What a fun book set in a great location (Santa Barbara)) for a summer read. Robbie is on vacation For her ten year high school reunion and comes across information that her mother, who died of a brain aneurysm, might have been murdered instead. Before she knows it, she’s trying to sort out a feud with a high school nemesis, a toxic chemical, and an old friend trying to get her life together. This has a few twist and turns with no shortage of clues. I liked the ending but kept expecting one more twist that left me feeling a little unsettled. Would definitely recommend.

I find it fun to read at least one book in a series where the main character takes a vacation. It makes them more real to me.

In book 7 of the Country Store series, we go to California with Robbie for her high school reunion. It was the perfect vacation to take with Robbie during the Covid-19 restrictions. We get to visit sunny Santa Barbara and "taste" some very yummy food and my favorite were the dishes with avocado as I am always looking for new ways to eat avocados. Of course, it would not be a cozy mystery without an unfortunate murder. This one had me guessing to the big reveal. I liked the addition of her high school best friend as her investigating sidekick but I will be happy to have the regulars back in book 8.

I listened to a few chapters of the audiobook from my library app, Hoopla, and I was not fond of the narrator. She is not bad but her voice did not match how I think Robbie sounds.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher, Kensington, through NetGalley. Any and all opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught!

Wowzers! Robbie cannot stay away from murder or a mystery...even when she's in California for vacation and her high school reunion. But danger follows her even there. Can she stay safe while trying to expose the murderer?

As always, a fun book and series. Although I have to admit to being a little disappointed in the ending. I thought it was rather anticlimactic. To the point I was waiting for more...something...after the culprit(s) was/were caught. 3 1/2 stars rounded to 4 since I love this series.

Thank you to the publisher, Kensington, and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Robbie has returned to Santa Barbara for her high school reunion. It’s a chance to reconnect with friends from her past but also enemies, including one who still holds a grudge. She has not returned since her mother’s funeral so when she meets up with friends of her mother and they express concerns that her death may not have been natural, Robbie is both concerned and curious. Her curiosity is piqued when an environmentalist with whom her mother worked is found dead under alarmingly similar circumstances.

Might someone attached to the pesticide manufacturer the two were protesting have played a part in both deaths. Might both have been murders? Throwing added fuel into the fire is the fact the bully from high school happens to be the daughter of the owner of the company. What, if any part, might she have played? It is an interesting story with lots of side stories from the various characters Robbie encounters. They add extra flavour to a good tale.. It definitely would entice the reader to visit the area.

It certainly provides a bit of a twist from the rhythm of the previous books. Four purrs and two paws up.

Robbie Jordan is taking a well-deserved vacation and heading back to Santa Barbara for her high school reunion. This is the first time she’s been back since her mother died, and it is definitely a struggle for her even before she hears a rumor that her mother might not have died from natural causes. When someone else dies under similar circumstances, Robbie can’t help but investigate. Will she learn the truth before she has to return home?

Vacation books can be tricky to pull off while satisfying fans. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite work. I enjoyed seeing a different side of Robbie as she interacted with her old friends, and I did like the new characters. However, I missed the series regulars. The plot wasn’t as strong as it could have been, although things were wrapped up by the time we reached the end. I enjoyed spotting the parallels between where Robbie stayed and her own place back in Indiana. Instead of my normal breakfast food cravings while reading this book, I was left craving Mexican food, which I didn’t mind in the least. The recipes at the end will help everyone with that. As a fan of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone mysteries, I enjoyed the references to that series in this book. If you are a fan of the Country Store Mysteries, you’ll still want to pick up this book. But if you are new to the series, back up and read the earlier entries in the series.

Release Date: June 30th 2020
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This continuation of the country story mystery series finds Robbie in her hometown for her high school reunion. Faced with high school enemies and the possibility that her mother was murdered and did not die of natural causes makes this book a wild ride.

The characters were colorful and fun. I enjoyed the background stories and the twists that the author created to conceal the killer. That being said I found this book a tad on the boring side. I liked reading it but would not read it again.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#bookstagram #netgalleyreads #bookrecommendations

My rating: 3 of 5 stars, I liked it.

Book 7 in the series.

I have to be honest, one thing I love about this series is South Lick and Robbie's friends and acquaintances. So the setting of this book in Robbie's old home town just wasn't really where I wanted to be.

Part of that may be my own feelings about class reunions. I don't ever want to go to one, so I don't really get why anyone else would, either, haha. But my main issue with this book was Robbie sticking her nose into the murder of someone that she had met briefly, for the slightest of reasons. It felt a little forced. And Robbie also had a few too stupid to live moments. She at least acknowledges her stupidity, (I hate my cell phone, but I still would never leave it in my vehicle, and I'm not even an amateur sleuth poking my nose in a murder!) so there's that.

Fortunately, we don't have long to wait before Robbie returns to South Lick and Pans N' Pancakes in book 8! (On my TBR list as well, thanks to the publisher and NetGalley).

Robbie Jordan leaves her Indiana restaurant to return to her hometown of Santa Barbara, California to attend her high school reunion and a much-deserved warm weather vacation. Although she is happy to reunite with her friends Allana and Jason, Robbie is also turned off by reunion organizer and mean girl Katherine Russom. Robbie is enjoying her stay at the B&B attached to the Nacho Average Cafe. Owner Carmen and her mother Luisa make several authentic and tasty Cali-Mexican dishes including Avocado Huevos Rancheros and Chicken mole nachos.

Robbie also reunites with Liz, friend of her late mother, who drops a bombshell. Liz claims that Robbie's mother Jeanine did not die naturally from a sudden brain aneurysm as she thought. Robbie meets Paul Extgeberria who was in the same activist group as her mother. Jeanine and Paul were working to get certain fumigants made by Agrosafe banned since farmworkers and animals were getting sick. Agrosafe is owned by Katherine's father, Walter Russom.

So Robbie is determined to find out the truth about her mother's death. But then Paul dies suddenly at home, and Robbie wonders if he was also murdered. With the help of Allana and Jason, who is a cyber crimes cop, Robbie some sleuthing until she gets scared by several creepy encounters.

I enjoyed the Santa Barbara and surrounding areas in the book as well as the great, local food. The homage to the late author Sue Grafton and her Kinsey Millhone PI character was also a nice touch.
But I missed the South Lick, Indiana setting and its regular cast of characters and am looking forward to seeing them again in the new Country Store mystery.

I received an eARC from Netgalley and Kensington Books with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

I would like to thank Kensington Books for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book, via Netgalley. The decision to read this book is my choice and any reviews given are obligation free.

‘Nacho Average Murder’ is book 7 in the ‘A Country Store Mystery’ series by Maddie Day. For regular readers of my reviews, you’ll all be wondering how I’ve gone from just leaving a review for book 4 in this same series… and here I am now leaving a review for book 7.

Sorry about that, I have read books 5 and 6 too - and do still plan on leaving reviews for them - but ‘Nacho Average Murder’ has just been released, so I felt it better I leave a review for it now, while it’s in the limelight, rather than later.

I will publish reviews for the other 2 books soon… I promise. :-)

Okay, now that we’ve got all that confusion out of the road, let’s get on with the review!

I found ‘Nacho Average Murder’ a little off to start with but weirdly not in a bad way… it just stirred up my dysregulation. Robbie Jordan runs a fabulous country store in South Lick, Indiana. What is she doing all the way over on the west coast? Oh… wait… yeah, this is an okay read after all. – That sort of “a little off” see, a good sort! Look, I’d read the blurb and knew what to expect… but I did honestly need to take the first few chapters to adjust to the different pace. I mean, the whodunnit didn’t start kicking off until halfway through the book! :-D

But once the story found its rhythm in this new setting it read more smoothly and turned out to be just as enjoyable as the other books in the ‘A Country Store Mystery’ series. Robbie was her normal food loving, exercise craving, inquisitive, and big hearted self. I do love the detailed descriptions of things that Ms Day gives in her stories… Although I’ve never been to that neck of the world, I could still get a good picture in my mind’s eye… and confirmed by a little peek on google earth. ;-)

Saying all these nice things, I still have to admit I did find the story a little slow and clunky in areas. There were just some sections that needed smoothing out a little more and possibly a little rewording. But, hey! I was reading an ARC of ‘Nacho Average Murder’ and so was well aware there might still be some rough patches. I didn’t let them effect my rating in review as I, as always, assumed it would be all fixed up in the final edit.

All in all, it was a fun little cosy, a great addition to the series, and a delight to be caught up in the colourful, detailed descriptions Ms Day always gives. I did miss some of the other regular characters from the series… but did really enjoy meeting some new/old friends of Robbie’s too.

Though, and I am sorry for this but it’s stuck in my head since I read it, white daisy like flowers with purple centres – osteospermums. Also known as African daisies. Don’t ask me why I need to share that… but I do. Ms Day did nothing wrong… this is just me being my neuro divergent self. :-D

Book nerd side of things – remember that I read an ARC of ‘Nacho Average Murder’. And, yes, there were a few little mistakes and slip ups… but so few that my blog posts can easily contain more! And, as an ARC, they are expected and accepted. If I’d seen them in a copy that I bought… THEN my rating would have dropped. But not in an ARC.

Plus, as is usually the case with Kensington Books, the book was perfectly formatted for Kindle, even in an ARC version. One MAJOR pet peeve of mine is an ARC that is only available ON Kindle, not yet formatted to be easily read on Kindle. A few little editing issues I can brush off… but a poorly formatted book is a poorly formatted book. Hence why I’m so thankful this was indeed a well formatted book.

Would I recommend this book to others?

Yes, I would. Definitely. As usual – when it comes to a book in a series – I would strongly recommend they read all books in the ‘A Country Store Mystery’ series in order… but ‘Nacho Average Murder’ CAN be read as a standalone. You’d just be left with the odd loose thread reference back to other stories and the other regular characters from the series. So, I personally would read them all in order. They are reasonably priced on Kindle (even for Kindle Australia) and a really good way to past the time.

If you need a book series to keep you entertained at the moment – go for ‘A Country Story Mystery’.

Would I buy this book for myself?

Yes, I would. I mean, I’ve bought most of the books in this series myself, with just one or two being ARC copies via Netgalley. It is indeed a series where I will put my money where my mouth is and purchase for myself. And ‘Nacho Average Murder’ is just as good as the rest of the series, so I can see myself having gone and bought it if I’d not been successful with my request on Netgalley. I am not cheap, merely frugal. ;-)

In summary: A little bit of a change of scenery for Robbie, but still a great read.

This is the first book that I've read in the Pans 'N Pancakes series, and it appears to be unique in its setting. The protagonist, Robbie, has traveled from her home in Indiana to Santa Barbara for a high school reunion. She becomes reacquainted with old friends and foes from high school, and is given the impression that her mother's sudden death the previous year was possibly murder, rather than an aneurysm. As she investigates this possibility, she also is drawn into the investigation of another murder.

While the mystery was adequately done, I was most intrigued by the culinary aspects of this story. Robbie is staying at a B&B owned by a Latina woman and the meals are richly described in most appetizing detail. I wanted to be there to taste the food! There's also an additional theme relating to big agribusiness and its abuse of migrant populations and chemicals. Together they make for a rich combination of themes that made reading enjoyable.

Country Store Mysteries is a great cozy mystery series with Robbie Jordan as the protagonist. Robbie moved to Indiana after the death of her mother. She is heading to Santa Barbara, California for her highschool reunion and to reconnect with friends. Shortly after arriving, she meets someone who knew her mother from an environmental group. He hints that her mother did not die of natural causes, but was murdered. Thus starts her first investigation not in South Lick, Indiana. As she begins to ask questions, the gentlemen who told her about his concerns also ends up dying of an aneurysm. This book did not speak to me as much as the others in this series. Perhaps because I missed the many familiar characters that are such a huge part of this series for me. Robbie is a great character and does carry this series with her intellect, independence, loyalty and caring personality, but I love the town, the eccentric characters and the cafe. The mystery was well-plotted, with enough clues, suspense, and suspects to keep readers on their toes. The descriptions of food and menus are always mouth-watering. I did a read/listen with the audiobook narrated by Laural Merlington. While I enjoyed the female voices, the expression and articulation, I found the male voices were a bit lacking. Ms. Merlington used good expression, intonation and pacing for the story. Overall an enjoyable addition to this series and one that I do recommend.

Leaving Indiana for high school reunion back in California, Robbie Jordan Only plans to relax, eat great food and connect with old friends--both hers and her late mother's. Only someone tells her that her mother's death may have been murder. Looking into that proves less than relaxing, in fact, perhaps slightly dangerous. Filled with interesting characters, red herrings and delicious food descriptions, this is a fast paced and enjoyable book

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this delightful cozy. A fun trip to California with a rewarding mystery, humor, and tasty recipes. An easy, fun read!

