Dial M for Mousse by Laura Bradford

First Line: Winnie Johnson knew it wasn't polite to stare.

Five motivational "rescues" at an artists' retreat are just what Emergency Dessert Squad owner Winnie Johnson needs to take her mind off her relationship woes. What she doesn't need is to walk in on five artists standing over the dead body of the retreat owner. Now she's got to hope that all her suspects have a sweet tooth so she can keep going back to ask them questions until she finds the killer.

In this third installment of one of my favorite cozy series, the mystery-- which is a good one-- often takes a back seat to Winnie's various relationship woes. There's a teenage girl who stubbornly insists on being the only one who's happy, and then there are Winnie's two elderly friends who take turns getting their emotional noses out of joint. The highlight of all this angst is that Winnie gets to say (and to hear) words that each and every one of us on this planet needs. One of the things that makes Winnie such a strong character is her big heart and her love for her friends, and that's the main focus of Dial M for Mousse.

Speaking of Winnie's friends, I can see some readers being upset with the character of Mr. Nelson, a man in his late seventies who loves the sight of a woman's cleavage. He seldom misses the weather report because of the statuesque weather girl, and he has various prime viewing spots on his porch and in his apartment so that he can indulge his hobby. Having had my own cleavage stared at ever since I had one, I have to admit that this can be a tiny bit tiresome, but never once is Mr. Nelson any sort of threat. The man keeps his hands to himself, and he never makes an inappropriate comment. In fact, he'd be the first person to take his cane to someone who did. Mr. Nelson is definitely one of Winnie's most beloved friends, and I enjoy seeing what he gets up to in each book.

Now...if only the focus had remained on the mystery more! I really enjoyed deducing why the woman was killed and which one of the five did the deed. Not only that, but there's an added gem in each of the Emergency Dessert Squad mysteries: the names Winnie gives her delectable confections. Those names alone can be worth the price of admission, and I can't wait for the next book!

Dial M for Mousse by Laura Bradford

eISBN: 9780425281253

Berkley Prime Crime © 2018

eBook, 303 pages

Cozy Mystery, #3 Emergency Dessert Squad mystery

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley


 

The Silence of the Flans by Laura Bradford

First Line: Winnie Johnson capped her pen and tossed it onto the wicker table, narrowly missing the black rook poised to capture the white queen.

Winnie Johnson is a soft touch when it comes to desserts for her Emergency Dessert Squad business-- and when it comes to lost causes. When her beau Jay Morgan expresses regret over having to fail one of his business students, Winnie has a solution: the student can work with her to earn extra credit.

Unfortunately, her solution blows up in her face when the girl's first dessert delivery poisons a student journalist. The negative publicity could very well spell the end of Winnie's business, so she's got to work fast before the Emergency Dessert Squad goes belly up.

Disaster strikes so quickly in The Silence of the Flans that there's very little of one ingredient that made the first book in the series, Éclair and Present Danger, so much fun: the naming and baking of the fabulous desserts that Winnie delivers in her vintage ambulance. With her ambulance knocked out of commission early, readers are forced to forego dessert and focus on the main course. The good news is that the main course is downright delectable.

Winnie is the best kind of character to lead a series like this. She's smart, she's funny, and she's a genuinely caring person. I won't even go into her genius for creating desserts with fantastic names. One of her mottoes is "When you dwell on the negative, you miss the positive," and you can see her put that belief into action throughout this book. Something else that's good to see is that-- although she's a nice person-- she's not a pushover, and when she told off one of the other characters, I wanted to cheer. (Actually, I think I did but no one was around to hear me so it doesn't count.) 

Laura Bradford's Emergency Dessert Squad series is one in which the "old folks" play an important role. Winnie has two very special friends, Mr. Nelson and Bridget O'Keefe, who-- when they aren't bickering with each other-- help Winnie solve crimes, name desserts, and provide the comfort of family that the younger woman craves. The 85-year-old Ray at Medders Farmers Market is another gem. Life isn't all about the young, you know.

I've been talking about everything else but the mystery in The Silence of the Flans. How is it? Bradford provides such excellent misdirection for the real reason why the young journalist was killed that she kept me guessing until the reveal. So... this second Emergency Dessert Squad book has it all: a great cast of characters, a perfect little business, and a headscratcher of a mystery. The only thing more I could ask for is book #3!
  

The Silence of the Flans by Laura Bradford

ISBN: 9780425280904

Berkley Prime Crime © 2017

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Emergency Dessert Squad mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.  

 

Éclair and Present Danger by Laura Bradford

First Line: "I'm sorry, could you, um, read that one more time, please?"

When she heard that her recently deceased wealthy friend had left her an inheritance, bakery owner Winnie Johnson hoped against hope that the inheritance would be some badly needed cash to pay her rapidly rising rent. Instead she inherits the widow's 1960s-era ambulance and Lovey, a tabby cat who hates Winnie's guts. Her dream has crumbled to dust, and she has only one final delivery: a peach pie to an elderly widower... whom she finds smothered to death on his kitchen floor.

In an effort to comfort her frightened and grieving neighbors, Winnie does what she does best: come to the rescue with her fabulous baked goods, and a new business is born. The Emergency Dessert Squad will deliver desserts in an ambulance, and when Winnie isn't taking care of a dessert emergency, she's doing her best to track down the elderly widower's killer... before she needs to call a real ambulance.

First and foremost, the Emergency Dessert Squad concept and the names of Winnie's desserts are an absolute stroke of genius. I loved reading about putting Winnie's new business together and the brain-storming sessions for dessert names every bit as much as I enjoyed the mystery.

Winnie Johnson is a fabulous character as is the secondary cast of-- mainly-- senior citizens. Winnie tends to surround herself with older people, and she has a good reason for doing so. There are so many things to like about  Éclair and Present Danger, and one of them is the sense of community and of caring Winnie and her "old folks" have.

Winnie-- like several other heroines in cozy mysteries-- has captured the attention of two very handsome and available men, but she deals with both of them very honestly. I certainly appreciated the fact that there was no real dithering back and forth between Greg and Jay. Romantic triangles have become a bit of a cliché and tend to bore me to insensibility.

The mystery of Bart's death is pretty much kept on the back burner until almost the end of the book, but the solution is very satisfying. Bart had no real part in the book, but I was left wishing that I'd known him better-- a testament to Bradford's writing in that she took just as much care in developing a character who "had no future" as she did with her returning cast. 

With such a satisfying mystery, a wonderful cast, and a brilliant concept, is it any wonder that I'm eagerly awaiting the second book in the series?

Éclair and Present Danger by Laura Bradford

ISBN: 9780425280898

Berkley Prime Crime © 2016

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Emergency Dessert Squad mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.