A Study in Chocolate – Bean to Bar #5 @amber_royer @lonestarlit

I am thrilled to share a new release from a new-to-me author, Amber Royer!

Felicity Koerber’s bean to bar chocolate shop on Galveston’s historic Strand is expanding, as it has become a gathering spot for the community, despite having been the scene of multiple murders. Artists she met while doing a chocolate sculpture are now working out of the shop. So when Felicity is invited to tea by an eccentric art collector, she’s intrigued, especially when she gets asked to pose for a portrait done with chocolate on chocolate. Only, where there is a murder the next day at the same historic house where the tea was held, one of Felicity’s artist friends becomes the main suspect.

 

When the killer threatens that unless Felicity unravels the murder, one of her two love interests will be the next victim, she finds herself unwittingly at the center of a puzzle with a Sherlock Holmes-obsessed murderer who wants to be the next Moriarty – and wants to cast Felicity as Sherlock.

 

Felicity starts finding unexpected connections between her friends and acquaintances and must deal with the idea that someone who knows her is a murderer. At the same time, she has to keep her business running, despite construction dust and unruly customers – and an unexpected order for thousands of truffles.

 

Satchmo the retired police-dog-turned-therapy dog returns to help her sniff out a few clues, and the kidnapping of Ruffles, the quirky artist’s cat, helps lead Felicity into the puzzle. Can Felicity solve it in time to protect the people she cares about from becoming additional victims?

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Amber Royer writes the Chocoverse comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series and the Bean to Bar Mysteries. She is also the author of Story Like a Journalist: A Workbook for Novelists, which boils down her writing knowledge into an actionable plan involving over 100 worksheets to build a comprehensive story plan for your novel. She also teaches creative writing and is an author coach.

 

Amber and her husband live in the DFW Area, where you can often find them hiking or taking landscape/architecture/wildlife photographs. If you are very nice to Amber, she might make you cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes, of course! Amber blogs about creative writing technique and all things chocolate.

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ONE WINNER:

Signed copy of A Study in Chocolate +

a chocolate bar from French Broad Chocolate.

(US only; ends midnight, CST, 3/10/23)

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CLICK TO VISIT THE LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE TOUR PAGE

FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY, 

or visit the blogs directly:

 

02/28/23	Series Spotlight	Chapter Break Book Blog
02/28/23	BONUS Promo	Hall Ways Blog
03/01/23	Review	Reading by Moonlight
03/01/23	Review	The Real World According to Sam
03/02/23	Review	Boys’ Mom Reads
03/03/23	BONUS PROMO	LSBBT Blog
03/03/23	Guest Post	Sybrina’s Book Blog
03/03/23	Review	It’s Not All Gravy
03/04/23	Review	StoreyBook Reviews
03/05/23	Review	Carpe Diem Chronicles
03/06/23	Scrapbook Page	The Clueless Gent
03/06/23	Review	The Plain-Spoken Pen
03/07/23	Playlist	All the Ups and Downs
03/08/23	Review	Writing and Music
03/08/23	Review	Rox Burkey Blog
03/09/23	Review	Forgotten Winds
03/09/23	Review	The Book’s Delight

 

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If you love a great murder mystery, this is the book for you!

Felicity is a chocolatier in the seaside town of Galveston, Texas, but she’s also built a reputation for solving mysteries, and fans come to her chocolate shop just to meet her.

When a newcomer, Mitch Eberhardt, comes to town and hosts a party, he issues a personal invitation to Felicity and others. While Felicity is curious about the man who bought the historic Wobble House, she’s even more intrigued when she learns that Mitch is an artist. Then he proposes that she be his model for a painting in chocolate.

But then Mitch is found dead the next day. The list of suspects is long, and Arlo, one of Felicity’s love interests and a police detective, enlists her help in solving the crime. After all, Felicity has established a reputation.

Mitch’s killer begins to leave messages in literary form, using a Sherlock Holmes mystery. It’s through these messages the killer issues a challenge and makes it clear that Felicity’s love interest, Logan, is the next target. But why?

Reading this story was like playing a complex game of Clue as Felicity rules out suspects. And while she wants to solve the murder, even more importantly, she needs to protect Logan, which is a role reversal for them. I get the feeling I would have had a clearer picture of the main characters in the story if I had read previous books in this series. However, there is enough backstory inserted that I wasn’t totally lost.

The author did a fabulous job of keeping the identity of the murderer secret until the end of the book. She threw in lots of red herrings. I loved all the references to the Sherlock Holmes novels, the killer even taking on the persona of Moriarty. And while there are lots of characters, the story focuses mainly on Felicity, Logan, and Arlo.

Both Logan and Arlo have proclaimed their love for her, but she doesn’t choose either of them in this story. I have a feeling that will be for another book.

If you love a good murder mystery and like the challenge of trying to unravel and expose the killer, you will undoubtedly enjoy this book from Amber Royer! I give it 4 stars.