Rating: 
Summary: A delicious new mystery.
Review: After divorcing her husband, Lee McKinney moves back to Warner Pier, Michigan to handle the business end of her aunts chocolate shop. But, Lee soon discovers chocolate can be deadly!In this first chocoholic mystery by JoAnna Carl ( aka Eve Sandstrom), Lee is hired to help out at a fund raising party for the local Animal Rescue League. A party in which her aunt, Jeanette TenHuis, has provided [a lot] of chocolate for the guests. However, before the party even starts the hostess Clementine Ripley falls prey to a cyanide laced amaretto truffle, making both Lee and her aunt suspects in Ms. Ripley's murder. Lee steps into the roll of amateur sleuth in an attempt to uncover the murderer, before she and her aunt become the next victims. This book is a must for anyone who enjoys reading cozies. The charaters are well-developed, and the storyline is light and fast-paced making it a good vacation or beach read. I enjoyed the chocolate facts that are scattered through out the book as well as the chocolate quiz at the end. I look forward to reading the next book in this series The Chocolate Bear Burglary.
Rating:
Summary: A Cute Series That You'll Love....
Review: Blonde, gorgeous, tall and Texan Lee McKinney leaves her role as "Texas Trophy Wife" and comes to help manage her favorite aunt's chocolate business in a small resort town. Trouble ensues when a much hated defense attorney dies after ingesting a cyanide-filled trouffle that Lee has delivered. The mystery escalates from there and is very skillfully delivered. Although "The Chocolate Cat Caper" is a light, cozy read - it isn't juvenile in the least. The one area that is rather silly is that the author insists on giving Lee McKinney an impediment of a sort where she substitutes the wrong word in sentences at the most inopportune times. The effect is suppose to be funny - but I just found it to be silly. In spite of this, I thoroughly enjoyed the first of this series and am currently reading the second. The cover art is GREAT and it was disappointing to note that the artist did not receive any mention in the book. This is sad as the art helped me to decide to buy the series. Also great were the neat chocolate facts, which were dispersed throughout the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Cute New Series
Review: Definitely light summer reading, but enjoyable nonetheless. The only thing I found sillly was Lee's constant use of the wrong word when she was nervous or upset. I didn't find it funny, and after about the third time, it got outright annoying.
Rating: 
Summary: Average
Review: I enjoy series mysteries and I don't hold them to a high standard as far as writing, but I do get frustrated when the characters act in a way that you just can't suspend disbelief enough to accept. The author of this series can't seem to decide if her character is a strong, smart woman or a ditz. The ditz part seems like the author thought she needed a gimmick (the malapropisms or whatever that word problem the main character has is). I'd like the book better without it because then I wouldn't feel like smacking the main character.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive new series
Review: I may have been that my inner Lady Godiva was offering some unconscious input when I bought this title. I do love chocolate! Carl (a pseudonym for author Eve K. Sandstrom) has created in this debut series a charming Michigan town where everybody takes turns being mayor, talks like the people in Fargo, and loves chocolate. Only these people don't settle for foil-wrapped kisses - Aunt Nettie TenHuis has the corner on the sweets market here. She makes the goodies while her niece, former trophy wife Lee McKinney, handles the books. Caper opens with a delicious delivery that turns soon turns deadly. When high-powered attorney Clementine Ripley (think F. Lee Bailey in heels) falls dead after biting into one of Aunt Nettie's concoctions, Lee decides to sleuth on her own to find out who framed the family business by spiking the candy with an extra, unwanted ingredient. Finding the culprit, she discovers, is not easy, even in a small town. The residents do like each other, yes, and they also agree upon one thing: Clementine deserved her just desserts. For a light and at-times humorous read, The Chocolate Cat Caper delivers; this promises to be an entertaining series, one that needs not wait until after dinner to enjoy. Lee McKinney is, contrary to her ex-husband's beliefs, a capable and bright woman, even if her tongue does get a bit tied (you'll see).
Rating:
Summary: MMmmmmm, Chocolate
Review: I really enjoyed this book, a great start to a new series! The characters were well drawn, and you liked them, especially the heroin with her quirky speech impediment and all.
The mystery kept me guessing, I thought I had it figured out, but I was surprised to find that I hadn't. And for chocolate buffs, a little chocolate trivia sprinkled throughout the book.
