Raspberry Truffle Murder

A Maple Hills Cozy Mystery, Book 1

By: Wendy Meadows

Narrated by: Becky Boyd

Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

When Nikki's husband of 20 years decides that he wanted a different life in Los Angeles it spawns a new life for her as well. Leaving behind Atlanta and her journalism career there, she and her college-bound son move to the small and tightknit town of Maple Hills, Vermont. With a bustling tourist season, the thriving community seems the perfect place to set up her new chocolate shop...yet opening day proves more deadly than profitable.

A hit and run right outside her shop door leaves a man dead and questions swirling. When the victim is identified as Steven Denforth, the most hated and reviled man in town, it resurrects the fissures that had recently torn Maple Hills apart. It seems that when Denforth first came to town, the quiet man bought the local paper, then proceeded to publish damning articles about some of the communities' most prominent members - secrets that no one should have known about.

Now he is dead and everyone is a suspect, including Nikki. As both a former reporter and an FBI consultant, Nikki instinctively knows the dirt in Maple Hills is piled high and if she doesn't get to the bottom of it, and to the murder, then her stay in the quaint Northern Town may very well be short lived.

©2016 Majestic Owl Publishing LLC (P)2017 Majestic Owl Publishing LLC

Good cozy mystery

Great cozy mystery. Both the author and the narrator kept me invested from the first chapter. With a number of twists and turns and a result I didn’t see coming, I was hooked. Cannot wait to read and or listen to more from this author.

Good, Clean Story, Narration Weak

The story was clean and good enough, the narration wasn't the best. As it progressed I got more interested. The tale was a little implausible but alright. I doubt that I will continue the series though.

Interesting series starter

I thought the mystery was well written and kept me guessing as to who did it. Since this is the first book in the series, some of the back stories and character introductions dragged a little, but the story was overall a good one and very enjoyable to listen to.

Another great listen!

This was the perfect short break from the daily grind. Starting a new business in a new town is always challenging but add a murder mystery and you have the beginning of a wonderful story.

Great

Loved it! The narrator was good. It was a real good cozy mystery with suspense.

A bit weak story, but not bad

I had a really hard time paying attention to the Audible version of this story. I actually listened to 1/2 of it and had no clue what was going on. I started the book over and found the same result. The story (or was it the narration) just couldn't keep my interest. The story seemed to jump around a bit and I couldn't figure out why Nikki felt the need to investigate the hit and run herself. Do I even dare mention there seems to be nothing about raspberry truffles in the story? Since this is the first book in a series, I'm hoping the writing improves with future stories.

Great first of a series

Great first in a series...can’t wait to see where this series goes! I like all this authors other books and this one doesn’t disappoint

I received a free copy and left my honest review

Nice mystery

I enjoyed listening to this short cozy mystery. I'm looking forward the next book. The characters are likeable. Becky Boyd was good at narrating the story.

Murder seems to follow her, it seems.

A newly divorced woman sets up a chocolate and coffee shop in a small town. Her first day open, sees a horrific crime committed. In fear that her past history may be cause for her to be thought to be somehow involved, she sets to, investigating the crime.
An interesting new series, similar to other detective series, although there seems to be a great sense of humor lingering in the background, in this episode, at least.

Good Cozy

She had been an investigator reporter, when a divorce and a move to a small town in Vermont, and a chocolate Shoppe seemed ideal. When a man not well liked as he published article that the people didn’t like. She is once more drawn to investigate when murdered.
A good cozy mystery to enjoy. The narration by Becky was enjoyable. Given audio for my voluntary review

enjoyable and definitely cozy

I really liked this book. It had a lovely balance between its cosy, mysterious humours and crime themes. I'm looking forward to more books in this series.

Our main character Nikki is rebuilding her life after divorce from her husband of 20 years left her blindsided. The relationship between her and her son Seth is great to see, he may be leaving for college but he is super supportive of his mom and her new venture away from everything they've both known, the banter between them feels genuine and fun and his encouragement of his mum both in her self confidence and wishing her success with her shop is nice to see.

Nikki is quickly drawn into the investigation of a hit and run that occurred outside her shop on opening day, with her being new in town and her shop the last place that Steven Denforth visited before his accident she at first pooled on with the list of suspects. So she sets to work using her skills as a former reporter and FBI consultant to sort the truth from the rumours and clear her name and protect the place she has quickly come to call home from being lost.

Becky Boyd is a fantastic narrator, giving spirit and joy to the character of Nikki in particular but also bringing all the side characters to life in a way that really makes you warm to them, well most of them anyways.

I was given this audiobook for free from audiobooks unleashed and have left this review voluntarily.

it was ok

The story itself was...well cozy. Nothing special, but ok to listen to kill time, when doing something. Nikki's reason for starting her investigation, had no sense though, Just because she was new in town, and used to be a reporter isn't a good enough reason to became a suspect in murder investigation, Also just because the victim came to her shop for quick look around doesn't make her a suspect either. But the overall story is quite cute.

Another problem is the narrator, When doing dialog/voices she sounded fairly ok, but definitely struggled with male parts. But all the rest sounded mostly like a robot, Could as well run the book through text-to-speech to get similar outcome.

Saying all that i did enjoy it quite a bit, probably would be better off just reading it though.