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A Chocoholic Mystery #9
The Chocolate Cupid Killings
Ninth in the scrumptious-and national bestselling-Chocoholic Mystery series.
TenHuis Chocolade is wall-to- wall with chocolate hearts for Valentine's Day. But Lee is getting no love from Private Detective Derrick Valentine.
He's looking for their employee-a woman Lee and her Aunt Nettie have been harboring for an underground railroad-type organization that aids abused women. Luckily, they manage to not spill the cocoa beans and clue him in.
But the situation becomes a complex confection when Valentine meets his end. And it's Aunt Nettie who becomes a suspect. Lee will have to find a way to free Nettie of guilt without exposing the innocent-and find a killer with a bitter heart that's definitely not made of chocolate...
TenHuis Chocolade is wall-to- wall with chocolate hearts for Valentine's Day. But Lee is getting no love from Private Detective Derrick Valentine.
He's looking for their employee-a woman Lee and her Aunt Nettie have been harboring for an underground railroad-type organization that aids abused women. Luckily, they manage to not spill the cocoa beans and clue him in.
But the situation becomes a complex confection when Valentine meets his end. And it's Aunt Nettie who becomes a suspect. Lee will have to find a way to free Nettie of guilt without exposing the innocent-and find a killer with a bitter heart that's definitely not made of chocolate...
240 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2009
40 people are currently reading
870 people want to read
About the author
JoAnna Carl
34 books434 followersJOANNA CARL is the pseudonym for the multi-published mystery writer Eve K. Sandstrom. The author writes about the shores of Lake Michigan and has been reviewed in Michigan newspapers as a “regional writer.” She has also written about Southwest Oklahoma and once won an award for the best book of the year with an Oklahoma setting.
Eve K. Sandstrom is an Oklahoman to the teeth: she was born there, as were five previous generations of her mother’s family. Both her grandfathers and her father were in the oil business, once the backbone of Oklahoma’s economy. One grandmother was born in the Choctaw Nation, and Eve is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Eve and seven other members of her immediate family are graduates of the University of Oklahoma. Eve even knows the second verse of “Boomer Sooner.”
Eve wrote two mystery series: the “Down Home” books, set on a ranch in Southwest Oklahoma, and the Nell Matthews mysteries, semi-hard-boiled books laid in a mid-size city on the Southern Plains.
But Eve married a great guy whose family owned a cottage on the west coast of Lake Michigan, not far from the Michigan towns of Fennville, Saugatuck, and Douglas. Every summer for more than forty years she, her husband and various combinations of children and grandchildren have trekked to the community of Pier Cove for vacations that lasted from two weeks to three months.
The area features gorgeous beaches, lush orchards, thick woods, and beautiful Victorian houses. Eve grew to love it. So when her editor asked her to come up with a new, “cozy” mystery series, Eve set it in a West Michigan resort town, scrambling up Saugatuck, Douglas, South Haven, Holland, Manistee, Ludington and Muskegon with her own ideas of what a resort ought to be to create Warner Pier.
As further background, she plunked her heroine into a business which produces and sells luscious, luxurious, European-style bonbons, truffles and molded chocolates. Most small towns couldn’t support a business like this, but the resorts of West Michigan – with their wealthy “summer people” – can. The “Chocoholic Mysteries” were on their way.
Eve’s editor requested that she use a pen name for the new series, and Eve picked the middle names of her three children, Betsy Jo, Ruth Anna, and John Carl. “JoAnna Carl” was born. So that’s how JoAnna/Eve became a regional author in two widely separated regions.
JoAnna/Eve earned a degree in journalism at the University of Oklahoma and also studied with Carolyn G. Hart and Jack Bickham in the OU Creative Writing Program. She spent more than twenty-five years in the newspaper business, working as a reporter, editor, and columnist at The Lawton Constitution in Lawton, Oklahoma. She took an early retirement to write fiction full-time.
She and her husband, David F. Sandstrom, have three grandchildren, whom they love introducing to the lore of their two homes – Oklahoma and Michigan.
She spent 25 years in the newspaper business as a reporter, feature writer, editor, and columnist, most recently at the Lawton Constitution. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of OK and also studied in the O.U. Professional Writing program. She lives in Oklahoma but summers in Michigan where the Chocoholic Mystery series is set. She has one daughter who is a CPA and another who works for a chocolate company and provides yummy insider information on the chocolate business.
