Mia Malone is the main character, and she is a witch. Well, a Kitchen Witch who practices hearth magic. That means she can only do spells that work with the kitchen and healing magic. I think this is a neat way to do the magical aspect, and it's definitely different. I've heard of kitchen witches before but not with what they could do. Mia is a lover of lists, being organized, cooking, and trying to be somewhat human even though she isn't. She doesn't trust herself to fall in love since Issac used her as a business partner instead of the partners that she thought they were. I like Mia a lot as a character as she's wonderfully sweet and one that I can't wait to see more of. Ms. Cahoon has done a fantastic job of creating this little world, and I hope that Mia has a lot of success with her business venture called Mia's Morsels.

The Mystery

The mystery in this story is who killed Adele and why they would kill her. There are also two others, but they get solved pretty fast. Mia is trying to solve that while also not having the police officer think that she or Christina murdered Adele. It's a tough time for Mia as she feels like she's an outsider despite being a summer resident. There is a lot of things to remember while reading this book about the mysteries. Mia is a good sleuth as she could figure out some of the other mysteries but not the one about who killed Adele. I didn't figure it out until the killer was telling her why the killer did it.

Five Stars

One Poison Pie by Lynn Cahoon is worthy of five stars, and I'm recommending it to everyone that loves to read paranormal cozy mysteries. Ms. Cahoon has done a great job of creating this new universe and how she's doing the magic is perfect for this world. I can't wait to see what Ms. Cahoon does for this series in the other books.

Second Book in the Series coming in July of 2021

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of One Poison Pie by Lynn Cahoon.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

Victim/Toe Tag: Adele Simpson (A)

Beachcomber Weapons: knife

Beachcomber Crime Scene: hotel (ballroom)

Detectives: Mia Malone (M)

This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove

annieb123

Written on Mar 21, 2021

Originally posted to my blog: Nonstop Reader.

One Poison Pie is the first book in a new cozy series by Lynn Cahoon. Released 26th Jan 2021 by Kensington, it's 272 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a small-town catering cozy with light paranormal overtones complete with cat, feisty grandma, (and a recipe for pie at the back). I found the characters a bit formulaic and "trope-y" and the plotting predictable. One of the major (really *the* major) plot device(s) is so beyond the bounds of possibility that it just never really achieved liftoff for me. No spoilers, but it's the main impetus for the first murder and most of the subsequent plot action. The dialogue is often clunky and a bit cartoonish; Officer Baldwin is a buffoonish bully and some his lines are cringe-worthy. The story arc, denouement, and resolution are satisfying however and the author is experienced and writes well.

I do recommend the book to readers who are especially fond of small-town cat cozies with outlandish plots, but understand that there are some major issues going in and bring a hefty suspension of disbelief to the party. There are many wonderful long running series which got off to a rocky start. This could possibly be one of them. There are glimmers of an interesting and engaging story.

Three and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.