Death, Guns, and Sticky Buns (Tori Miracle, #3)

by Valerie S. Malmont

When a quaint Pennsylvania town hosts a Civil War reenactment, only the blood will be real....

How does a once-hip New Yorker get used to living in a quaint Pennsylvania town famous for its gooey, oversized sticky buns? For Tori Miracle, it means kissing her diet good-bye, always showing up in the wrong clothes, and struggling with a love life. And now that she's filling in for the editor of the Lickin Creek Chronicle and has the town newspaper to look after as well as her own dear fastidious felines, sometimes it means cosponsoring public events like a Civil War reenactment for the local women's college.

But when this charmingly authentic reenactment is done, and each man and woman has played his or her part to the hilt, it's clear that Tori has miscalculated again. Someone used one live bullet in an antique gun. And with a man dead, it's going to be up to the only city slicker in Lickin Creek to unravel a mystery of murder in a town where calories don't count, but murder does....

• ISBN10: 0307483657
• ISBN13: 9780307483652
• Publish Date: 10 December 2008 (first published 7 March 2000)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Dell Publishing Company
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 168
• Language: English

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

See my full review on my blog at Mystereity Reviews

Death, Guns and Sticky Buns is the 3rd book in the Tori Miracle series. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a copy of the second book, which wasn't a huge problem but this book would've flowed a little better if I had. There are a few references to it sprinkled around that didn't confuse the story in this book. For me, I like reading a series in order, so I was a bit put out.

Tori, a recent transplant to rural Pennsylvania from New York City, is still adjusting to small town life. Her new boyfriend, Police Chief Garnet, is headed to Costa Rica for a year. Tori consoles herself by throwing herself into work as temporary editor for the Lickin Creek Chronicle and promptly gets tangled in a suspicious death, Civil War artifact thefts, and sticky buns. Gooey, tasty sticky buns (recipes at the end of the book!)

The local women's college is hosting a Civil War execution A former Congressman and a college trustee Mack MacMillan insists on playing the deserter being executed and the spectators are shocked when he actually dies after someone replaced the fake bullets in the muskets for real ones. The resolution of the mystery was original and unexpected, as was the stolen Civil War artifacts subplot, and I really enjoyed it.

Tori is a likeable main character; smart, funny, easily distracted and just a little socially awkward. I find her easy to relate to and very well drawn. The other characters in the story are really just wallpaper and I'm hoping they develop a little more in the coming stories.

Overall, Death, Guns, and Sticky Buns was highly enjoyable, a light read that will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries and/or Civil War history.