I was given a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Maybe it’s my fault for jumping into book 5 in the series, but I could not get into this book. Val runs a cafe in a gym, which seems strange enough to me to begin with, but she also gets caught up in mysteries, which she solves quicker than the police. This one involves a man who is killed while dressed up a lot like a local author who writes Edgar Allen Poe-inspired mysteries.

There are a lot of potential suspects, including Val’s boyfriend, Gunnar, whom Val basically calls ugly repeatedly. Lots of red herrings, side mysteries, bumbling police officers, etc.

I might give another in this series a chance, but I might not.

4.5 stars

This is the fourth book in the Five-Ingredient Mystery series by Maya Corrigan.

Val’s dad comes home with a fancy new makeover. And strangely enough, she sees a man fall and when she comes upon him, he looks exactly like her grandpa with his new look. This man was an actor looking to impersonate an author for a one-man show he was working on. Then Val has a catering event for a popular author and the man being fawned over is her grandfather and not the author. Now Val is confused and wanting to know what is going on.

This book went round and round. And rightly so since the plot is very intricate. I really enjoyed this cast and the community surrounding the main character. I will definitely be reading more of the books in this series.

I am not exactly sure what makes this a 5-ingredient mystery but I found the mystery compelling and one that I would recommend to anyone who likes cozies. You might want to start at the beginning so you know who the main characters are and get more in depth info about them all.

If you like cozy mysteries, definitely check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

Restaurant manager, Val Deniston is back in the fourth book of the Five-Ingredient Mystery series, The Tell-Tale Tarte by Maya Corrigan. While Val is leaving the mall with her friend, she sees a man collapse and runs to help him. She notices that he is dressed just like her Granddad has been dressing, and later learns that the victim is an actor and Edgar Allen Poe impersonator. As usual, Granddad has been up to something, and has been very secretive about it; Val learns that he has been hired to impersonate a local writer, Rick Usher, who writes books based on those of Poe. She also learns that the man who collapsed at the mall was murdered, and she is afraid that her Granddad may be next. Val’s boyfriend, Gunnar, has been trying to get into acting and not only knew the victim, but also had an argument with him the night before he died. That, of course, makes him a suspect and Val knows she must find the murderer before Gunnar is found guilty of murder.

Something that makes this series unique is that each novel has five suspects, five clues, and five-ingredient recipes. While the books can be classified as culinary mysteries, and are also considered cozies, which are generally fast moving, fun, and devoid of graphic sex, violence, and language, there is building suspense throughout. Val quit her lucrative job in New York to move in with her Granddad, who is getting older and needs a bit of guidance. Granddad is quite eccentric, and is also stubborn, so Val has her work cut out for her. She is also trying to help Granddad edit his new cookbook (he is a local television personality on a cooking show and uses Val’s recipes since he really can’t cook), and expand her restaurant, The Cool-Down Café. The main characters are interesting, but the relationships between them seem a bit flat, especially between Val and Gunnar. However, the story moves fast, and in this novel, the references to Poe are true-to-form and also fascinating.

For those who appreciate culinary mysteries, and especially the recipes and references to food, this is a fun series. The Tell-Tale Tarte is a good fast-read, and can be appreciated by food junkies of all ages. Incidentally, the Warm Chocolate Tart is decadent.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

This is so much fun. Val Deniston and her grandpa team up to find a killer. I think I would have loved this even more had I read the others, but this is just fine on its own. Val doesn't want to get dragged in to anything, but finds she has to keep tabs on her nosy grandpa before he gets in trouble. I loved the whole Edgar Allan Poe theme and the way the author spun it into the plot. I'm looking forward to more. Cozy fans will find this a delight.

THE TELL-TALE TARTE, the newest book in Maya Corrigan's Five-Ingredient Mystery series, has an imaginative, twisting plot that revolves around Edgar Allen Poe. Once again Val Dennison and her grandfather, Don Myer get themselves into some sticky, humourous situations while trying to solve a mystery.

Val, who runs the cafe at the gym and caters on the side wonders why her grandfather has changed his look so drastically. He is very evasive with her, but tells her he has been hired for a PI job and he was paid for the changes. When Val sees a man, who looks like her grandfather collapse at the mall she hurries to his side to see that it is not him. The man dies and it turns out that her boyfriend Gunther not only knows him, but recently had a physical altercation with the man where he has pressed assault charges. Of course, Val is worried that Gunther might somehow be dragged into the situation. When it is determined that he died from unnatural causes, Val begins her sleuthing. She is also concerned that her grandfather looks so much like the dead man. Don, as it turns out, has been hired by a famous author's family to impersonate him when he does not make a public appearance. The author, Rick Usher, writes stories based on Edgar Allen Poe, but rather tongue in cheek.

