Dollycas's Thoughts
Pie Hard, a reality cooking show has come to Pie Town courtesy of Charlene and as a complete surprise to Val. The camera and crew arrive along with Regina Katz, the show's producer. Val is nervous because she knows what type of show this is. They will bash her shop and everything she does to get the high ratings. The show's pastry chef, Ilsa Fueder, is already muttering âdon't likeâ about every pie she looks at.
After the first day of taping Val gets a call from Ray, one of the gaming regulars telling her that show's producer has died in an âaccidentâ he sees more like murder. Soon the Baker Street Bakers are into a full-blown investigation with Ray as an associate member, (he is not a baker). Shocked that show is continuing Val uses the opportunity to get to know all the suspects on her list. She also has a connection to the show's new producer. The death has again slowed Pie Town's business to a crawl. Hard to be a success when Val keeps finding dead bodies. She just knows she needs to find the killer before she is bankrupt and baked to a crisp.
This is a fun series and this is a great addition. Murder with a lot of mayhem fills these pages. Charlene is quite the instigator and to start with Val just has to go with the flow. Right from the beginning when a yurt is dropped within feet of Val's tiny storage container house and the âgoddessesâ arrive for their yearly retreat. Something Charlene forgot to mention to Val. Then continuing when Val arrives at Pie Town to see her shop filled with strangers, holding cameras and tacking a microphone to her shirt. And on to Charlene's several unbelievable and impossible theories about who killed the producer and why. It takes a little time, but Val gets her bearings and juggles all these balls in the air while trying to find out more about a certain new member of the crew. The author has done so well developing the recurring characters and introducing the new batch as well. Charlene's cat, Frederick continues to make his appearances and is always good for a giggle.
I really enjoyed all the facets of the mysteries within this story. Val has plenty of clues to sift through along with plenty of suspects. The story is expertly plotted in a way that had me guessing right up until the big reveal. The family dynamic that was woven into the murder part of the story really added depth. It will be interesting to see how it impacts future stories. I was intrigued about how the goddesses were going to evolve into the story. I will say I was surprised at the role one of them played, but it was absolutely perfect.
Pie Hard, a reality cooking show has come to Pie Town courtesy of Charlene and as a complete surprise to Val. The camera and crew arrive along with Regina Katz, the show's producer. Val is nervous because she knows what type of show this is. They will bash her shop and everything she does to get the high ratings. The show's pastry chef, Ilsa Fueder, is already muttering âdon't likeâ about every pie she looks at.
After the first day of taping Val gets a call from Ray, one of the gaming regulars telling her that show's producer has died in an âaccidentâ he sees more like murder. Soon the Baker Street Bakers are into a full-blown investigation with Ray as an associate member, (he is not a baker). Shocked that show is continuing Val uses the opportunity to get to know all the suspects on her list. She also has a connection to the show's new producer. The death has again slowed Pie Town's business to a crawl. Hard to be a success when Val keeps finding dead bodies. She just knows she needs to find the killer before she is bankrupt and baked to a crisp.
This is a fun series and this is a great addition. Murder with a lot of mayhem fills these pages. Charlene is quite the instigator and to start with Val just has to go with the flow. Right from the beginning when a yurt is dropped within feet of Val's tiny storage container house and the âgoddessesâ arrive for their yearly retreat. Something Charlene forgot to mention to Val. Then continuing when Val arrives at Pie Town to see her shop filled with strangers, holding cameras and tacking a microphone to her shirt. And on to Charlene's several unbelievable and impossible theories about who killed the producer and why. It takes a little time, but Val gets her bearings and juggles all these balls in the air while trying to find out more about a certain new member of the crew. The author has done so well developing the recurring characters and introducing the new batch as well. Charlene's cat, Frederick continues to make his appearances and is always good for a giggle.
I really enjoyed all the facets of the mysteries within this story. Val has plenty of clues to sift through along with plenty of suspects. The story is expertly plotted in a way that had me guessing right up until the big reveal. The family dynamic that was woven into the murder part of the story really added depth. It will be interesting to see how it impacts future stories. I was intrigued about how the goddesses were going to evolve into the story. I will say I was surprised at the role one of them played, but it was absolutely perfect.
Pie Hard is the third installment in the Pie Town Mystery series featuring Valentine "Val" Harris set in San Nicholas, California. Unbeknownst to Val, her pie crust maker, Charlene submitted an application for Pie Town to appear on the reality show Pie Hard, and now the celebrity cast has descended on their shop to evaluate, critique and film for an upcoming episode.
The Pie Town regulars are excited to have the cameras in their midst including Ray Mactaggart, the head of the gamers group that claims a booth in the pie shop every afternoon. Val is stunned when later that evening she receives a call from Ray stating that he witnessed the show's producer, Regina Katz get pushed to her death over the cliffs surrounding the crew's hotel.
Despite the objections from Detective Gordon Carmichael, Val joins forces with her friends to track down a killer. Tension was running high between the cast of Pie Hard and the suspect pool includes head bakery consultant Nigel Prashad, pastry chef Ilsa Fueder, the two men making up the sound and film crew, a mysterious stranger who arrives to take over for Regina and the furtive, long haired man that seems to be stalking Val.
Readers of this series will not be disappointed with this latest installment. The quirky cast of characters are engaged in their usual madcap adventures right from page one, this time joined not only by the narcoleptic cat, Frederick but a group of yurt dwelling goddesses who have landed in Val's yard. The shocking identity reveal of the two strangers will definitely have you reaching for the next addition to the series -
The Pie Town regulars are excited to have the cameras in their midst including Ray Mactaggart, the head of the gamers group that claims a booth in the pie shop every afternoon. Val is stunned when later that evening she receives a call from Ray stating that he witnessed the show's producer, Regina Katz get pushed to her death over the cliffs surrounding the crew's hotel.
Despite the objections from Detective Gordon Carmichael, Val joins forces with her friends to track down a killer. Tension was running high between the cast of Pie Hard and the suspect pool includes head bakery consultant Nigel Prashad, pastry chef Ilsa Fueder, the two men making up the sound and film crew, a mysterious stranger who arrives to take over for Regina and the furtive, long haired man that seems to be stalking Val.
Readers of this series will not be disappointed with this latest installment. The quirky cast of characters are engaged in their usual madcap adventures right from page one, this time joined not only by the narcoleptic cat, Frederick but a group of yurt dwelling goddesses who have landed in Val's yard. The shocking identity reveal of the two strangers will definitely have you reaching for the next addition to the series -
