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    Muffin but Murder
    Muffin but Murder
    Muffin but Murder
    Audiobook9 hours

    Muffin but Murder

    Written by Victoria Hamilton

    Narrated by Margaret Strom

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Merry's career as a New York City stylist has crumbled, but her passion for muffins has helped her rise upstate in Autumn Vale. Everyone in town loves the tasty treats. Still, she would like to return to her glamorous life. Besides, the upkeep of Wynter Castle is expensive, and Merry's cup isn't exactly overflowing.
    So in order to bring some prospective buyers into the mix, Merry whisks together a spooky soiree and decorates the castle with dashes of fabric and a sprinkling of spiderwebs. Friends new and old are invited, and everyone has a blast. But as the revelers empty out, Merry notices one partygoer who isn't leaving-or breathing. Now Merry must hurry to unmask a killer before her perfect plans turn into a recipe for disaster.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 21, 2016
    ISBN9781515970347
    Muffin but Murder
    Author

    Victoria Hamilton

    Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson.She now happily writes about vintage kitchen collecting, muffin baking, and dead bodies in the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries and Merry Muffin Mystery series. Besides writing about murder and mayhem, and blogging at Killer Characters, Victoria collects vintage kitchen wares and old cookbooks, as well as teapots and teacups.

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    Reviews for Muffin but Murder