The relationship between Val and her grandfather is fun to read about. She moved in with him so he would not have to sell his house. He has taken on the food column in the paper, now called "The Codger Cook" but uses Val's recipes, sort of. He rewrites them using less than five ingredients. Some of his attempts are pretty funny. They love each other, but that does not mean they do not get on one another's nerves. It is a realistic relationship in most ways. Don was actually much more instrumental in solving the mystery in this book than in the others. Val is busy trying to build up the cafes business, helping her friend with her wedding plans, trying to help Granddad write his Codger Cookbook, catering as well as solving this mystery. She does not spend much time with Gunther in this story, but he is very busy as well. The other characters involved with the Usher family were a little strange. They were not really in the story much, but were talked about when the mystery was being solved. There were some surprises along the way, even though I was pretty sure of who the murderer was. It did start a little slower than some of her other books in this series, but once I got into it, it moved along at a nice pace. Another fun mystery with some pretty good recipes at the end of the book. A good read for cozy mystery lovers.

The newest installment in the " Five Ingredient Mystery Series" is definitely a highly enjoyable read. I love how the main character has progressed in each addition to the series. I love how the plot circles around Poe which definitely does nothing but add to the story in a really unique way.
The plot was strong filled with mystery, complexity, and humor all rolled into one. A very easy read that anyone would find hard to put down. Also, the addition of simple recipes at the end is a strong check in the plus column.

Book four in the Five-Ingredient Mystery series. As her grandad pressure her about starting on his cookbook she finds herself out one day when a man collapses that from a distance looks exactly like her grandfather. When she rushes to help she finds it is not him but an actor that happens to work with her boyfriend Gunner. It is discovered that the actor was murdered and Gunner is the prime suspect. Of course Val has to investigate when just gets interesting as her Grandad butts in to help whether she wants him to or not. Val catches her Grandad impersonating a famous author at a catering event she has which causes her to make connections with the dead actor who was dressed in the exact same outfit making it possible that he was an impersonator too. When the author and his family become involved things really heat up until the finale at the end when it all comes out. While I enjoy that characters and premise of the book I couldn't help but feel just "blah" during certain parts of the book went made it a trial to keep turning the pages. I did not get the same hook pulling me in as the first three books in the series. Maybe things will improve again with the next installment but for not I just like it so it gets 3/5 stars.

This is the beginning of Rick Usher affair , noted writer who sees stories are based on Edgar Allen Poe. Poe facts were a neat addition to the storyline. Grandfather Don comes home with a new look. She can tell that he up to something, but Granddad is claiming client confidentiality . Well throughout storyline

Corrigan undertakes a Edgar Allan Poe themed mystery as a reclusive author's double is murdered. Is it a member of the author's household, or is something more sinister afoot? This was a fun read, mixing classic mystery with recipes. I wish there had been a bit more development in the main character's relationships, but the mystery was solid and enjoyable.

This wasn't awful. It wasn't great, either, but it was entertaining, and a basically easy read. It's the fourth in a cozy series, and it does a good job at it: I pretty much got the gist of what I needed to know about the characters and the setting and so on pretty painlessly (though there were some issues of painful infodump), and I don't think the previous books were overly spoiled for me if I ever want to go back to them. (Spoiler: I probably won't.)

The only thing I can really complain about, writing-wise, is the dialogue. People don't talk like this. I'm a weirdo who can't stop using the fifty-cent words in my arsenal (see?), used to getting the glazed look, and even I don't talk like this: "I can't imagine Granddad as docile as a Stepford wife." Or this: "'The next time you go out with Gunnar, wear something clingy and edgy in a bright color. It might add a spark to your stalled romance.'" (<I>That</i> one should be from an article in a bad women's magazine.)

What happens is that heroine Val runs a café in a fitness club, and her grandfather is trying to create a career as an investigator (a "problem solver"). One afternoon, shopping with her (fat) friend, Val sees a man collapse in a parking lot, and he looks just like how her grandfather looked that morning, after a rather drastic makeover. (I specify that her friend is fat, because it was strongly stressed in the telling. Did I say I only had that one thing to complain about in the writing? My mistake.) It turns out that there is some deception going on, with Grandpa and, apparently, at least one other man impersonating a local big-time author called Rick Usher, who, unsurprisingly given his name, has a Poe fixation that probably could have used a good dose of some counter-obsessional medication. The other man, of course, is that fellow who collapsed – and, in fact, died. Was he murdered? Of course he was. The police don't think so, but Val is certain, and before you can say "cozy mystery" she's going undercover-like into Usher's house to see what she can find out. The fact that under the circumstances it seems extremely unlikely that the people who make up the Usher ménage would even consider bringing in an outsider, no matter how tired they were of frozen dinners.

