A Very well written book. Great characters and setting. I will definitely read more in this series. ( )

Roberta Jordan has made a pilgrimage from her Indiana B&B back to California in order to attend her 10th high school reunion. Robbie is shocked to discover that a young environmental activist called Paul suspects her mom’s death two years ago was actually a murder. When Paul dies in exactly the same manner as Robbie’s mother, his suspicion takes on a whole new level of seriousness. Robbie enlists her old high school pal & cybersecurity policeman, Jason, to try & uncover the truth behind her mother’s & Paul’s deaths.

Nacho Average Murder is much more of a travelogue than murder mystery; and Robbie is much more of a foodie than an amateur sleuth.

While in California, Robbie visits old friends, walks around old haunts & tourist sites, & eats…& eats…& eats…
Her investigations basically consist of her half-heartedly interviewing people during & in-between meals, and then occasionally passing any gossip she hears on to Detective Gifford. The police independently & unceremoniously identify & arrest the culprit. It’s all pretty boring & uneventful.

Although the author bio on the back cover claims she knows Indiana intimately, she clearly doesn’t. At one point in the book she writes that referring to other people as “hon” is common in Indiana. No, it isn’t. I can not impress upon you enough how much calling people “hon” is not even remotely a ‘thing’ in Indiana.

She also mentions that it is impossible to get jicama in Indiana. No, it isn’t. I grew up (eighth generation Hoosier) eating jicama all of the time. Either Maddie Day has never spent a day of her life in Indiana, or she had blinders on & paid absolutely zero attention to what was actually going on there. I shudder to think what she says about Indiana in the other books of this series that are supposedly set in Indiana…*wince*

Overall, I found the author’s writing style to be very patronizing. She just never could quite get off of her political soap box or high horse agenda. I just really don’t want or need that crap in my weekend afternoon, pass-the-time reading material.

I won’t be reading any more in this series, & this copy is going straight into the recycle bin. ( )

This wasn’t my favorite of the Robbie Jordan series (which is my current favorite cozy mystery series), but it was still a nice addition to that world. Will be looking forward to more of this series in the future! ( )

I was so hungry reading this book. *insert the laughing emoji* Goodness. The food in this book! Mexican food is one of my most favorite kind of cuisine. If you enjoy Mexican flavors, prepare for this.
In this book Robbie leaves Indiana to attend her high school reunion in California. I wasn’t sure how well I would do with this change. Obviously, the town wasn’t going with her so this meant new characters to meet. I was excited to see where Robbie was from. I expected it to be fun. I was just having mixed feelings because I’m a character type reader. I look at the characters as friends and tend to pick my favorite series by the people in them. I had no reason to worry, though. I really enjoyed Robbie’s friends. It was interesting to see her with friends from her school days. I felt that I got to know Robbie a bit more with this plot. I loved Carmen. She brought to mind a friend I haven’t seen in years making her a special character for me. The mystery was especially interesting to me. Robbie learns that her mother might have not died of natural causes but my have been murdered! I can’t even imagine learning that. Of course, she had to look into it. Who wouldn’t want answers? Who wouldn’t want justice? I don’t want to go into this as it would be too easy to ruin it for others reading. I thought it was well done. It certainly added a more personal touch, for me. I enjoyed visiting California but I think I really like being in Indiana.
This is book 7 in the Country Store Mysteries series. This book can easily be read as a stand-alone. I think I had such an easy time thinking of this as a stand-alone because of the change in location. I personally like this series in order.
Thank you to Kensington and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review consideration. My review is voluntary and based upon my reading enjoyment. I enjoyed it enough to buy the audiobook. ( )

Robbie is back in her hometown for a class reunion. It’s not all fun though, with an ominous comment from a former classmate and a wild rumor that her mom’s death a couple of years ago might have been under suspicious circumstances. Robbie can’t stop herself from nosing around, and when one of her contacts dies, it really seems like murder. It’s a case of environmentalists against the private chemical company, and Robbie has to find out the truth in what happened to her mom as well as the current situation. While readers if this series might have missed the regular characters, this is the first one I have read in this series, and it works well as a stand-alone. The plot is intricate enough with right amount of clues and red herrings, and the end is refreshing in its simplicity. ( )