The Chocolate Frog Frame-Up

A cozy mystery that takes place in Warner Pier Michigan. The main characters boy friend is being framed in this who-done-it. I like Lees' play on words. Fast paced with a variety of characters.

This is a quick cosy with a probable solution. While it is one of a series, the story was very self contained, and there were few references to 'off-book' events.
There are periodic inserts of 'Chocolate Trivia' as advertised on the cover, I found these very annoying, both becuase they interrupted the flow of the story, and because many of the facts were speculative.

It's been a while since I "solved" a mystery in the books I read. I'm happy to have broken that barren spell. The book still rates low to me. But however awful - mind, this book is not that - a book can turn out to be, if it's your favorite genre you're gonna cut it some slack. I'm glad that there diversity in the Chocoholic series. The Joe character is no longer peripheral. He fits well into the fleshing out of Warner Pier. I found the History of early chocolate making tedious, but it's no big deal. The best thing about the main heroine is that, if you don't count Joe, she doesn't have a pet. Further, I'm aware of the many remaining books in the series and I'm amused at how long Lee will keep postponing sex with Joe. The books are show more pious, but the murders in book 2 and this one were cruel. Anyway I'm glad to be looking forward to the next books left. Cozy mysteries rule. show less

Lee McKinney, lives with her Aunt Nettie and works as the business Manager for the family chocolate business in Warner Pier, MI. She has a delicate relationship with Joe Woodyard and when he is implicated in the death of Herschel, the town crazy, Lee works to resolve the problem and clear his name.

The clues are interestingly presented so that the reader follows along and puts the mystery to bed at the same time as the characters figure out the solution. A fun read!

I enjoyed this story. Joe is the prime suspect in the murder of small town crank, Hershel. Lee and Joe are dating and have few dangerous encounters with the murderer. It was a cute story. It did keep me interested.

I had trouble with this one. A nice little murder mystery, but I kept getting caught up in her problem with saying the wrong word. The protagonist has problems were she goes to say one thing and another word comes out.

I finished this book in less than 24 hours - usually do. For chocolate lovers these are great mysteries. I fear I gain weight just reading them as they describe all the chocolates that are made in the shop in the book as well as give a nice history of chocolate, too.