy dialogue.
Personal note. Diablo is a toucan. Not a parrot. They are two different bird species as evidenced by their beaks. The author got this right. It’s everyone else who is getting wrong.
June 22, 2022
What happens when we attempt to become a free spirit? Go ask Bliss Jager after her motorcycle breaks down under the sign advertising a persimmon festival. She has no idea what a persimmon even is, let alone what the festival entails. And, as luck would have it, she has arrived in one of the more interesting towns in Texas hill country – Magnolia Bluff. It’s not long at all before she has a job, and is confidante of a ghost named Merrick Doyle, who now wants to tell her that he was murdered. The Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles are emerging as the series to watch; nine novels by nine authors, released over nine months. Many of the characters overlap, and will soon become familiar to readers. The first two novels in the series, by CW Hawes and Caleb Pirtle, set a high bar. Though tonally quite different, the Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy easily meets this level of excellence. Cindy Davis is an accomplished mystery writer, and Bliss Jager radiates the freshness and humor of someone to whom unusual things just happen. Highly recommended with pizza and a milkshake.
January 29, 2023
Magnolia Bluff Revisited
Before The Great Peanut Conspiracy opened, Bliss left her world on a motorcycle. It is only because it breaks down that she settles. At least for a while. She longs to leave though.
Doyle’s General Store is haunted by its former owner. Why? He claims he was murdered.
A Toucan lives caged in the general store and as Bliss lands a job there, she befriends the bird (and vice versa).
These are some of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle concocted by Cindy Davis, the third participant in the nine-book strong Magnolia Bluff series.
Her version of the Texan town is different from the two first books in some ways, but it also ties in with the idea of a town as the main character.
We have tortured characters, we have a murder, but we also have lyrics from Jimmy Buffett songs, and clues dropped by unexpected means. By the way, who wouldn’t be seduced by a Persimmon Festival?
Before The Great Peanut Conspiracy opened, Bliss left her world on a motorcycle. It is only because it breaks down that she settles. At least for a while. She longs to leave though.
Doyle’s General Store is haunted by its former owner. Why? He claims he was murdered.
A Toucan lives caged in the general store and as Bliss lands a job there, she befriends the bird (and vice versa).
These are some of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle concocted by Cindy Davis, the third participant in the nine-book strong Magnolia Bluff series.
Her version of the Texan town is different from the two first books in some ways, but it also ties in with the idea of a town as the main character.
We have tortured characters, we have a murder, but we also have lyrics from Jimmy Buffett songs, and clues dropped by unexpected means. By the way, who wouldn’t be seduced by a Persimmon Festival?
March 23, 2025
THE GREAT PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY, the first of four of author Cindy Davis's Magnolia Bluff Crime Series novels, is sure to have readers scrambling to read the next and the next, and so on. I loved Bliss Jager from the first time she opened her mouth. Bliss is only twenty, a very free spirit whose past has her venturing on her motorcycle, willy-nilly, to places she's never been before. Her unpretentious approach to life is refreshing, humorous, and definitely entertaining. That she attracts the spirit of a recently murdered man may come as no surprise. While waiting for her motorcycle to be repaired, compassion dictates that she help him discover who killed him. The story is like a current-day mix of "Topper" and "Murder She Wrote." Sorry, you might have to be my age to get that, but it's a book readers are sure to enjoy.
June 22, 2022
Underground Author Cindy Davis is a masterful writer. She can captivate readers with traditional murder mysteries, (she’s written twenty-two of them). She’s also delved into metaphysical mysteries with fiction drama like Zipacna’s Legacy and two sequels. In her latest adventure, THE GREAT PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY, Davis dives into a whimsical tale about a ghost that haunts her room and demands that she solve his mysterious death. Then there’s the pizza-loving toucan, and clues she finds in her favorite Jimmy Buffett tunes. The tale turns deadly though when Bliss gets too close to discovering the killer, and her own life is in peril. It’s a unique book and a real nail-biter.
December 4, 2023
The Great Peanut Butter Conspiracy Has Spread
True to the Magnolia Bluff series, small town characters have come out of the woodwork to populate this unusual plot. The lead character tells the story in a small town manner, solving a paranormal murder mystery while maintaining her personal secrets. The story was interesting enough to keep me pulled in, although the telling of story was repetitive to a fault emphasizing pizza, injuries to the lead character, a ghost and a bird. It could get old….
True to the Magnolia Bluff series, small town characters have come out of the woodwork to populate this unusual plot. The lead character tells the story in a small town manner, solving a paranormal murder mystery while maintaining her personal secrets. The story was interesting enough to keep me pulled in, although the telling of story was repetitive to a fault emphasizing pizza, injuries to the lead character, a ghost and a bird. It could get old….
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews