Killing Thyme by Leslie Budewitz

My rating: 4.25 of 5 stars

Spices are essential to making our food and drinks taste better. Leslie Budewitz’s ‘A Spice Shop Mystery’ series is essential to making our cozy mystery reading schedules even better. I want to kick myself for waiting several years before picking up this series, but at the same time the next book doesn’t release until June 2019, so I might have been frustrated waiting that long if I had finished them sooner. With all 3 published ones under my belt, I can say two things: (1) I’m a definite fan and (2) It’s time to move on to her next series which takes place in the NW USA too.

In Killing Thyme, Pepper’s finally got everything under control. Her shop is doing well, Pepper has two great employees to replace the ones she lost in the last book, her mom is coming for a visit from South America, and she’s dating a cute and kind reporter. But with her mom comes a secret from the past hurling quickly like a typhoon at Seattle’s Pike Place Market where you’d never expect one to appear. A fellow store artisan is not who she appears to be… and when she’s found dead early one morning, Pepper’s forced into protecting her mother from being punished for a crime she didn’t commit (at least we think so). Throw in a few cute ‘dates’ with the reporter, a couple of accidents with her friends, and a very curious bracelet that appears from nowhere and you’ve got quite a mystery to solve.

I think the series’ setting has fully fallen into place. We have a wonderful group of supporting characters and stores that make each book connective and fun. My favorite parts besides the murder mystery occur when Pepper goes for her daily walk around the market and catches up with friends we’ve come to adore. Having Arf, her awesome dog, makes it all the more enticing, too. Sometimes she learns a clue, others it’s just more confusion. Budewitz knows how to drop just enough to make us squint and scratch our chin over what’s the truth and what’s a lie. I enjoy this series and was glad to get to know some of Pepper’s family. Her mom’s a hoot and I can only imagine what she was like as a psuedo-hippie nearly 40 years earlier. The best part… we finally learn Pepper’s REAL NAME! Another great installment in the lives of the curious and ‘glamorous’ life in Seattle’s finest market… can’t wait to visit again in June. Thanks for an amazing and strong beginning to my 2019 reads, LB!

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About Me
For those new to me or my reviews… here’s the scoop: I’m Jay, an author who lives in NYC. My stand-alone novels, Watching Glass Shatter and Father Figure, can be purchased on Amazon as electronic copies or physical copies. My new book series, Braxton Campus Mysteries, will fit those who love cozy mysteries and crime investigations. There are two books: Academic Curveball and Broken Heart Attack. I read, write, and blog A LOT on this site where you can also find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators. Follow my blog with Bloglovin.