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I have read all of the Scumble River Mysteries, and while I haven't enjoyed every one of them, this is the first one I've loathed. I actually read it as fast as I could just to get through it. The plot is scrambled and boring, the characters are weak, and Mother May is just plain horrific. There is no reason to read this installment as it adds nothing at all to the series but a shuddering memory of wasted time.
Perhaps all the preservatives will protect you from the sodium content.It's not just the food that's hash in this mystery. The quality of the writing--not the product placement of earlier books--is what should sell the series.Then there is the character of Skye herself, apparently a plus-sized cutie who manages to attract all good-looking single men within her not-so-insignificant gravitational pull. The prize winning "recipe" features--I am not kidding: canned cream of celery soup, canned cream of chicken soup, Velveeta and uncooked macaroni, baked together with cooked chicken and other mouth-watering ingredients. It's a good thing Denise Swanson writes mysteries and not cook books. So, why, one wonders, must Skye routinely give Capt'n Wally suggestions for conducting his investigations. Not so here.
In my mind, a good series consists of entries that can stand on their own merits, without inexplicable references to characters and plots passed.
(Aptly enough, a big dinner scene takes place at the "Brown-Bag Banquet Hall": presumably wise diners pack their own in case "Chicken Supreme" is on the menu).
Perhaps the coastal natives spend more time in bathing suits.
The culinary gems in this volume--Death of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry--are guaranteed to send foodies running for the nearest cleansing diet.
This must be why the midwest is different from the coasts.such pairings simply do not happen near the Atlantic and Pacific.
The plot and the characters are a little confused as well.there are more sub-plots here than inches around Skye's waist.
But most infuriating are the multiple references to other books in the series.
Who knows.but here is fiction at its most fictive.Skye dates the dreamy police chief.possessed of good looks, a body that is ripped, a sensitive soul, and a steel-trap mind.
If it's to move the plot forward, it does so at the cost of moving relations between the sexes backward.behind every great man there's the not-so-little woman.I have read all of Swanson's books, and will likely read her next one too, but I do so not for the plot, not for recipes, but for the insight into a world that, truly, I find mystifying.
As this was the first book in the 'Scumble River Mysteries' series I'd read, I found myself liking Skye almost immediately and it was easy to become immersed in her world. Grudgingly, Skye agrees to take part in the contest, knowing no matter how many times she's practiced her recipe, it won't turn out anywhere near her mother's version.When contestant Cherry Alexander, the same woman who looked to be sabotaging Skye's mother's chances in the competition during the run through is found dead in the chocolate fountain, Skye finds herself investigating a murder while surrounded by far too many suspects. Swanson's 'Scumble River Mysteries' series featuring Skye Denison. Swanson creates an enjoyable mystery in the tenth book in her popular series.
A fact made even more amazing when she finds out her mother's entered four recipes, three of which under other family members' names, including Skye's own. MURDER OF A CHOCOLATE-COVERED CHERRYDENISE SWANSONContemporary MysteryRating: 4 EnchantmentsMURDER OF A CHOCOLATE-COVERED CHERRY is the tenth book in Ms. I loved her meddling mother and her relationship with her family. She was also shocked to discover that getting a book published was nearly as difficult as vanquishing scoundrels. With Cherry's attitude at the Challenge, it could have been any of the contestants who'd drowned the woman in the excessive chocolate fountain, especially with the way she treated her fellow contestants a few short hours before she was discovered dead.I found MURDER OF A CHOCOLATE-COVERED CHERRY to be an interesting mystery.
I look forward to reading more of the series.Ms. Her books are set in Scumble River, a fictional small town in the Midwest, and feature Skye Denison, a full-figured school psychologist-sleuth. This time around Skye finds herself coerced by her mother to enter the Grandma Sal's Soup-to-Nuts Cooking Challenge. Readers looking for a light, entertaining mystery read won't go wrong picking this one up.Denise Swanson started writing after coming face-to-face with evil. Set against the backdrop of the Cooking Challenge, there were more than enough logical suspects in the death of the cocky contestant Cherry Alexander.
In fact, if not for the hint of Cherry in the title, I was almost sure another character would have been discovered dead in the fountain, given some of the scenes surrounding dear old Grandma Sal herself early in the book. She quickly decided she would rather write about villains than encounter them in her daily life. Visit her online at her website: www.deniseswanson.comLisaEnchanting ReviewsJuly 2008
I love this series. Every charater is so cute and rich with history in this series.Simon, bunny , Wally and skye. Skye's controling mother comes up with a plan, enter a cooking contest using all her recipies and use her children to fulfill that dream.When they enter the contest finals, differant personalities and conflicts arrive.A diva accuses May of stealing her secret ingrediant and May goes off.The next morning this woman is found dead in the fountain of chocolate dip.Skye investigates her murder, plus a mystery behind a missing teen in the high school.Skyes love life is a mess as usual and she is dealing with Wally's father showing up unannounced.I look foward to the next one in the series. what will happen to skye and wally.will wally go to Texas eventually and get rich.Will the spook in skye's house accept Wally.
I say this every time a new book comes out in this series, but this is the best one yet. Skye is a wonderful character, and I felt like I got to know Skye a lot better in this latest book. I was especially pleased that she has a spiritual side. And would'nt these books would make for a terrific TV mystery series on the Family or Hallmark channels.
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