I probably shouldn't get as hung up as I do about things like the fact that this café Val runs inside a gym is supposed to offer logically healthy breakfasts and snacks and whatnot. And smoothies do get a mention – but, seriously, so do brownies, pecan muffins, cheddar cheese cookies, bread puddings, and a whole bunch of other baked goods that would instantaneously undo any good people might get out of their exercise. There are recipes at the back of the book, of course; I can't say I was overwhelmed with a desire to make any of them. I don't know; I was never convinced by Val as a professional cook, and it was never entirely believable that she did the cooking for the café.

Or like the weird whiffs of misogyny that came up here and there: "Val would have run or yelled for help instead of swinging back, as most women would." Really? The other one I made a note of is Granddad's expressed opinion, but it was still like cookie crumbs in the bed: annoying.

Or like the annoying repetitions of annoying things like "she dashed" (Val dashes about quite a bit) or "gobbled" (which might have only been used twice, but in my opinion that's two times too many) or Val pretending to tip a pretend hat in a peculiar little salute to her grandfather. I mean – try it. Go stand in front of a mirror and pretend to tip a hat which you're not actually wearing. Does it look like you're tipping a hat? Or does it just look like you're having a small seizure? Val does that at least twice, too.

The story was … fine; the rest of the writing I'm not complaining about was … fine… I sighed over the extreme focus on Poe (a young man named Raven? Really? Help), but such is the way of the cozy. I only rather hope the rest of the books don't have Themes like this. The B-plot of Val trying to save her café in the face of the fitness club manager's plans to replace it with a clothing shop was not bad; I liked how she handled the opportunity to blackmail the manager. And I liked how the situation was resolved. The woman Val hires to help her is a refreshing change from the usual sort of character, with an interesting back story. I'm not sorry I read it; it entertained me while I was reading it (in between grumbles). I won't cross the street to avoid more in the series, but I also won't go out of my way to obtain them.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

I like this series for the fictional Chesapeake Bay town (and then spend time finding places where I'd change what the author has written about the area. I didn't like this one as much as previous entries because the acting thing left me a bit cold- it wasn't consistent with the reality of a small town on the Eastern Shore- and because Grandad went a little over the top. Corrigan does have a nice way of writing- it's a quick read and worth your time if you like the genre. Thanks to net galley for the ArC.

The Tell-Tale Tarte by Maya Corrigan is the fourth book in A Five-Ingredient Mystery series. Val Deniston is shocked when her grandfather, Don Myer comes home with a new look. She can tell that he up to something, but Granddad is claiming client confidentiality. Val is leaving the mall with her best friend, Bethany O’Shay when she sees a man resembling her grandfather collapse in the parking lot. The man, thankfully, is not her Granddad. The man does not survive, and he is dressed in Granddad’s new look (same haircut, glasses, hat, and clothes). What has Granddad gotten into this time? At dinner that evening with Gunnar, Val discovers the deceased is Emmett Flint. Emmett was an actor with the local theater group along with Gunnar. Gunnar, unfortunately, recently had an argument with the man and benefits from his death which puts him at the top of the suspect list. While catering a book club dinner, Val discovers Granddad’s new job. He was hired to impersonate Rick Usher. Was Emmett Flint hired to perform this task as well? Was the killer after Emmett, Granddad, or Rick Usher? Val soon finds herself embroiled in a mystery surrounding author, Rick Usher. To get closer to Usher, Val accepts a job as the families’ personal chef. Val needs to clear Gunnar’s name and keep her grandfather safe. When Val is not scouting for clues, she is working at the Cool Down Café, testing recipes for The Codger’s Cookbook (another one of Granddad’s projects), and exploring ways to get her contract on the café renewed. Will Val uncover the killer before he strikes again?

I found The Tell-Tale Tarte to be a slow starter. I had a hard time finishing this cozy mystery. The pace starting out slow and failed to improve. There is a repetition of information. I find it annoying to find the same details repeated over and over. I have not been able to warm up to Val and her grandfather (or any of the characters). I felt that the characters are lacking in depth. Val is a hard character to like. She does not exude warmth or friendliness. The grandfather’s antics just got on my nerves. Why does it have to be one zany thing after another? I do not mind a little bit of quirkiness, but Granddad is over-the-top. He expects Val to support him in his subterfuge (which she does). My rating for The Tell-Tale Tarte is 3 out of 5 stars. The mystery was interesting, but uncomplicated and could be solved early in the story. The suspect pool is minute and the killer sticks out (might as well have been an arrow pointing at the individual). The subplot of Val’s café contract was too dominant in the book. The details about the contract and who would take over the space are mentioned frequently. The “romance” between Gunnar and Val does not feel real. It is like the author determined that there should be a romance in the book so she put it in. I just do not feel the connection or affection between them. I did enjoy the Poe references in the book. I am a fan of Edgar Allan Poe and his works (did a paper or two on him in college). There are recipes at the end of the book from the Codger.

