Book Review: Cruel Candy by Mildred Abbott (Cozy Corgi Mysteries #1)

Estes Park, Colorado: picturesque mountains, charming shops, delightful bakeries, a cozy bookstore… and murder. Winifred Page and her corgi, Watson, move to Estes Park to hit the reset button on life. Fred is about to open her dream bookshop, and the only challenges she anticipates are adjusting to small town life, tourists, and living close to her loveable mother, Phyllis, and hippy stepfather, Barry. When Fred steps into her soon-to-be-bookshop for the first time, she expects dust bunnies and spiders… not the dead body in the upstairs kitchen. The local police have an easy suspect—Barry.

Determined to prove quirky Barry innocent of murder, Fred puts on her detective hat, and with Watson by her side, she explores her new town and gets acquainted with her fellow shopkeepers. Could one of her friendly neighbors be the real culprit? And what would be the motive for killing the owner of the Sinful Bites candy store? The secrets Fred discover put her at odds with the local police sergeant and threaten her cozy future in Estes. With snow falling outside, all Fred wants to do is curl up by the fire with a good book and Watson snuggled at her feet. But before she can begin her new life and put her plans for her bookshop into action, Fred and Watson have a mystery to solve…

My Review: 
I chose this book more on the cute corgi covers for the series than anything else as I'm not really a fan of cozy mysteries. However I wanted a change of pace for the Puppy Love Challenge this year so I took a chance on it and actually found it to be a decent light read in spite of a few issues.

Fred is moving to the town that her mother Phyllis and eccentric stepfather Barry live, where her mother owns property that Fred intends to use to open a new bookshop. Along with her faithful Corgi Watson, Fred is excited about viewing her shop for the first time until she discovers that the neighbours on either side of her new business were sisters who wanted to buy the property to expand their kingdom. Things don't improve when Fred finds a dead body in her shop and it is one of the sisters. It gets worse when Barry becomes the main suspect and it is up to Fred and Watson to get to the truth.

The characters are a bit of a mixed bag. I really liked Fred's Uncle Percival and his partner and the gossipy shopkeeper who is happy to fill Fred in about everyone's private business as she starts to investigate. There is also Katie who works in the candy shop Sinful Bites who becomes friendly with Fred from the start. Barry is a really strange fish with his dope smoking and questionable taste in interior design and fashion. He is a really dumb idiot and I can't say that Fred's mother is much better in that regard. The big star of the book for me has to be Watson the Corgi who has real personality about him and won't stop on the trail for food and treats. He is very much overfed by a weak-willed Fred so I do have fears for his health and waistline as the series progressed.  

On the down side we have the steriotype police officers. The detective is of course gorgeous but not very good at investigating as he gets most of his clues from Fred, and the female cop is of course a cold and nasty bitch who hates Fred from the start. There is also the dreaded love triangle territory looming on the horizon as Fred goes gooey every time she sees the cop and the park ranger. This is one of my pet hates in books. I was quite able to retain the ability to speak and think every time I came into contact with a man I found attractive so I do get a bit annoyed with ditzy female characters who swoon, stutter and go to pieces in front of a man. In that sense Fred is somewhat pathetic.

I really don't like love triangles dominating my books as I never enjoy them so that does have me wary of reading the next book, as does the continuing vendetta of that spiteful female cop. If she is going to just arrest someone for murder because they find a dying man and try to save him, I don't think I want to waste my time getting angry with the bitch every page she appears on. I honestly don't think even the adorable Watson would make me read on in the series.

Read February 2019
2.5 stars.