Peppermint Barked, A Spice Shop Mystery by Leslie Budewitz

It’s Christmas in “August” here at Wonder Women Sixty. To kick off the cozy lovers holiday season, nothing beats Leslie Budewitz’s newest Spice Shop Mystery release: Peppermint Barked. Fans of Ms. Budewitz know that she has some of the very coziest of cozies out there. And, if you’ve never read any of her books, well, now is the perfect opportunity.

It doesn’t matter if it’s 100 degrees outside with humidity so extreme, you’re guaranteed to have a bad hair day whether you have hair or not –picking up a copy of Peppermint Barked will take you to a much cooler time and place: Christmas season in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market.

Pepper Reece and her staff at the Spice Shop are helping customers and happily filling holiday orders during the busiest time of the year. But as Pepper is about to find out, Christmas can be all sugar and spice – plus everything not so nice when a young woman working at her friend Vinny’s wine store is brutally assaulted.

It has certainly put a damper on the holiday season, especially when the victim winds up in a coma and no one knows why she was attacked or by whom. The local police, including Tag, Pepper’s ex-hubby, are totally stumped. But as the days go by, the townsfolk are beginning to wonder if this was a random act or is there a psychotic killer on the loose – and if so, who’s next?

Then Pepper finds out, Matt, one of her loyal employees is a suspect and also Vinny from the wine shop. In her heart she knows that neither could commit such a brutal crime. She starts noseying around (as small town cozy sleuths do) to see if she can get her friends off the cops’ suspect list by digging up the motive and unearthing the “real” culprit.

To her dismay, Pepper finds out that both men are harboring secrets – secrets that may have led to or at least played a part in the woman’s assault. The problem is “they’re not talking!” But she’s slowly putting the pieces together with her boyfriend, Nate, and her adorable dog, Arf by her side.

Ideas are swirling – perhaps this is about a vengeful ex-wife or maybe about money. Could it have something to do with the vacant store front next to the wine shop, enemies from woman’s past or a family feud turned deadly?

As the pieces finally fall into place, Pepper thinks she’s closing in on the killer, when in fact, it’s the killer who’s closing in on her!

Leslie Budewitz has a way of bringing early Christmas charm to the table. The town itself, the characters and the plot are each finely tuned, then meshed together in harmony to create a very down-to-earth, feel-good Christmas cozy with a splash of murder to liven up everyone’s holiday eggnog!

Just released in July by Seventh Street Books, grab your copy of Peppermint Barked and settle in for this utterly delightful cozy by Leslie Budewitz.

Check out the “books/mystery” category on this site for more mystery book reviews and an exclusive interview with Leslie Budewitz.

A copy of this book and photo was provided by the publisher.