4 STARS

Trouble's On the Menu: A Tippy Canoe Romp-With Recipes by Caleb Warnock and Betsy Schow

I did not know what to expect of this novel by reading just the blurb. It was filled with humor ,art, food and a mystery.
It was also filled with big time governor against small town mayor. I laughed a lot. It is also a clean read with lots of recipes in the back. Warning this book makes you hungry.

It starts off with Hallie coming into Barefoot, Montana in a snow storm and hits a women driving a scooter. Andrea the owner of the weekly newspaper. Hallie just wanted to come to town do her business and get back to California. Hallie is a artist. She is in town to settle her late husband estate. He left her everything even though they have been separated for eight years.

Hallie is hungry but before she can get served her food she is kicked out of the restaurant because of the accident. The next day
she finds out that she is the landlord of three different businesses that her late husband was paid in hay and ice cream shakes.
It will not be easy to sell the businesses and she does not want to stay away from her art studio.

Marc Greathouse is the mayor. He is a widower with no children. He was laid off work when the mine closed down. His family has a christmas tree farm that unless he raises 35,000 will be auctioned off for unpaid taxes. Marc makes some bad decisions that he regrets. Then he finds out the Governor is coming town to announce he is closing their school and busing their kids to a hour away to different school district. Their town is going to fight it. Starting with the Mayor slugging the Governor and being arrested by his own father.

I was totally entertained by reading Trouble's on the Menu. I hope they have another Tippy Canoe adventure. The characters are different. They have their own personality. I like Hallie. Also like how the town helps take care of its own. Hallie makes some good friends and gets involved with the towns problems.

I was given this ebook to read in exchange of honest review from Netgalley.

publication: April 9th 2013 by Sweetwater Books Cedar Fort Publishing 240 pages ISBN: 1462110932

Description below taken off of Netgalley.com

After her estranged husband’s unexpected death, Hallie goes to Barefoot, Montana, to wrap up his estate. Her arrival begins awkwardly as she nearly runs over the town gossip during a snowstorm. Fortunately, the single, attractive town mayor is willing to lend her a hand to get her affairs in order. But when his life starts to spiral out of control, Hallie must decide whether he’s worth sticking around for. ( )