In Cold Chocolate
In Cold Chocolate A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery by Dorothy St. James Crooked Lane Books Mystery & Thrillers Pub Date 21 Sep 2018
Review
Chocolate- check. Sea turtles- check. Murder- check. In Cold Chocolate is a cozy with bite. Charity Penn loves her chocolate shop and the town of Camellia Beach, despite the relatives of the woman who left her the shop causing problems, and her boyfriend’s crazy ex making wild threats and accusations. When Charity accompanies Althea to observe the hatching of a nest of sea turtles, Jody arrives waving a gun. After shots are fired and Cassidy Jones, the local Lothario is found dead, everyone assumes Jody killed him. But Penn, Jody’s son begs Charity to find proof that his mom is innocent.
The mystery is almost too easy for the reader to solve, but there is still plenty of tension arising from Jody’s venom and the challenge to Charity’s ownership of the shop. In Cold Chocolate is a bit melodramatic for my taste, but it still makes for a pleasant afternoon read.
3 / 5
I received a copy of In Cold Chocolate from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
— Crittermom
Description
In Dorothy St. James’s third delectable Southern Chocolate Shop mystery, a new batch of chocolate and troubles of the heart cause a string of disasters for the Chocolate Box’s new owner, Charity Penn. The vintage seaside town of Camellia Beach, South Carolina seems like the perfect place for romance with its quiet beach and its decadent chocolate shop that serves the world’s richest dark chocolates. The Chocolate Box’s owner, Charity Penn, falls even further under the island’s moonlit spell as she joins Althea Bays and the rest of the turtle watch team to witness a new generation of baby sea turtles hatch and make their way into the wide ocean. Before the babies arrive, gunshots ring out in the night. Cassidy Jones, the local Casanova, is found dead in the sand with his lover Jody Dalton—the same woman who has vowed to destroy the Chocolate Box—holding the gun. It’s an obvious crime of passion, or so everyone believes. But when Jody’s young son pleads with Penn to bring his mother back to him, she can’t say no. She dives headfirst into a chocolate swirl of truth and lies, and must pick through an assortment of likely (andsometimes unsavory) suspects before it’s too late for Penn and for those she loves in Dorothy St. James’s third rich installment of the Southern Chocolate Shop mysteries,In Cold Chocolate
