Cocoa, Peppermint and Murder

Cocoa, Peppermint and Murder: A Willow Creek Cozy Mystery, Book 5

Jenni Marie

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

B&B owner Cynthia Harper is happily preparing for the Winter Festival in Willow Creek when tragedy strikes. During his opening speech, Mayor Grigsby collapses and it is determined he was poisoned. From this point on, Cynthia, along with her dog Duke and friend Evan, look for clues to find the killer.

I was gifted an ARC copy of this book and felt the book started out in a positive direction. As I read, however, there were inconsistencies in the plot that made it difficult to follow the storyline at times. Since it was an ARC copy, I am assuming that these issues were resolved prior to the release. Unlike other mysteries I’ve read, it was pretty apparent who the culprit was early on. The story had more of a focus of discovering the motive and bringing the killer to justice. I did not feel that this was a negative, it was just a different way to approach the story. This book has mystery, suspense, and a slowly developing relationship between Cynthia and Evan that I found sweet. If I could, I would give this story a solid 3 1/2 stars. It has a lot going for it, just needed tidied up a bit.