Rating:
Summary: Recipe for sweet, rich, suspense filled, hilarious tale
Review: Ingredients: Lee McKinney- a perpetually tounge-tied Texas accountant, formerly trophy wife, displaced to the Lake Michigan shore Aunt Nettie (Jeanette TenHuis)- Sweet confectionery expert, and proprietor of TenHuis Chocolade Clementine Ripley- Nationally known attorney, known by many, liked by few Champion Myanmar Chocolate Yonkers- Very spoiled, very nasty cat of Clementine Ripley Joe Woodyard- former local lifeguard and teen heart scream, and former husband of Clementine Ripley Marion McCoy- Clementine Ripley's right hand, her "Girl Friday" Assorted other characters, some sweet, some tart, some unsavory Lee McKinney is taking a respite in her Aunt Nettie's chocolate shop, TenHuis Chocolade, doing the books for the business while she bones up for the CPA exam, and recovers from her recent divorce from her rich ex-husband. Aunt Nettie is more than glad to take in her niece, as she recently lost her husband, and needs help with the business side of TenHuis Chocolade. Clementine Ripley orders a plethora of expensive chocolates for a huge fund raising affair for the Animal Rescue League. When Ms. Ripley falls dead from a cyanide laced amaretto truffle chocolate, TenHuis, as well as the rest of Warner Pier is stirred up by the high profile death, and the paparazzi descend upon the town like a swarm of hungry locusts. The employees of TenHuis Chocolade, as well as anyone who might have a grudge against Ms Ripley become suspects. With a high profile person that people love to hate, just who could have done it? And why? Lee tries to dig to the bottom of the facts to clear herself and her aunt from the speculation that their chocolates are to die for, lest TenHuis be killed from the negative press attention. This delightful treat of a book sprinkles little bits of chocolate trivia between chapters. Some of the information is really fascinating. The book is a great little indulgence. Nothing heavy or offensive, even the murder is tastefully done. A good light weight mystery for those who don't was serious gore and grisly violence in their books. (Prepare to crave chocolates!)
Rating:
Summary: A chocolate-flavored cozy, nicely shaped.
Review: It's not clear to me how many murder mysteries can take place in
one small town in Michigan, but that's the only possible drawback I can see
to a long successful run to this new series, just started. All of the
ingredients are there: an blonde ex-trophy wife trying to restart her life,
an aunt who owns a chocolate shop in a resort town along the Lake Michigan
shore, assorted townspeople of various ages, character and temperament, and
of course I mentioned chocolate, didn't I?
Smoothly written and adeptly plotted, the book is a pleasure to
read, with just enough suspects to make the mystery interesting, if not
challenging. There's a hint of romance by book's end as well, not
unexpectedly. Those of you who are primarily hard-boiled private eye fans
will find the nourishment here mighty thin, but enthusiasts for cozies (you
know who you are) will eat this one right up.
Rating:
Summary: A true - though average - chocoholic mystery
Review: Just as the title of the new series portrays, this first installment of the Chocoholic Mysteries is a sweet treat. Amateur sleuth Lee McKinney is back to where she grew up, the Great Lakes region in Michigan, to help her aunt run the business side of the family chocolate shop (Tenhuis Chocolade). Although Lee's speech impairment makes her appear a bit overwhelming at times, readers will come to like her because of her truly human side. All starts after Lee goes to the house of Catherine Ripley, Warner Pier's most notorious resident, to deliver a large order of chocolates for a party due that same night at the mansion. But as soon as she arrives, she has to deal with an obtrusive security guard, a pestering secretary and Ms. Ripley herself. When, after tasting one of Tenhuis's Amaretto truffles, she falls to her death, Lee and her aunt, Nettie Tenhuis, are in the spotlight for some vicious press, a burglar; in fact, the works. I don't know if my ability to pinpoint whodunit early on in the story could have been because I'm very familiar with the mystery genre (in fact, I write them). But in any case, I would classify this as a light-hearted mystery which, as such, cannot be expected to provide deep character drama but only light entertainment. Overall, I liked the main character and I could identify with her, which is always a plus in a story of this type. I really liked the way Clementine Ripley's cat gets involved in the action, with quirks typical of the doted on feline. For chocolate lovers, there's chocolate trivia, and even a questionnaire at the end of the book, that will make everyone's mouth water.
Rating:
Summary: Delicious beginning of a new series
Review: Lee McKinney has left Texas and her ex-husband behind her and is now on the coast of Lake Michigan working in her Aunt Nettie's chocolate factory. She helps deliver some candy to Clementine Ridley, a wealthy and heartily disliked defense attorney who lives in Warner Pier on a part-time basis. Lee encounters some faces from her past at Clementine's home and then is horrified when Clementine dies of cyanide poisoning which has apparently come from Nettie's candy. She and her aunt are prime suspects, so Lee works hard to prove their innocence. Throw in a little romance, and some scrumptious descriptions of Aunt Nettie's chocolates and you have the makings of a very enjoyable "cozy". Just don't read it on an empty stomach!
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