The Tell-Tale Tarte by Maya Corrigan is the fourth book in the Five-Ingredient Mystery series. Val has her hands full with catering, running a cafe, and writing her grandfather's cookbook. When someone dressed exactly likely her grandfather dies mysteriously, she gets pulled into the mystery. The story has several subplots and includes many references to Edgar Allen Poe. I enjoyed the slight creepiness to this book as well.

As Val and her friend Bethany are shopping, Val witnesses a man stumble across the parking lot and fall, dressed in the same getup she last saw her grandfather wearing! Much to her relief, she discovers it’s not her grandfather who is in distress but why was this man dressed up like her grandfather? Val has been asked to cater a book club meeting and the member has been very specific about the desert since they read the latest novel by Rick Usher. As she begins to serve the dessert she is shocked to see her grandfather. Why was her grandfather dressed as Rick Usher? The man at the mall died. Is her grandfather going to be next?

Corrigan has cooked up a nice little tale of stolen stories, paranoia, high jinx and good food in this fourth installment of the Five Ingredient Mysteries. Val and her grandfather are a good team. Grandfather keeps the atmosphere light and gives us a chuckle or two. That doesn’t mean this is a completely light and fluffy story. The situations are tense and it’s a good story. The recipes are included in the back of the book but unfortunately, it doesn’t include the recipe for the French Onion soup which Val shared with the book club and had this reader’s mouthwatering.

This book was great from start to finish. I loved Val's grandpa and all of his antics in this book. The fact that he is writing a cookbook that he is making Val actually write is so entertaining. Val is such a endearing character and all the characters around her are a delight. The mystery in this book was not your cookie cutter mystery. I was shocked by who the killer was. I would totally recommend this book to everyone who loves a great culinary mystery.

This the the 4th book in the Five Ingredient Mystery series. This book can be read as a stand along. as the author provides excellent background so any first time reader can follow along and know the characters.
This series is always a delightful cozy mystery . I enjoy returning to the Chesapeake Bay area and the Cool Down Cafe. Our protagonist is manager Val Deniston.
In this next in series Val has her hands full managing the cafe , catering a book club and testing recipes for her Grandfathers soon to be published recipe book. She lives with her Grandfather and they have a very fun humorous relationship. He steals the show in this book and is adorable throughout. They enjoy each others humor and are good company for each other. When a Edgar Allen Poe impersonator drops dead that resembles her Grandfather Val is on the case. She is determined to find the suspect.
I love the fast pace of the authors writing and the witty dialogue throughout this book. The murder clues kept this avid mystery fan guessing until the end. The characters are rich and all add depth to the story. It is a wonderful series and I look forward to the next release. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC which did not influence my review of this great cozy mystery.

Pleasant and clever cozy mystery. A fan of Poe will really enjoy it.

Another entry in my search for new (to me) cozy crime series and this was ok, but didn't really float my boat. I found the two lead characters very annoying at times and although the mystery wasn't bad I didn't manage to get past that annoyance always. It was the first in the series that I've read, so I was missing some back story, but that wasn't behind my irritation with the lead and her grandfather. Hey ho.

It's a cold January in the Chesapeake Bay area, but Cool Down Cafe manager Val Deniston has plenty to sweat over--like catering a book club event, testing recipes for her Granddad's cookbook, and catching the author of a deadly tale of murder. . .

The last thing Val needs in her life is an unsolved murder, especially when the victim, an actor famed for impersonating Edgar

Allan Poe, happens to be dressed exactly like her Granddad. To keep an eye on Granddad, whose latest job takes him to the home of Rick Usher, a local author inspired by Poe, Val gets herself hired as acook in Rick's House of Usher. When she discovers the actor wasn't the only one doing an impersonation, separating the innocent from the murderous becomes a real-life horror story. But Val must decipher a killer's M.O. sooner rather than later . . . or she can forget about finding poetic justice. (via Goodreads)
I received an eARC courtesy of the publisher, Kensington, and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a sucker for a good cozy mystery - they feed my desires for mysteries without being too graphic for my tastes. This fit that bill, but wasn't exactly what I wanted.

This was the first of Maya Corrigan's books for me, and I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I had read the other three books. It's fine as a stand alone, but I think it would have been a lot better if I had read the others.

The Tell-Tale Tarte, as you can probably guess by the title is very Poe-themed for a cozy mystery. Frankly, there was way too much going on in this book for its 300 page length.I think there were a lot of things that were just unnecessary, or could have been expanded on, which is why this was a three star review for me.