Welcome to Snowflake Valley, Idaho. Delilah has just moved to the town of her dreams to open up a bake shop. For years she has watched the town cameras around Snowflake Valley and absolutely fell in love with the place. As she is preparing to open her bakery in a couple of weeks, she learns some disturbing facts about where she has chosen to put down roots. Will these things drive her away from Snowflake Valley? Or will she simply buckle down and try to make the best of it?
The Muffin Shop Murder is the first book in Holly Tierney's Delilah Crumbworthy Mystery series. When you read the blurb for this book, it sounds cute, promising, and like a fun story to check out. However, this book falls more into the "non-traditional" lane when it comes to cozy mystery novels. The murder actually takes place off-page, and Delilah only learns about it being described as a "tragic accident." It sounds fairly like one, which builds the expectation that there will be another murder for the main character to solve.
When you read the blurb, you expect to read about the downfall of the previous owners of the bakery that Delilah purchases. The fact that this doesn't happen is a touch disappointing. It would have helped to better set the stage for the novel and then build up to the failure, and then purchase by Delilah.
As Delilah is talking to some of the characters, the way that they express things makes it sound like lots of time has passed. During her interview with Nile, he makes it sound like the bakery has been closed for YEARS. It hasn't been, so why the exaggeration? Why didn't the real estate agent disclose the death on the property to Delilah before selling it to her? Was it not deemed essential to disclose? What would possess Elinor, Nile's fiance, to disclose so much negative information to Delilah so quickly?
It's strange, to put it mildly, that someone would just spew out so much negative information about the town and its residents to someone they barely know. You say that you want them to stay there, but then proceed to tell them a laundry list of disturbing facts.
There are multiple points of view in this book. You get Delilah, as the main character, and then you get several other characters as well. Some of the characters contribute to the story, but others do not. So you question - what was the particular point of including it in the story? The characters who contribute to the storyline are well done. They begin to point to a key individual that the author wants you to give more of your attention.
The mystery element of the story unfortunately tends to get lost in all the back and forth. There are little hints of drama scattered throughout. Some characters react as you would expect, while others - not so much. There will be some eyebrow-raising situations in this book, but try not to be too judgy of what you find.
As the story draws closer to a close, the storyline will become more intriguing. You'll become more engaged in finding out how things are going to play out. The ending - it's anticlimactic. You get a chapter of what happens next for the characters. Unfortunately for that as well - things sound like they've been rushed. Delilah in the beginning was quick to be painting a "future" for herself and Nile. Until that bubble gets burst, but it seems to be a theme for the women in this book - the projecting fantasy romances. Natural development would have been fantastic and much preferred.
As an avid reader of cozy mystery novels, I was super excited to dive into this book, but it just doesn't play out like I had expected. It's always good to find something fresh and new, but for me, this book would have benefited more from being traditional compared to going outside the box.
Pros:
- Interesting storyline
- Unpredictable
- Suspenseful
Cons:
- Character development
- Unnecessary characters
- Mystery needed more focus
- Certain situations are rushed
This book rates 3.5 out of 5 stars
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