Eve K. Sandstrom is an Oklahoman to the teeth: she was born there, as were five previous generations of her mother’s family. Both her grandfathers and her father were in the oil business, once the backbone of Oklahoma’s economy. One grandmother was born in the Choctaw Nation, and Eve is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Eve and seven other members of her immediate family are graduates of the University of Oklahoma. Eve even knows the second verse of “Boomer Sooner.”
Eve wrote two mystery series: the “Down Home” books, set on a ranch in Southwest Oklahoma, and the Nell Matthews mysteries, semi-hard-boiled books laid in a mid-size city on the Southern Plains.
But Eve married a great guy whose family owned a cottage on the west coast of Lake Michigan, not far from the Michigan towns of Fennville, Saugatuck, and Douglas. Every summer for more than forty years she, her husband and various combinations of children and grandchildren have trekked to the community of Pier Cove for vacations that lasted from two weeks to three months.
The area features gorgeous beaches, lush orchards, thick woods, and beautiful Victorian houses. Eve grew to love it. So when her editor asked her to come up with a new, “cozy” mystery series, Eve set it in a West Michigan resort town, scrambling up Saugatuck, Douglas, South Haven, Holland, Manistee, Ludington and Muskegon with her own ideas of what a resort ought to be to create Warner Pier.
As further background, she plunked her heroine into a business which produces and sells luscious, luxurious, European-style bonbons, truffles and molded chocolates. Most small towns couldn’t support a business like this, but the resorts of West Michigan – with their wealthy “summer people” – can. The “Chocoholic Mysteries” were on their way.
Eve’s editor requested that she use a pen name for the new series, and Eve picked the middle names of her three children, Betsy Jo, Ruth Anna, and John Carl. “JoAnna Carl” was born. So that’s how JoAnna/Eve became a regional author in two widely separated regions.
JoAnna/Eve earned a degree in journalism at the University of Oklahoma and also studied with Carolyn G. Hart and Jack Bickham in the OU Creative Writing Program. She spent more than twenty-five years in the newspaper business, working as a reporter, editor, and columnist at The Lawton Constitution in Lawton, Oklahoma. She took an early retirement to write fiction full-time.
She and her husband, David F. Sandstrom, have three grandchildren, whom they love introducing to the lore of their two homes – Oklahoma and Michigan.
She spent 25 years in the newspaper business as a reporter, feature writer, editor, and columnist, most recently at the Lawton Constitution. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of OK and also studied in the O.U. Professional Writing program. She lives in Oklahoma but summers in Michigan where the Chocoholic Mystery series is set. She has one daughter who is a CPA and another who works for a chocolate company and provides yummy insider information on the chocolate business.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
February 7, 2021
During the first week of February, Lee Woodyard investigates the death of Derrick Valentine in order to prove her Aunt Nellie, a chocolate shop owner, is innocent of the crime.
Ms. Carl gives us well-developed, relatable, engaging characters. The story had an interesting plot that kept my attention and had me turning the pages one after the other. And there was a surprise ending.
All in all, this was an enjoyable book to read.
Ms. Carl gives us well-developed, relatable, engaging characters. The story had an interesting plot that kept my attention and had me turning the pages one after the other. And there was a surprise ending.
All in all, this was an enjoyable book to read.
December 18, 2018
The Chocolate Cupid Killings by JoAnna Carl is the 9th book in the Chocoholic Mystery series. A detective comes looking for someone that Lee and her aunt Nettie are helping to escape an abusive husband and the detective is then found murdered in the alley behind TenHuis Chocolade. An interesting slow paced mystery, although I thought the underground escape network a bit unbelievable and the killer was a bit obvious.. I loved the chocolate descriptions.
March 7, 2016
At last I'm able to recognize patterns in the versatile feel to the books in this series. This particular template is just like a puzzle, with everything fuzzy and incomplete until a big explanation at the end to ease all curiosities. It's a frustrating exercise to read a book like this. I cannot rate The Chocolate Cupid Killings very high, as I couldn't settle down and get cozy with the fluffy, domestic softness that this book lacked. Verily until next time.
February 15, 2017
Another good entry in the chocoholic series, this time set around Valentine's day (although the hairnet ladies are already making Easter candy). There were a lot of secrets between Lee and Joe this time which I didn't like but I hoped all would be revealed by the end and it was. Good mystery and I even caught on to some things before Lee did.
February 20, 2013
A cozy mystery from the mystery box!
I have a tendency to want to read a holiday-themed mystery around the holiday, so when I read the blurb on this one that Valentine is the first person to turn up dead, in February, it seemed like the perfect pick.
