Scone Cold Killer a Fun Start to Southern Cozy Mystery Series

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Little Boggy Creek, Florida, is a far cry from New York City, but it may be just what Gia Morelli needs.  In the wake of her ex-husband's betrayal—not only of his clients, but also of their marriage—she's looking for a place to start over, a refuge where she can lick her wounds and start rebuilding her shattered life.  Opening the All-Day Breakfast Café is a brave first step.  Despite a few hiccups, things are going well for Gia—until she discovers a dead body in the dumpster behind the restaurant.  She recognizes the corpse's manicured hands and a distinctive ring.  It's her ex-husband, Bradley Remington, but what is he doing in Florida?  And how did he end up dead in a dumpster?

Suspicion for the murder naturally falls on Gia.  Despite his gentle questioning, even handsome Detective Hunter "Hunt" Quinn seems to think she had something to do with Bradley's death.  Although she's warned against sticking her nose into police business, Gia knows the only way to clear her name is to find the real killer.  Can she get to the bottom of the puzzling case?  Or will Gia's dead body be the next one stuffed into a dumpster?

I'm not a huge fan of cozy mysteries, but occasionally I stumble across a series that I enjoy.  Katherine over at I Wish I Lived in a Library mentioned Lena Gregory, so I decided to give her All-Day Breakfast Café books a whirl.  Scone Cold Killer, the first installment, introduces Gia and her cozy new hometown of Boggy Creek.  Although the townsfolk are not as colorful as I would have liked, there are some fun and abrasive personalities who should make for entertaining reading throughout the series.  Mystery-wise, the plot is pretty straightforward.  Nothing too surprising or original.  As in most cozies, there's a lot of improbable action going on in Scone Cold Killer, but the willing suspension of disbelief is a requirement going into any book in this genre, so that didn't bother me.  Much.  All in all, I enjoyed this light, fun read.  It's quick, entertaining, and written well enough that I want to continue reading about Gia's adventures.  I've already read the second installment, checked the third out of the library, and bought the first book in Gregory's Bay Island Psychic series, if that tells you anything!

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of other books in the All-Day Breakfast Café series [Murder Made to Order and A Cold Brew Killing] by Lena Gregory as well as of cozy mysteries by Ellie Alexander)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for brief, mild language (no F-bombs), violence, and scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of Scone Cold Killer from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.