Oh, Fudge! (A Candy-coated Mystery)

I started this series because I love fudge and I love Mackinac Island. I've continued reading the series for the same two reasons, even though I find Allie annoying, impulsive, nosy and shallow. Through all of the books, her desire to make her inheritance of her grandfather's hotel a success is supposed to be very important to her, yet she uses any sleuthing excuse to drop her business at the drop of a hat and insert herself into police business. This is one of the series that I call "cookie cutter" ... change the character name/occupation/police chief/murder victim and they are all basically the same predictable story, right down to the potential love interest. I love cozies, but perhaps this is why a major publisher is dropping them. It's possible to write really enjoyable, interesting cozies with quirky characters, humor and intelligence (I'm thinking of several authors who have managed to do that and yet are struggling to keep their series going after just 2-3 books). Wishing that I could find a reason to enjoy this series beyond the fudge recipes. There is another cozy series set in Mackinac Island which is much more worth a readers' time, at least in my opinion.

I'm hoping someone can clear this up. Without giving away the plot I am curious if the Mrs. Finch in book 2 is the same Mrs. Finch in book 5 that lives at the Senior Center. If so, how did she end up in a Senior Center with the crimes she committed in book 2. There was a boat in book 4 named Scoundrel that belongs to the Jessop's. In book 5 there is a yacht named Scoundrel that belongs to the Sikes. I found this to be a bit confusing.

This was a painful read which I only finished because I needed a book that takes place in Michigan for a challenge.The MC is an idiot. The number of times she did something irresponsible or moronic were too many to mention. She is stupidly naïve and shoots off her mouth everywhere despite there being a killer on the island. This is the first (and last!) book in the series I’ve read so I don’t know some of the character backgrounds but Allie (the MC) has some pretty crappy judgement.The book starts with a murder and the crimes multiply from there. It was obvious from the moment we met them who the villains were. There were plot holes you could drive a truck through. The editing is either non-existent or very shoddy work.There is no way I would read another book in the series or by this author.

Fourth of July isn't complete without fireworks, at least to the islanders of Mackinac Island. Allie McMurphy has coordinated this year fireworks displays with world renown technician Randy Rivers. The only trouble is, Allie finds Randy dead in the warehouse office where all the fireworks are stored and he is surrounded by a string of lit firecrackers. The building explodes causes all the fireworks to go off and Allie makes it out, just in time. Now to figure out if it's arson or a murder cover up? As Allie investigates, she finds out there have been small fires caused by arson that have occurred over that last several months. Are the fires and the warehouse explosion connected?Oh, where to start?I enjoyed the character development, building of relationships, and the general story line, but... I found this to be very repetitive on multiple occasions with it becoming tedious at best. It felt like the author was trying to meet a page quota and threw in the repetition to fill the pages. This only succeeded in bogging down the flow of the story. I found myself skimming quite a bit just to get through those pages.Another thing I didn't like and found extremely annoying was the main character, Allie, doing very stupid things. She put herself and other people in danger because of very stupid, immature choices she consciously was making. I didn't find this to be the case in the previous books (if it happened then I didn't notice it as much as in this installment of the series).I honestly did want to see how everything was going to play out. I just found myself not enjoying this book as much as I did the previous ones. Will I continue with this series, I'm not sure? I like a lot of the characters and the setting so I might possibly give the series another chance but I don't think I'll be rushing out to get the next book anytime soon.

Thoroughly enjoyable book, thank you

Another brilliant book by this Author.

All around just a good cozy mystery. The one criminal wasn’t hard to guess - but I was lost on the 2nd for quite awhile!

same

The fudge recipes are delicious