I have not read other books in the Chocoholic series, and I think this one is about 10 books in. So for all that, I expected Lee to be a bit more of a sophisticated sleuth. She deferred to the police an awful lot. Ironic that that bothered me, since in other series when they take too much upon themselves it makes me cringe!
Anyway, Pamela is using the "underground railroad" system in Michigan that helps protect battered women, and detective Valentine comes up from Atlanta showing a photo of Christina Meechum, the abused ex-wife of a criminal. Lee recognizes Christina as Pamela but doesn't tell Valentine, because she is protecting Pamela. Valentine ends up dead later that night, and the mystery spins from there.
Engaging, it kept me reading. Will I read more in the series? Maybe.
I have a tendency to want to read a holiday-themed mystery around the holiday, so when I read the blurb on this one that Valentine is the first person to turn up dead, in February, it seemed like the perfect pick.
I have not read other books in the Chocoholic series, and I think this one is about 10 books in. So for all that, I expected Lee to be a bit more of a sophisticated sleuth. She deferred to the police an awful lot. Ironic that that bothered me, since in other series when they take too much upon themselves it makes me cringe!
Anyway, Pamela is using the "underground railroad" system in Michigan that helps protect battered women, and detective Valentine comes up from Atlanta showing a photo of Christina Meechum, the abused ex-wife of a criminal. Lee recognizes Christina as Pamela but doesn't tell Valentine, because she is protecting Pamela. Valentine ends up dead later that night, and the mystery spins from there.
Engaging, it kept me reading. Will I read more in the series? Maybe.
December 10, 2017
Lots of secrets this time around, especially between Lee and Joe. Lee and Nettie were helping a battered woman by giving her a job as a "hairnet lady" but when a PI comes looking for her, they do what they can to help her get away. Then the PI turns up dead and the secrets start.
September 4, 2017
Lee Woodyard keeps the books and helps run her Aunt Nettie's chocolate shop in Warner Pier, a small resort town on Lake Michigan. Recently, Lee and Aunt Nettie have employed Pamela, a woman on the run from her abusive ex-husband, but things get complicated when a private detective starts questioning Lee about the where-a-bouts of Pamela, and even more complicated when that same private eye is soon found dead outside the chocolate shop by none other than Aunt Nettie. Lee's husband, Joe, also seems to be harboring some secrets of his own as the city attorney and a case that he's been working on with the Chief of Police, Hogan Jones, who also happens to be Aunt Nettie's husband.
I enjoy the small town feel of this series, along with Lee and Joe and their extended family relationships.
I enjoy the small town feel of this series, along with Lee and Joe and their extended family relationships.
May 13, 2020
I have been reading this series, but mostly the books have been hit and miss, whenever I see one at a library sale or what not. So, I can not really comment on how the characters have been growing, for example. But it was good enough for a quick little mystery.
February 17, 2021
a good little mystery, very short and sweet, just the right stuff to make it good
June 18, 2011
Pretty good story and a quick read but I don't know if I liked it enough. This is a series and I started about 9 books in so maybe I'll go back and start with the first book and see if I enjoy the stories any more that way. My mouth was watering as they talked about making the super good chocolate candy to sell in the shop. I'll have to go there they give a free sample to every visitor. : )
July 11, 2024
The Chocolate Cupid Killings by Joanna Carl is the ninth book of the Chocoholic Mystery series set in contemporary Warnier Pier, Michigan. Lee Woodyard manages TenHuis Chocolades, her Aunt Nettie's family business. Her husband Joe is the Warner Pier City Attorney (part time), owns & operates a custom boat-building shop (his passion). It's February, cold and snowy. The summer tourists are long gone. Strangers stand out very well in the small town. A detective accosts Lee at TenHuis, demanding he tell her where his prey is: Christine Meacham. He shows her a photo. Lee successfully conceals that she knows the woman, and sends him away.
Aunt Nettie's friend Sarajane owns and operates the town's B&B. Handy to stash strangers for a few days, such as women who are running from abusive husbands. Like the woman working at TenHuis. It's unconvincing that Aunt Nettie must keep this a secret from her husband the police chief, and Lee must keep it secret from her husband. But Joe is likewise keeping many secrets from Lee these days. Plus she can never reach him when she tries.
A criminal bigwig has come to stay in his summer mansion; Rhett the butler (yes really) is to and fro handling all errands. The media is all over the trial of the bigwig, and the critical witness who fled the country.
