Bedeviled Eggs [Mass Market Paperback]

Welcome to the Cackleberry Club Café! Bedeviled Eggs, by Laura Childs, is the third book in the Cackleberry Club Mystery series. A newcomer to the series can quickly catch up with the basic background of the main characters in the first few pages of the book. Suzanne Dietz and her two best friends Toni and Petra together own and run the Cackleberry Club Café, named because it features a variety of egg dishes. The friends also own a book store and knitting/quilting store within the restaurant located in the small Midwestern town of Kindred.

The book opens to the three friends getting ready for Halloween and hosting a "read dating" event in which singles are matched based on the types of books they read. The event runs smoothly until mayoral candidate Chuck Peeble is heard arguing about stolen antiques with one of the attendees (and good friend of Petra), Jane Buckley. Later as the event wraps up, Chuck collapses outside, killed by an arrow from a crossbow. Jane becomes the main suspect of Sheriff Roy Doogie and his deputy Wilbur Halpern. It's discovered that Peeble wasn't the conservative politician that he seemed. It soon comes to light that he has been harassing Sasha O'Dell, an exotic dancer from a local bar, and Sasha's husband Mike joins the suspect list.

Things really get complicated when a second murder occurs. Is jealousy, stolen goods, politics, or something else the motive for these murders? Sheriff Doogie enlists Suzanne's help to solve these murders before anyone else is hurt.

Bedeviled Eggs is an enjoyable mystery with plenty of humor. What I like most about the book is the banter between Suzanne, Toni, and Petra. Reading their conversations is like spending time with friends; their dialogue is realistic and fun. For example, during a presentation by the historical society, Suzanne teases Toni, who has become bored during a long talk about quilts. Their exchange is amusing:

"Hey," said Toni, "I'm into home arts. Don't I got a picture above my bed? In my home?"
"A photo of George Clooney cut form the pages of In Style magazine doesn't count."
Toni gave a slow wink. "It counts for me, cookie."

The relationship between the three friends isn't just one-liners, though. When the women are feeling upset over Peeble's murder, they support and comfort each other by reading inspirational messages drawn from their "affirmation crock" for times when they are feeling down. This scene added some needed dimension to their friendship.

I was able to relate well to the main character, Suzanne. We get a fair amount of details abut Suzanne and since most of the book is told from her point of view, we learn about her feelings and opinions. Suzanne is brave, willing to put herself at risk to help others, and is full of energy. The café is less than one year old and she already has plans to expand into a full service restaurant. The book would have been better if the characters of Toni and Petra had been developed as much as Suzanne's. I learned the basics about Toni and Petra, but not enough insight into what they were thinking to determine if I liked them or not.

I did like the fast pace of the book. In addition to solving the two murders, there are many other activities going on in Suzanne's life. After the "read dating" event that starts the book, there are other charitable events, luncheons, and busy mealtimes at the café which keep the story moving and give the reader an insider's look at running a restaurant. However, some of the sidelines almost get to be too much. Besides the restaurant, book store, knitting/quilting shop, Suzanne is a dog lover and avid horseback rider. She is also well versed in fashion designers and fills in for a friend to guest host a local radio show. This started to get a little unbelievable and distracting from the main plot. The book is the most enjoyable when it focuses on the relationship between the three friends, using the meal services at the café as the background.

Overall, it's an enjoyable book with interesting characters that we will hopefully learn more about in future installments. Fans of Joanne Fluke and of Mary Daheim's Bed and Breakfast series will enjoy this book. Readers will appreciate the bonus recipes at the back of the book for dishes that the average cook could prepare.

This review was originally written for the "Season for Romance" E-Zine. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

I am a big fan of all of Laura Child's books. I eagerly await her latest book.So I was somewhat disappointed with this latest Cackleberry Club edition. Truthfully.thru out the book I could not put it down, but when I read the last chapter I thought "what just happened?" The author had a lot of characters & story lines woven into the story but her ending just left so many characters & plots unanswered. I felt like she said "here is your murderer,forget about everybody else & what they had to do with the story line-- The End." I wanted more from the story. Unfortunately I felt she didn't delivered.

I've been very prepared to love Laura Childs' Cackleberry Club mysteries as much as I like her TeaShop Mysteries. But I'm finding the writing, characterizations and dialogs very uneven. For example, within the space of half a page, the main character, Suzanne, "screamed", "cried", and "muttered." Sometimes I feel like Childs is just spinning the verb wheel. The mysteries themselves are intriguing, the settings are appealing, and the characters are entertaining but unevenly portrayed.

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