Candy-Coated Mystery #1
This cozy mystery starts with a bang. Not a literal bang, but straight into the scene with the dead body.
Our main character is Allie McMurphy. The story begins at the McMurphy Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan, which belonged to her recently deceased Papa Liam. She’s there to take over the business of running his hotel and fudge shop. But then she finds the dead body of Joe Jessop, a man her Papa had an ongoing feud with, and things get complicated.
What is Joe Jessop doing dead in her hotel? That’s what Allie needs to figure out.
The island has a population of five hundred to six hundred, so most people know all the year-round residents. Even though Allie spent summers at the Hotel and Fudge Shop, most of the residents consider her a “fudgie” – a name they use for tourists. So, it isn’t long before the island gossip mill has voted Allie in as prime subject number one, and everyone is taking sides.
As she works toward solving the case and renovating the Hotel, she must maneuver amongst those on her side and those on the side of the Jessops – some of whom have the power to make her renovations very difficult! For added hurdles, some do not want the competition of the Hotel and Fudge Shop, while others want Allie to give up and go home to Chicago. Allie appears to be steadfast in her desire to persevere.
I enjoyed watching Allie fight for her dream of running the Hotel and Fudge Shop. She majored in Hospitality and got a culinary degree with that dream in mind. Since her Papa passed before he could teach her all the insider information about running the business, she already had a tough road ahead.
To solve the mystery, Allie had to uncover a lot of history about the Hotel and the island’s inhabitants. Said history provided some fun twists and added suspense along the path to whodunnit. I didn’t guess whodunnit and, without going back to re-read, I’m not sure it was that obvious. It is possible I just missed a clue. I’d be interested to know what others think about that.
For the most part, she was reasonable in her sleuthing efforts, and I liked the main characters. I think we got a decent start on getting to know some of the island residents. I don’t yet have a favorite character, but I would to hear more about them all and the Hotel renovations. I’m not sure where things are going as far as any romance, but I do know who I am rooting for in that regard.
There were descriptions in the book about her actually making fudge, and I did enjoy those. And there were many recipes for fudge throughout the book. These were placed at the end of chapters, rather than at the end of the book.
I’ve marked book two on my TBR. I think there is a lot more island history and backstories I’d like to discover in this series.
Goodreads Blurb
Welcome to the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop—where life is sweet, revenge is sweeter, and murder is here to stay. . .
You Can’t Fudge An Alibi
Allie McMurphy is up to her neck in renovations at the grand old hotel that’s been in her family for generations. With its quaint Victorian charm—and world-famous fudge shop—the place is one of Mackinac Island’s most beloved landmarks.
Sure, every family has a skeleton or two in the closet. But Allie didn’t expect to find an actual corpse inside hers, especially one Joe Jessup, who had a long-running feud with her dear departed grandfather. Which makes Allie the number-one suspect.
Can she sniff out the culprit before another victim checks in?
Where to Find More Information about the Author
Nancy Coco also writes under the names Nancy J. Parra/Nell Hampton