Another criminal comes to town: the abusive husband is out of jail, out to find the ex-wife he nearly killed with his beatings. Same woman the detective was seeking.
Lee can never reach anyone she needs to tell critical information. Even at the police station, the chief is elsewhere in secret meetings (no doubt with Joe).
Lee and Nettie discover both murdered bodies (different times/places). At least there is no far-fetched idea they're guilty. The story seems fast-paced, but when you analyze it, events are mostly spaced by Lee's futile efforts to reach anyone (filler). Or Lee and Joe at the pizza parlor, when he finally shows up late each night. A rapid, unsurprising finale leaves a few plot threads dangling.
Fascinating Chocolate Chat in every chapter details how chocolate is grown, harvested, prepared, and how specialty chocolates are made.
Aunt Nettie's friend Sarajane owns and operates the town's B&B. Handy to stash strangers for a few days, such as women who are running from abusive husbands. Like the woman working at TenHuis. It's unconvincing that Aunt Nettie must keep this a secret from her husband the police chief, and Lee must keep it secret from her husband. But Joe is likewise keeping many secrets from Lee these days. Plus she can never reach him when she tries.
A criminal bigwig has come to stay in his summer mansion; Rhett the butler (yes really) is to and fro handling all errands. The media is all over the trial of the bigwig, and the critical witness who fled the country.
Another criminal comes to town: the abusive husband is out of jail, out to find the ex-wife he nearly killed with his beatings. Same woman the detective was seeking.
Lee can never reach anyone she needs to tell critical information. Even at the police station, the chief is elsewhere in secret meetings (no doubt with Joe).
Lee and Nettie discover both murdered bodies (different times/places). At least there is no far-fetched idea they're guilty. The story seems fast-paced, but when you analyze it, events are mostly spaced by Lee's futile efforts to reach anyone (filler). Or Lee and Joe at the pizza parlor, when he finally shows up late each night. A rapid, unsurprising finale leaves a few plot threads dangling.
Fascinating Chocolate Chat in every chapter details how chocolate is grown, harvested, prepared, and how specialty chocolates are made.
February 4, 2023
Had to read this one for book club or I would have DNF'd it right away. I kept holding out hope that it might redeem itself, and it did not. I should note that I never pick up the 9th book in a series and just start reading, but I needed a Valentines Day themed book so I took a chance.
If I could ignore the loose writing, the dumb character names (literally Dolly Jolly), and the quirk of the main character (accidentally blurting out the wrong word when she is stressed out), I cannot ignore gems like this:
"Dolly was a big woman. Somehow it was surprising to see how feminine her decorating taste was."
Carl is very concerned with people's appearances. Lee's employees are the "hairnet ladies". Glad to see they are valued. I mean, how hard would it be to at least describe them as chocolatiers?
On top of a very easy to solve mystery we have way too many family characters, and townies. None of whom have anything to do with anything. They are like clutter in an already sloppy story.
Also, a side note, it bothered me how poorly written the relationship between Lee and Joe was. Perhaps they are more lovey-dovey in the first 8 books? Here were two people who barely seemed to stand each other,and who spent the entire book keeping secrets from each other.
In a way, I'm glad. It's sometimes so much more fun to talk about a book you disliked in book club.
If I could ignore the loose writing, the dumb character names (literally Dolly Jolly), and the quirk of the main character (accidentally blurting out the wrong word when she is stressed out), I cannot ignore gems like this:
"Dolly was a big woman. Somehow it was surprising to see how feminine her decorating taste was."
Carl is very concerned with people's appearances. Lee's employees are the "hairnet ladies". Glad to see they are valued. I mean, how hard would it be to at least describe them as chocolatiers?
On top of a very easy to solve mystery we have way too many family characters, and townies. None of whom have anything to do with anything. They are like clutter in an already sloppy story.
Also, a side note, it bothered me how poorly written the relationship between Lee and Joe was. Perhaps they are more lovey-dovey in the first 8 books? Here were two people who barely seemed to stand each other,and who spent the entire book keeping secrets from each other.
In a way, I'm glad. It's sometimes so much more fun to talk about a book you disliked in book club.
November 20, 2018
Rated this one (#9 in the series) as ok, only ok. There was a lot going on and it was confusing. Some of the points in the mystery were never fully explained. I read it twice and it was still confusing. The best parts of the Chocoholic mysteries are the interactions between and among the characters, but Joe was keeping a lot of secrets for himself and others and so the Lee-Joe relationship wasn't as interesting as in other books. But I still like the characters and I'm looking forward to the next one.
