Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In Crawford's routine 17th mystery featuring Bernie and Libby Simmons, owners of A Little Taste of Heaven, a bakery cum catering company in Longely, N.Y. (after 2020's A Catered Book Club Mystery), the sisters agree to cater a wedding reception for two eight-month-old golden retrievers and their handlers. Jennie, who shares the dogs with her boyfriend, believes the ceremony would be great publicity for the doggie day-care center she's about to open. Those involved in planning the event soon start receiving threatening notes, and the harassment escalates to vandalism. Then the contractor who's working on the day-care center is murdered, and evidence starts stacking up against Jennie. She hires Bernie and Libby, who have a local reputation as sleuths, to clear her name. Their retired police officer dad, who's writing an article about a bank robbery from decades ago, assists them. The old bank robbery turns out to have a connection to a recent bank robbery--and the murder. This meandering cozy offers enough suspects, but there's too much repetition of information, and the duo's snarky exchanges get a tad tired. Crawford has done better. Agent: Evan Marshall, Evan Marshall Agency. (July)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Sisters and caterers Bernie and Libby Simmons are back in Crawford's 17th "Mystery with Recipes" tale (following A Catered Book Club Murder). The girlfriend of one of their staff is opening a doggie daycare and has decided to celebrate its grand opening with a wedding for her two dogs. Bernie and Libby will cater it, of course. Things take a turn when they and the other vendors start receiving threatening messages and experiencing minor acts of vandalism. Is it the owner of the high-end dress shop next door? Or perhaps the landlord who might be looking to break leases and sell the property? Or is there an older and darker motive at work? The stakes are raised again when the contractor renovating the daycare building is found dead. With the reluctant assistance of their retired police detective father, the sisters become even more determined to find the culprit and protect their friends. VERDICT Fans of the series will enjoy the Simmons sisters' latest outing, but the mystery is meaty enough and the characters engaging enough to satisfy newcomers as well.--Dan Forrest
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Sisters Libby and Bernie Simmons find catering a wedding for dogs a walk in the park until the threats arrive. The sisters, who own A Little Taste of Heaven, have agreed to make doggie delights for two golden retrievers belonging to Jennie, the girlfriend of their employee Googie. Jennie, who's opening a doggie day care called Woof Woof, thinks holding the ceremony there will provide great publicity. Inevitably, there's push back from financially distressed Renee, who owns the high-end dress shop next door. Soon someone slashes all four tires of the sisters' van and sends threatening messages to the people providing flowers for the wedding and taking photos. Even after the sisters' dad, former police officer Sean Simmons, points out that they have no proof that Renee did the deed, they still confront her and her boyfriend, Ivan. Googie suspects Jennie's ex-boyfriend Liam Nelson, who denies any involvement--after all, he's even been willing to help Tom Bannon, the carpenter working on the day care center. The police think Jennie's drunk when she reports finding Tom dead in his car, especially when they can't find it in the place where she said it was. When his body is finally discovered, though, Jennie's the prime suspect. Bolstered by their long record of crime-solving, the sisters set out to find the killer. A plethora of suspects and tangled subplots lead to mass confusion. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.