Title: Prove It: Murder in the Mix
Series: A Likeable Daisy Mystery Book #1
Author: Hannah R. Kurz
Format: kindle ebook/paperback
Published: Sept. 30, 2020
Set in Western New York
Stephanie Wu couldn’t imagine anything more perfect than living above a bakery. Until her apartment building becomes a crime scene with the bakery owner found dead in his kitchen.
Stephanie is a young wife and new mom. Everything centers on her newborn child. She knows that the killer has to be found for her family’s life to return to normal. She also wants justice for Sameed, the baker, so she begins questioning the way he was found dead.
She knew the first thing that didn’t make sense was the way he died: his tie got caught in the mixer. What baker bakes at night before going on a date? Why wasn’t the oven preheated? Things seemed staged. She also overheard Sameed having an argument with his brother shortly before he died. But there were other strange situations happening near their building. For one, a woman, her age not easily determined, was hanging out nearby, looking as if she was going to pass out.
Shortly after, Char, the head baker of The Likeable Daisy who found Sameed, is preparing bakery displays as if the business is going to go on like usual. She already used a chemical to clean the kitchen. Stephanie wonders why things are moving along so quickly.
Then there’s Greg who tells Stephanie that he’s too busy to do a baby portrait. He’s a photographer. What photographer turns down a job?
After her short investigation where she talks to her neighbors, Sameed’s family and staff, a number of individuals go on the “quite possibly killed poor Sameed” list. There’s his brother, Ayman; girlfriend, Sharon; her brother, David, the Navy Seal; Tony, the owner of the bistro across the street. A good way to end your competition. Then there was the landlord who had access to every apartment and the bakery. There’s the soon-to-be ex-wife, Avila. There could have been a life insurance policy she was no longer entitled to if divorced. But, there’s a good chance something else is going on that few knew about. That clue kind of springs up at the most impossible time and now there’s another person gone forever.
The only issue that bugged me was POV. You can only be in one head at a time. While I was reading, I found a lot of another person’s thoughts mixed in with dialogue of another character. Editing could have fixed that. I also couldn’t understand why a police officer would eat a piece of cake which was thrown in the trash. Steph thought it was a threat. I also thought she put her life, as well as her family’s, in danger investigating Sameed’s death.
While other reviewers felt the author focused on Stephanie’s baby’s needs way too much, I thought the opposite. That’s a new mother’s life: 24/7. I just was amazed she had time to ask questions, attend the funeral gathering at Sameed’s mother’s house and snoop around looking for clues. New moms are usually exhausted. All in all, there were enough suspects to get you interested in the mystery. You could relate to the characters and it kept you guessing. I can’t imagine that anyone would get a good night’s sleep with baker’s hours and the tempting smells of bread, cakes and cupcakes rising to the levels above.
three and a half out of five hours of sleep
Denise Fleischer
gottawritenetwork.wordpress.com
Feb. 1, 2021
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