PIES AND PREJUDICE by Ellery Adams

Publisher:  Berkley
Published:   July 3, 2012
ISBN:  978-0425251409
Genre:   Cozy Mystery
Book format:  Paperback
Obtained via:  Publisher   
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com

Two – 1/2

After walking in to the elevator to find her husband not with one, but with two women – twins at that – from their apartment buck naked and engaged in some extra marital relations Ella Mae LaFaye grabs her dog, Chewy, and with nothing more than the clothes on her back, heads home to Havenwood, Georgia.  There, back with her beloved aunts, her mother’s housekeeper and her mother, Ella Mae takes a hard look at her future, a future that does not include her husband Sloan.  Not one to sit around she sets her sights on opening a pie shop and divorcing the cheating slime ball.  With her aunts at her back everything seems to be falling into place….almost.

There is her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor who also wants the building Charmed Pies will occupy and the woman is used to getting her way.  From high school where she stole the boy Ella Mae loved right out from, well not quite under because that’s not the kind of girl Ella Mae is, but she steals him just the same…till today, Loralyn lets nothing get in her way.  Now engaged to what will be her third husband Loralyn isn’t about to let Ella Mae have anything she wants.  In fact she threatens to do something to cost Ella Mae her pie shop.  It doesn’t take long for that threat to be carried out when Loralyn’s finance is found dead—apparently killed with someone that belongs to Ella Mae.  Can Ella Mae find the real killer before he gets her?

I enjoyed Ellery Adams first series, the Books by the Bay with its quirky writers’ group and seaside setting so I anticipated enjoying her Charmed Pie Shop series as well.  I set my expectations too high and was disappointed.

The paranormal element in PIES AND PREJUDICE just didn’t work for me.  I like cozies for their quirky characters and fun settings.  I don’t need or really care for unexplained events, especially when they aren’t resolved by the end of the story.  Having a few threads left open for future possibilities can be fun.  When a number of avenues are left open—in this case just how come the magic pies are magical and the true character of pretty much all but Ella Mae and her aunts characters are left without resolution I find myself disappointed.  It was like the author didn’t have enough words left in the count to finish out the story and left it for the next one.  There is a tantalizing bit about just where Ella Mae’s name and power might come from, but she doesn’t even really question it.  If you aren’t paying attention you could miss it…but then it’s gone as if the author changed her mind just where she was going with it.

Some of the pies sound so yummy and the recipes at the end seem easy enough that anyone can make them and I plan to try out the Chocolate Pecan Bourbon one—it sounds amazing to eat and simple to make. 

If you like your cozies with a bit of something else you’ll enjoy the Charmed Pie Shoppe series and in particular PIES AND PREJUDICE. 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.