August 22, 2020
Kind of typical for the genre. Apparently, this is the 3rd book in this series that I've read but I think it's the first time the author explained how to pronounce the name of the chocolate store: TenHuis is 'TenHice.' Lee works at the Chocolade with her aunt and in this installment, they are providing a safe place for a battered wife. A private investigator shows up looking for her and is found dead later that evening. At the same time this is going on, there's a fraud case against the upper echelons of a major company and the alleged guilty party is holed up in Lee's small town. On top of all this, Lee's husband is being very mysterious. It was fairly easy to follow although as I think about it now, I don't think the author explained all the details in the end.
October 16, 2022
This series continues to delight. The cast of regular characters (Lee, Joe, Aunt Nettie) is a pleasure to revisit. This storyline involving a woman fleeing an abusive husband was well drawn, but not too graphic. It is fun to hear details such as needing to use minutes to place phone calls and other 2009 details. The stories are just a short, fun read and while I have enjoyed some more than others, I am now on book 9 in the series and plan to continue.
The stories are all about 6 hours in audio format which is perfect for a cozy mystery.
I plan to finish this series. I read one every month or so as a treat from more serious fare.
The stories are all about 6 hours in audio format which is perfect for a cozy mystery.
I plan to finish this series. I read one every month or so as a treat from more serious fare.
February 11, 2023
A small community is racked by a murder. The action takes place around a chocolate shop that specializes in specialty chocolates. Lee Woodyard and her Aunt own the shop. A detective shows up looking for an employee. Lee tells the detective that they don't have anyone by that name working there. The detective ends up killed behind the chocolate shop. No shortage of suspects. The conclusion is quite impressive.
June 30, 2017
An abused wife on the run, a husband who is up to something and a pushy private detective all descend on Warner Pier. Somehow, Ten Huis Chocolates seem to be smack in the middle of all the skullduggery. Lee and Aunt Nettie's discovery of a dead body at the back door of their shop doesn't help matters either.
February 10, 2019
I really enjoyed this book as it kept me guessing most of the way through. You think you know what's going on, but you really don't. As weird things start to happen you see things aren't what you think they were, but you aren't sure what they are! Great fun working at figuring things out. There are some murders in book but nothing graphic...
February 17, 2021
It seems like everyone has secrets. Lee has secrets from her husband, Aunt Nettie has secrets and there is the woman who is being hidden by an organization that helps abused women. When a PI comes into the Chocolate shop concern arises for everyone. This starts a chain of events that has Lee trying to discover what is going on.
July 3, 2019
A s0-so cozy featuring Lee Woodyard, who works with her aunt in a chocolate shop in Northern Michigan. The story line is okay and the mystery well developed but there are too many characters to keep track of. JoAnna Carl is a pseudonym of Eve K. Sandstrom.
December 29, 2019
Things I loved in this book: The underground women's railroad, how some women can look a lot alike, a former abuse victim distrusting the law, the Detroit mafia. Things I didn't like: The disapproval of swearing, but the use of a Native American racial stereotype in a description.
February 1, 2021
Nettie has hired a woman fleeing an abusive husband, as part of the new Underground Railroad mentioned in a previous book. A PI comes looking and winds up dead. At the same time, Joe is dealing with a lawyer he used to work with pressuring him. The typical mayhem ensues.
May 9, 2021
Chocolate, hiding abused women, holiday sweets, and Aunt Nettie skirting the edges of legality when she's married to a cop is a great story! Joanna Carl has woven another wonderful tale for Lee and Warner Pier.
February 3, 2023
Decent for a cozy mystery. This is the first one I’ve read. Takes place in Michigan. The main character helps run a chocolate shop and her husband owns a boat shop. The chocolate shop is employing a woman who is hiding out from her abusive husband…or is she? B-
September 6, 2023
This story kept you guessing until the end, the bad guy is often figured out early. This time the twist was two people and it wasn't who is the most obvious. Good story all around and it flows well, I liked the chocolates recipes through out the book.
July 23, 2024
Lee finds out the difficulty of keeping someone else's secrets and the complications that ensue. FBI, mob ties, underground railroad for women in dangerous relationships, with murderous intent. JoAnna Carl does not disappoint.
September 29, 2018
Not memorable, and the battered women’s rescue squad strains credulity
January 6, 2019
Fun, fast read.
September 7, 2019
Grab a mug of hot cocoa and your fuzzy slippers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews