Valentine Harris had moved to San Nicholas along the coast in California thinking she was going to be starting a whole new life by opening up her own business and marrying her fiance. Six months later all Val is left with is her business when her fiance had called off their wedding and having put all her money into her dream, Pie Town, she’s now putting in everything she can to make the business a success. What Val didn’t need was one morning one of her customers dies in the middle of eating her quiche.

After the police and paramedics are called to the scene it becomes apparent that the death is suspicious looking to be a possible homicide by poisoning. Even though it’s quickly found that Val’s cooking was not the cause the customers are still staying away after the death becomes a headline in the small town. Looking to save her business and make sure she’s not a suspect Val teams up with her seventy something pie crust maker to begin to investigate and find out just what happened.

The Quiche and the Dead by Kirsten Weiss is the first book in the new Pie Town Mystery cozy mystery series. This was a wonderful start to what will hopefully be a great series with all the fun stuff I just love in a cozy read. I have to say as much as I enjoyed Val she was way overshadowed in this first book by Charlene, her pie crust maker. Charlene and her adventures along with pet kitty were absolutely hilarious and completely made the entire book so much more enjoyable the second she stepped into the story.

Besides the likable characters the story was also one that unfolded at a nice pace giving the reader plenty of action along the way as the ladies try to figure out just what was going on in their town. There’s also a bit of a glimpse into a possible romance in the future for Val which was nice that it was not pushed so early on with her fresh out of a relationship. When finished I found this one quite enjoyable all the way around and will definitely look forward to more of this series in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is the first book in the brand new Pie Town series. We are introduced to Valentine (Val) Harris the young, recently single,  owner of a brand new pie shop in San Nicholas, California. Some of her staff include Hannah, the assistant pie maker, Charlene, a piecrust maker who owns and wears a possibly deaf, narcoleptic (or lazy?) cat and Petronella the pie wrangler.

Val is hard at work trying to get her budding business off to a successful start when one of her usual customers dies suddenly in the pie shop while eating a quiche made by Val. Police, one detective in particular, believes that her food may have been tampered with and business is down because of it. Surely it was all a terrible tragic incident and not a murder, right? Not in lovely little San Nicholas. Reluctant to get involved initially, her livelihood depends on clearing her food so that customers will return to Pie Town. She's invested everything into her shop and can't lose it, not without a fight.

This author is new to me. I will admit when i looked up other book series by the author I wasn't sure I would enjoy this series. I've never been a fan of first person stories that are not memoirs. I have only recently began reading cozies in first person and even then only if they are, in my opinion, well written. I have to like the voice of the storyteller. There are only a handful of first person cozies that I read. This series will be added to that list. I truly enjoyed the writing style, the setting, and the characters. The mystery was enjoyable. I didn't guess who the murderer was early on, which I appreciate in a good cozy. While I still read books where figuring out whodunit is easy, they aren't as fun as books like this where i wasn't certain. I look forward to more books in this series. It was a fun, quick, and at times humorous read.

The Quiche And The Dead is the first book in the A Pie Town Mystery series.

After breaking up with her boyfriend, Valentine has set off earning a living by opening Pie Town in coastal San Nicholas. Val has sunk her heart and soul and all her money into the cafe and has seen a clientele of regular customer until the fatal day this story begins with.

Joe comes into Pie Town for his usual cup of coffee and as he is tasting his coffee he makes a face just as Valentine comes out with a mini quiche. When Val asks about the face he says he has had a bad taste in his mouth all morning. They make a friendly wager over the quiche that Val is taking next door to Heidi who has recently opened her health and fitness salon. If Heidi refuses the quiche, it will be Joe’s. Val returns with the quiche and gives it to Joe. After a couple of bites, Joe slumps to the floor and dies. The police arrive and Detective Shaw comments that Joe was poisoned.

Charlene, the crusty pie crust maker, is sure that it is a case of murder and that she and Val need to investigate. Charlene holds out a nice living arrangement of Val, who has been living in her office closet, as an enticement to help find Joe’s killer.
There is a lot of humor in this book, maybe too much for me. I started out liking Charlene, but after a while, she became just crazy with why they should continue looking for the killer. On the other hand, I just couldn’t get into her character. For me she did the “woe is me” and hand-wringing. I really tried to get into the story, but these two characters just put me off and I couldn't.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the E-ARC copy of this novel.

A "sweet" mystery is what you get with The Quiche and the Dead. I thought that Val is a great character to support this mystery and many others I'm sure to come. The plot has been discussed in other review so I won't bore you with all that. I think that it is a great read if you like Hallmark Channel mysteries or just taking a fun break from the same old routine! Good reading!

A delicious and funny start to a new series involving pie. Enjoyed the quirky characters especially Charlene. looking forward to checking out the next book in the series.

Expecting to be married shortly, Valentine Harris moves to her fiancées town where she opens her new pie shop, only to be dumped. Oh well, she still has the dream of her new pie shop until one of her customers dies in the shop after eating her quiche. A cast of wonderful characters, a good mystery....this is a great start to this new cozy mystery series.

This is a fantastic, hilarious start to a new mystery series. Val Harris lives in San Nichols, California, where she runs a shop called Pie Town, specializing in, wait for it...pies. Just a few months have passed since her broken engagement, but Val is up to her elbows in quiche and pie crusts. When one of her regulars drops dead in her diner, Val feels the need to investigate (with the help of her pie crust maker and said pie crust maker's deaf, narcoleptic cat) before the diner sinks, and Val's miniscule savings with it. Soon bodies start dropping like batter on a baking sheet, and Val tries to find the killer before she's next!

As I said, this first in the series book is hilarious and I truly can't wait to read the next installment (Bleeding Tarts) to find out what adventures await my new favorite characters. You will find yourself chuckling while simultaneously trying to discover the killer before Val does.

The book started out strong but it just couldn't hold my attention. Perhaps it wasn't the book for me.

This is a promising start to a cozy mystery series, based in a cute pie shop. Val Harris is new to San Nicholas, and she still hasn't met anything other than the customers that frequent her shop, and her fellow co-workers. Oh, and her ex-fiance, whom she moved to town with. But he doesn't count, right? When an early morning customer falls down dead in the middle of his quiche, she and her shop are suddenly thrust into the spotlight.

I liked Val, and the way she finds her way into the investigative hobby. Charlene, her pie-crust maker, is an eccentric older woman who declares her suspicions about all the "accidental" deaths in town. Charlene wears her cat as an accessory, and while a bit over the top, is another endearing character.

Some of the writing is a bit clunky, but overall, I thought this was a great introduction to the Pie Town world. I look forward to reading the next installment.

*Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for an ARC*

This ARC had been provided complements of NetGalley. My thanks. Gratitude sent to Kensington Publishing Corporation for making this pre-release available.

Thanks to Kirsten Weiss, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the mystical, fictitious town of San Nicholas. A quaint village tucked away along the Northern California coastline. Buzzing, naturally, with tourist trade on bright, sunshiny weekends. Seemed like the perfect place to plant a pie shop. And so the author did. The storyline commingled a well-written narrative that marched with intrigue and suspense from the very start. Never a dull moment. All ending with a sonic boom that would turn the town on its ear.

San Nicholas had been home to "Pie Town" for five months. Clever name. Owner, manager and chief bottle washer, Val Harris, age twenty-eight, was giving it a go. Her first business venture. Hopefully, not her last. Those cherished hopes quickly took a nosedive when one of her regulars keeled over and died in her shop. Not good for business.

It had been a typical day. Pies here, pies there. In the midst of eating a quiche, Joe, the comic shop's owner from next door slumped to the floor. Val immediately dialed 911. Paramedics arrived within minutes. Too late. Her neighbor, her friend, could not be resuscitated. He had cashed in all his chips. Val thought, "It couldn't have been the quiche. Could it? No. Couldn't be. Naw." The day was not off to a great start.

That made two deaths in this small town in the past month. A record. The first had been Joe's best friend, Frank. He had fallen down the stairs in his home. Now, the medical examiner concluded that Joe had died of poisoning. Castor beans. No accident. Val knew something was amiss. Felt it in her bones. Too much of a coincidence. And she was not one to believe in coincidences. If Joe had been murdered then perhaps the same fate befell his friend Frank. A murderer was on the loose.

Charlene McCree, her chief piecrust connoisseur had an on again - off again relationship with Joe. Just good friends, really. She did not pin high hopes on the police solving the crime. This was not the big city. She enlisted Val's help to help find what lurked behind these mysterious deaths. Find the killer. Or killers. Val was reluctant at first. Admittedly, the only thing she claimed talent for was baking pies. Eventually she succumbed. Together they became the undercover sleuths of San Nicolas.

One by one, two more towns folk were murdered. San Nicholas was in crisis mode. No longer the carefree sleepy town of yesteryear. One of the library board members had been found dead in her home. A drapery cord wrapped around her neck. Plain to see she did not die of natural causes. Shortly following, her husband had been discovered floating face-down in a pond in back of his home. No accident. The bodies were piling up.

Joe and Frank shared a common interest. They were the pie shop detectives assisting authorities in solving local crimes. Anyway, it kept them off the streets, literally. Both regulars of Pie Town. They shared a notebook of all of the goings-on in the community. Cats up trees, domestic disputes - things of that nature. Lately, their direction was largely focused on the newly built state-of-the-art library. Actually, the library board members. Some of the notes were written in cryptic fashion. Was that due to paranoia? What had they stumbled upon to give them such concern? Or fear?

After Joe's death, Val and Charlene had come into possession of the notebook. The hidden meanings were not clear it first. In their initial investigation, they had been thrown well off track. Then one night while enjoying root beer and Kahlua floats at Charlene's house, Val had reached an epiphany. She cracked the code. Couldn't believe it! It had been staring right at her all this time. At me too. Now the string of all these deaths were beginning to make some sense. Sadly. Would this knowledge in hand put them next on the killer's hit-list? Maybe they already were...

A delicious beginning to a brand new series! We are introduced to Val who has recently relocated to San Nicholas with her now ex fiancé. She has poured everything she has into Pie Town, her dream pie shop. She is finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with her business when one of her regulars dies while eating a breakfast quiche she had just made. With Val coming under suspicion, business slowing to a crawl because of the death at her shop, Val gets dragged into the investigation by her crazy employee Charlene to try and clear her name and get Pie Town back on its feet again.
This series was so well written and just charming. The characters were wonderfully developed and real, the plot full of twists and turns, and the story incredibly relatable. I cannot wait to see what the author has in store for the rest of this series!

It did take me a bit to get used to Charlene (who is a little "in your face" kinda person), but once I did this book really kept my interest. I feel for poor Val, who is starting up her own Pie Shop is small town northern California. When Joe, a local business owner drops dead in her shop the game is afoot. Sorry, a few references to Sherlock Holmes is needed. Anyway, crazy Charlene, who makes her crusts, drags her into becoming an amateur sleuth, and with the help of Joe's notebook on petty crimes, they set forth to find out what is going on in the town. Hunky cop Gordon is there too, and a possible love interest for Val in future books. A teaser chapter at the end is sparking my interest in the next book. So fun, and even with the murders going on I was chuckling a lot. Highly recommend this book and author, and look forward to the next book to come.

What a lovely mystery! The plot had a lot of good twists and turns and I enjoyed the eclectic cast of characters. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Fun new cozy series

This is the first book I've read by Kirsten Weiss but it won't be the last. I found the story very entertaining. I thought Val was a well developed character and loved her interaction with Charlene and the other secondary characters. The plot thickened as the dead bodies were discovered keeping me turning the pages till the end. There was also a hint of romantic interest that I hope is developed in the next books in the series
I received an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Tasty,delicious and satisfying. Throughly enjoyed.

This is a delightful first mystery in what I hope will become a long-lived series. Val has recently moved to San Nicholas, California and opened her own shop called Pie Town and hired seventy year old Charlene as her crust maker. Because of her broken engagement she is short of money and living in the back office of her shop. When Joe, the owner of the comic book store next door and who is one of her regular customers, dies while eating a quiche Val made, she is worried that she is a suspect and that it will ruin her business as customers stay away. Charlene, who years ago was Joe's girl friend is convinced that his death was part of a conspiracy as Joe and his recently deceased friend Frank were investigating local goings on, and with the promise of renting her tiny house on the ocean to Val convinces Val to help her investigate and prove that Joe was murdered. With nice officer Carmichael, nasty Detective Shaw and new gym owner Heidi who believes "sugar kills" Val has her hands full. This is a delightful book with interesting characters and a plot with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing all the way through. I highly recommend it.

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