    4/5

    38 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved it. Something always happening. I did not see the right killer coming
    • 3/5
      Meh. The first book was meh, but the author hooked me with the treasure hunt. The treasure hunt is over in this book and it's still meh. It's not bad, but it's not great either. Dialog is oddly stilted (although I find this to be true of all this author's work I've read). I got REALLY tired of hearing Merry saying she couldn't keep the castle. The murder mystery was pretty good though. Don't know if I'll read the next one or not - if I think about it when I'm next ordering books, maybe.
    • 4/5
      4 Stars
      While the first book in the series had a lot of similarities to The Cat Who series at least in settings and pets, this book firmly establishes the cast of eccentric characters as one of my new favorite cozy mystery series. Merry, Shilo, and Phis are great as the main cast, but the locals really add the humor and strange to the books and plot. Doc is my favorite minor character.
      I was surprised that Les was the killer and the one in “charge of the gang” and also surprised that Cranston turned into a con man I expected him to be a series regular.
    • 3/5
      Merry Wynter owns Wynter Castle in upstate New York. She's been in Spain for a couple of months because her late husband's mother wanted to make peace with her (another story). When she returns home she finds things changed. Her beau Virgil meets her at the airport and is surly toward her; her roommate Pish has taken in a temperamental opera star - Roma Toscano - that Merry dislikes, her friend Emerald has been taken in by a cult-like personality and is pushing Merry away, and the rest of her friends are acting like she's been gone a year.But when she's out with Virgil's mother Gogi and they discover the body of the local postmistress, who has been stabbed with a letter opener that Merry recognizes as being owned by Roma, rumors begin to fly. Everyone thinks the diva committed the crime, but Merry isn't so sure and takes it upon herself to find the killer and set things about her to rights...Well, this book was a bit of a disappointment. Merry went to Spain for a couple of months to make peace with her late husband's mother, and enjoy a vacation of sorts, but when she returns home everyone treats her like the enemy. I guess in the town of Autumn Vale no one is expected to take vacations. After all, why would you want to go anywhere else? You're a traitor if you leave the city! I think these people need a reality check.Also, when she gets back to her castle she finds that her live-in friend Pish hasn't been taking care of her cat. He tells her that Becket went for longer and longer walks and just never showed back up. This is supposed to be her "dearest friend." I don't know about you, but my dearest friend would not allow my cats to disappear. If Pish couldn't handle it, he should have told her before she left so she could have made other arrangements. (Honestly, with not much training, Becket could become an exclusive indoor cat. I've adopted several feral cats and they're all indoor cats now). Also, before anyone gets the wrong idea, the coyotes of New York are not the same coyotes that live around my neck of the woods. Western and Eastern are different in that those in upstate are hybrids - yet another reason to keep Becket indoors.Then Pish just invites Roma to stay at the castle without asking Merry first. Plus, Roma is a pig. She leaves things lying around everywhere, and our spineless Merry doesn't tell her to clean up the mess or find a hotel. She doesn't even tell Pish that he needs to tell Roma to clean up. As a matter of fact, in this book it seemed as if Merry was the boarder and Pish owned the castle, because he did whatever he wanted and Roma walked around dramatically, and they practically took over the place. What kind of friend is he? He ignores her cat and invites someone to stay rent free who trashes the place, leaving her to do everything, including cooking for the ungrateful witch. I'd send her out to eat every single meal. I guess Merry had two divas to deal with.Then there's the problem of Emerald being taken in by a cult-like person named Crystal who is living off of her and making Em go back to work in a dive bar, even disciplining Em's daughter Lizzie, and she allows her to do this. Does anyone say anything? No! Not until Merry comes back and decides to investigate and discover things aren't adding up.Plus, this is the place to go if you just want to leech off people - Roma is leeching off of Merry, Crystal is leeching off of Emerald, and even when Minnie (the postmistress) dies, no one goes to her house and tells the leeches there that they have to leave! I'm sorry, but they should have been told to get out instead of acting like squatters.I didn't understand why she had to go around town asking everyone to forgive her for taking a vacation. Jealous, maybe? Who does that? 'Gee, I'm sorry I went on a nice vacation. Next time I'll just go camping in them there woods, okay?' In the end, the mystery was just okay; although it made sense, by that time I was already irritated by the people of this town and the fact that Pish isn't a very good friend after all.
    • 3/5
      Very enjoyable series. Well written and not tooooo sappy.
    • 2/5
      I was looking for Cozy Mysteries, when I took out 2 Merry Muffin books. Poor rich people...lol This one especially in my opinion does not quality as a Cozy Mystery. . In my opinion the Main character is a nosy no it all. I found this very negative, & depressing.I I will definitely not read any more of this author's work. If looking for interesting Mystery that are well written, there are a lot of other authors I'd prefer. (Cozy or not)
    • 5/5
      Who killed the corpse in the castle coffin?This, the second book of the Merry Muffin Mystery series, begins with a brief introduction to the series by covering what has happened previously very quickly and succinctly, not distracting from the current book but bringing it into the present. Merry Wynter is currently making her home in Wynter Castle, which she has inherited, and sharing it with her friends, Pish, who is helping her with her finances and with promoting the castle she feels she needs to sell, and Shilo, her gypsy-model friend.The story opens with Merry going to the next town, a town that is on the verge of collapse, to find a party shop to buy supplies for the upcoming party Pish is helping her arrange. Since it happens to be around Halloween, she has decided on a non-ghoulish Halloween theme. She is completely dismayed by the dismal town and the party shop, but does buy some supplies, even after she is told the warehouse is haunted. Is it?To confuse matters more, a "cousin" has appeared at the castle and cousin Cranston is determined that he should have his share of the inheritance. Merry is working on the possibility of fraud with the help of Pish, plotting a way to get a DNA sample, while planning the Halloween party. Here we find characters of all kinds, including the 'security' hired to make sure only invited guests get in and other locals to serve the guests. Many of the invited guests are wealthy and in a position to buy the castle if they want it. These New York elite make up the majority of the guestsIt isn't long before Merry notices that there are too many guests and on checking finds that several people have been admitted under the same names. While trying to make sense of the football team, who have been included (are they really a football team or is that their costumes?) and others who are acting suspicious, the party begins to unravel. Part of the decor includes a coffin complete with a mannequin, but surprise! There is a body in there, and it belongs to one of the uninvited guests. Who is he, and why is he at the party? No one seems to know who he is, or they aren't telling. When a good friend is arrested for the murder, Merry goes into full investigative mode. With more and happier surprises in store before the mystery is solved, Merry is unsure about selling the castle. She feels she is a part of the community and has made many friends in Autumn Vale. Not everyone is prepared for Merry to sell, it remains to be seen what the outcome will be. Victoria Hamilton writes a great cozy murder mystery and I'm sure there will be more adventures in store.
    • 4/5
      There's a point in the story where Merry just stops and tries to think about all the different things that are going on. I felt like that at times too, there was a lot going on at Wynter Castle in the second book in Merry's series. A dead cowboy during a Halloween open house, the requisite visit by local police and questiooning of all guests lead to various storylines. I really like these characters, from Jack and Shilo's blossoming relationship, to Pish's steadfast help and the various townspeople, some of whom seem to be accepting Merry at last. Oh, and there's a possible cousin determined to share in Merry's inheritance. All in all, it felt like a longer story than it was, but I liked the things it set in motion for Merry's character.