Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry: A Scumble River Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Skye Denison's culinary skills leave MUCH to be desired, so she is shocked when she learns that her mother has entered her in the Grandma Sal's Soup-to-Nuts cooking competition. To think that Skye has even a remote chance of winning is, well, nuts! When Skye's boyfriend, Wally Boyd, Chief of Police of the Scumble River PD, starts breaking their dinner dates, she is convinced it has something to do with the fact that she is taking every opportunity to practice her mom's Chicken Supreme Casserole recipe.

And, as if worrying about a cooking contest and Wally's strange behavior isn't enough, Skye is trying to handle a threatened lawsuit by parents of a Scumble River High cheerleader after an unauthorized article about the student appears in the school paper. Skye is not only the school psychologist but also the co-sponsor of the paper. She then learns that said cheerleader has gone missing, and that the author of the article that prompted talk of a lawsuit is nowhere to be found but has written a blog that implies her involvement in the cheerleader's disappearance. To say that Skye's plate is full is an understatement.

The cooking contest seems to have brought out the worst in almost everyone involved. Too many cooks have indeed spoiled the broth. Threats, sabotage, and accusations abound, but nothing compares to finding one of the contestants murdered and another person attacked. The question is, was Cherry Alexander's murder tied to the contest, to her marriage, or did it have something to do with her next tell-all book? While Wally and Skye have barely spent any quality time together, he quickly requests Skye's help in her capacity as consulting psychologist to the Scumble River PD in order to help interrogate those involved with the contest. Skye is up to her eyeballs in people who had a motive to harm Cherry and at the same time is trying to decipher clues as to the cheerleader's whereabouts.

Denise Swanson's Scumble River cozy series realistically presents life in a small town full of likable, quirky people with a very strong sense of family and community. It is also written with a sense of humor - which is always appreciated when used to advantage to keep the story from being bogged down by murder and mayhem.

The ending of this book is a real cliffhanger. I can hardly wait for book number 11 in the series to come out!

Carol Ann Hopkins 4/8/2008

This is the tenth installment of the Scumble River Series by Denise Swanson. As always I enjoyed this one immensely. Perfect cozy and funny characters. Great story line. Recommend for cozy mystery lovers

Skye Denison isn't a cook but that doesn't stop her mother from entering her into Grandma Sal's Soup-to-Nuts Cooking Challenge. Skye struggles to make something edible to enter in the contest, but she has too many distractions including a missing student from the school where she is a psychologist and someone trying to sabotage the contest. Things go from bad to worse when one of the contestants is murdered and Skye's uncle injured. Now Skye must not only try and cook a decent meal, she must try to find the missing student and catch a killer before he or she strikes again.

"Murder of a Chocolate Covered Cherry" was my first visit to Scumble River and I found it to be a mixed bag. Even though this is the tenth book in the series, I never felt lost - I felt immediately drawn into the world of Scumble River. The characters are well done and I felt like I knew Skye and her family and friends and I love the nod to Trixie Belden fans with Skye's friend Trixie Frayne. While the cooking contest plot device is a common one, author Denise Swanson breathes new life into it with the behind the scenes glimpses of what goes into such an event. The set up to the mystery is a good one (I love the title!) and there are plenty of suspects. There is a very cute subplot in which Skye's house seems to be trying to keep Skye and Wally apart. But while Swanson does an excellent job of interweaving the cooking contest and missing girl plot lines, I did have some problems with the overall plotting of the book. Skye manages to overhear at least six conversations (including one over a loudspeaker!) that conveniently help move the plot along. While the writing is generally fine, there are a few times in the book when you know exactly what is going to happen next, especially at the end when Skye realizes who the killer is. Swanson leaves some plot lines open, no doubt setting up the next book in the series, which I found slightly annoying.

While "Murder of a Chocolate Covered Cherry" isn't a perfect mystery, I loved visiting Scumble River and hope to visit there again.