Olivia Greyson is the proud owner of The Gingerbread House--a quaint shop that specializes in all things cookie--and her best friend, Maddie, is her sidekick, baking up scrumptious treats for their parties. But the real-life version of their magnificent gingerbread house is about to crumble to pieces...

Tensions are running high as Chatterley Heights' 250th birthday celebration approaches, and Olivia and Maddie are working feverishly to finish a gingerbread house modeled after the famous Chatterley Mansion. When Paine Chatterley, presumed to be dead, shows up to claim his father's house, the town gossips are driven into a tizzy. And when he refuses to allow visitors to tour the mansion during the celebration, all the preparations seem for naught.

Then Paine is found lifeless in the bathtub, his wife hysterical and their precious heirlooms destroyed. The hidden lives of the prestigious Chatterley family members begin to surface, and Olivia must unravel their dark past. As it turns out, the town's history isn't all that sweet...

Series: A Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery (Book 3)

Review

Olivia Greyson, owner of The Gingerbread House, is excited but a little worried about the upcoming celebration to honor her town’s 250th birthday. She and her best friend Maddie Briggs have put a lot of time and money helping organize the event and making several custom gingerbread houses for display. Chatterley Heights’s demanding mayor, Karen Evanson, has promised the town and the media that the highlight of the weekend will be a tour of the recently refurbished Chatterley Mansion. However, those plans are dashed when a Chatterley family member thought to have been dead arrives in town, moves into the mansion, and refuses to let anyone near his historic home. Not too many people seem to be excited to have Paine Chatterley “back from the dead” or back in town. Not only has Paine canceled the tour of his family home, but he makes several hints that he knows secrets about some of the major players in the town of Chatterley Heights. Is someone willing to kill to keep old secrets from being shared and make Paine’s death a reality this time or will a “treasure hunt” going on in the mansion prove to be dangerous to Paine and other residents of the town?

When the Cookie Crumbles is another tasty trip to The Gingerbread House where Livie and Maddie cook up delicious and beautiful cookies to sell along with vintage cookie cutters and everything you need to make your own decorated cookies. The book’s setting is just as delightful as prior books in the series, and the characters have mellowed and are comfortable with their lives in the Baltimore suburb of Chatterley Heights. Livie is a wonderful main character. She is kind, bubbly, and full of energy and optimism. With help from her rescue Yorkie, Spunky, Livie gives her boyfriend Sheriff Del Jenkins a hand in solving a murder in their town. She does a great job of getting the scoop on possible suspects and passing the information along to Del. Maddie is a pleasant as Livie’s side-kick, but doesn’t play a huge role in the investigation, although her gingerbread-making skills are important to the story. Maddie does have a small, but sweet sub-plot of her own that is fun to read. Del plays a large part in the investigation, but there isn’t enough personal information about him to allow me to form a strong opinion about him one way or the other. If he is going to continue to be a love interest for Livie, then we need to get the chance to know him better. Livie’s on-the-go mom Ellie has been toned down from prior books. I like the “kinder, gentler” version of Ellie and she plays an important part in the investigation and in the book as a whole. Ellie is less frantic and more likeable in this installment which helped me to like the book even more.

I like the way the author cleverly includes cookie cutters as a central part of the mystery and not just an after-thought. Some tips on cookie-decorating or a recipe for gingerbread would have been a nice touch, but even without those extras, this is an enjoyable book with believable characters and situations. Fans of Laura Childs, Joanne Fluke, or Jenn McKinlay will savor this delightful mystery.

Reviewed by Christine

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