Inherit the Word by Daryl Wood Gerber is the second book in the “Cookbook Nook” mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, March 2014

Jenna Hart moved back to Crystal Cove, California, to recapture her joie de vivre and to help her aunt Vera run the local culinary bookshop and café. But it’s hard to follow a simple recipe for relaxation when murder gets thrown in the mix.

The Cookbook Nook is set to host the town’s upcoming Grill Fest, a tasty tradition which pits local amateur chefs against one another to concoct the most delicious dishes. This year’s challenge: grilled cheese. But with competing chefs bearing grudges from past years, more mouths are running off than savoring the fare.

The expression “too many cooks” proves all too true when the eight-time champ is found murdered in the alley behind the café. Soon a local diner owner (and Jenna’s “second mother”) is suspected of bumping off the competition, and Jenna has to douse the flames before the wrong person gets burned.

I like it. Not only does Jenna look for clues to clear her BFF’s mother of murder, but suddenly another mystery impacts her life for which she’ll have to find the answers. The comfortable tone and the easy-going flow of this light-hearted whodunit was hard to put down as I had to know what happens next. The author did a good job in keeping me in suspense with the list of suspects and some intriguing twists that I didn’t see coming, especially when the killer was revealed. You can count of the supporting cast that surrounds Jenna to provide some comic relief, especially her BFF Bailey and her aunt Vera in this character-driven drama. Murder, betrayal, and a grilled cheese contest are found between the pages of this wonderfully prepared drama and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the residents of Crystal Cove in this delectably appetizingly series.

previously posted on the Cozy Chicks blog