Shredding the Evidence

Shredding the Evidence by Daryl Wood Gerber has Jenna Hart preparing the shop for Food Bowl Week in Crystal Cove, California. Local restaurants are offering their best and most creative dishes including Intine, Rhett’s new French bistro. Kylie O, the food critic for the Crystal Cove Courier, is determined to cover all the Food Bowl events on her own much to Tito Martinez’s frustration. When Kylie is found dead on a Pilates machine, Tito ends up the prime suspect. Bailey needs Jenna prove Tito’s innocence before her husband ends up a cook at the local prison. Shredding the Evidence is the ninth A Cookbook Nook Mystery. It can be read as a standalone, but I do recommend each book in this charming series. I always enjoy visiting Crystal Cove with its darling shops and friendly (well, most of them of are) residents. I have liked watching Jenna, Cary Hart, Aunt Vera, Bailey and the other develop as characters. It is lovely to see Aunt Vera in a romance, Bailey enjoying her new baby girl, Jenna and Rhett planning their wedding and Cinnamon expecting a baby. The annual Food Bowl Week means an influx of tourists to sample the delectable food and purchase gifts which includes cookbooks plus related items from the Cookbook Nook. Kylie Obendorfer (you can see why she preferred Kylie O) is murdered and there are a variety of people who would have liked to see her dead. As a food critic, Kylie did not hold back. She was equally as rude in her private life. Unfortunately, Tito had a public argument with Kylie the day before her death. Bailey has no intention of letting her husband linger on Cinnamon’s suspect list. I liked the misdirection as well as the method of murder. I was caught by surprise when Cinnamon did something completely unexpected that left Jenna equally flabbergasted (for a moment). There were a couple of side storylines in Shredding the Evidence. Aunt Vera’s romance has upset her romantic partners children, Eugene Tinsdale is thinking of selling the Crystal Cove Courier, Rhett is overwhelmed at his new restaurant, redecorating is happening at Jenna and Rhett’s new home plus they are planning their wedding. I just love Tigger, Jenn’s cat, and his adorable antics. I like how the shredding theme was incorporated into the book in clever ways. The food descriptions will have your mouth watering and, luckily, there are recipes at the end of the book for some of the food dishes mentioned. Shredding the Evidence is a fun cozy mystery with delectable delights, a cute cat, wedding woes, a horrifying homicide, a beloved baby, relationship tribulations, and throngs of tourists.