Even if it's entertaining and engrossing I missed the usual cast of characters.
The plot flows but the mystery took a backseat to the culinary aspects.
Not my favourite in this series but a fun read.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Nacho Average Murder is the seventh installment in the Country Store Mysteries series featuring Robbie Jordan, owner of Pans n' Pancakes, a small country store in South Lick, Indiana. Robbie has returned to Santa Barbara, California to attend her tenth high school reunion.

A casual conversation between friends reveals that Robbie's mother who died suddenly two years ago from a brain aneurysm may actually have been murdered by the owner of a local pesticide company. Her mother was an outspoken environmental activist who was determined to have the business shut down. As she begins to investigate the possibility that her mother was in fact murdered, Robbie joins forces with her two high school friends, Alana and Jason and her nosing around leads to the death of another environmental activist.

The plot was enough to keep your interest, but I was distracted by all of Robbie's eating. A huge fan of Mexican food, the descriptions had me craving a spicy meal but at some points the book read more like a cookbook than a mystery. I was happy that there appears to be a resolution surrounding her mother's death but I missed the usual cast of series regulars in South Lick.

I received an advanced copy of Nacho Average Murder from NetGalley via Kensington Publishing. While not required to write a review I am happy to offer my honest opinion.

Nacho Average Murder is the seventh book in the Country Store mystery series by Maddie Day. In this book, Robbie Jordan goes back to her hometown of Santa Barbara, California for her high school reunion. A local environmental activist suggests that the death of Robbie's mother several years ago may have been murder. When that same activist turns up dead, Robbie becomes suspicious. You can take a girl out of South Lick, Indiana, but you can't keep her from stumbling onto crime scenes.

I enjoyed reading about Robbie in a new setting. Santa Barbara makes a beautiful backdrop and great contrast to Indiana, especially when her classmates think that she lives out east. I enjoyed the plentiful detailed descriptions of the Cali-Mex style food that Robbie eats each day. Also loved the shout-out to McConnell's Ice Cream! It felt like I was eating along with Robbie on vacation.

The mystery itself was easy to follow and nicely paced. All of the characters in Santa Barbara were new to the series, but I could easily see them enmeshed with Robbie's world. I love how easily she slips back into her friendships with Alana and Jason, even though she has not seen them for ten years. One nitpick - Katherine was the mean girl in high school who didn't like Robbie. Why would the two of them agree to get a drink together? Seems highly unlikely.

The ending was somewhat uneventful and a little disappointing considering how well the rest of the book kept my attention.

I look forward to seeing Robbie, Abe, Buck, and the rest of the Pans 'N Pancakes group together again.

I received this book as an advanced copy from the publisher through NetGalley, but all opinions are my own.

Another great book from Maddie Day! In this 7th book in the Country Store Mystery series, Robbie goes back to her hometown to attend her high school reunion. While she is there, she finds out some unsettling news about her mother's death. While she is asking questions, she gets caught up in yet another murder mystery. Will she be able to help the local cops find the killer?

I really enjoyed this installment in the series. It was fun and interesting to see more of Robbie's background. The reader gets to see more about how she became the person she is. I did miss the rest of the characters from South Lick, Indiana, though. I wish that they had all come to her reunion with her. I do hope that we get to see more of the characters that were introduced in this book. The ending of this one did seem a little abrupt. I felt like there wasn't enough to it. Overall, I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one!

*eARC provided in exchange for an honest review*

I loved this book. The different locale and characters showed fhs development of tbe main character. While they were minor characters in the series they eventually became more than that - they necame friends. I hope to see these characters again. The plotline was well thought out and written. I love how the action kept me on my toes, guessing who the killer was and wanting more.

Nacho Average Murder is the seventh book in Maddie Day’s Country Store Mysteries series. This clean read flows smoothly at a steady pace. The storyline is well plotted, and the characters are affable. There’s no shortage of twists and red herrings to keep the reader engaged and guessing.

Robbie Jordan owns a café/antique cookware shop, Pans ‘N Pancakes, in South Lick, Indiana. In this installment, Robbie returns to Santa Barbara, California to attend her ten-year high school reunion, and take a well-deserved week-long vacation. While there, she reconnects with several friends, but she learns some disturbing news regarding the death of her mother, Jeanine. Robbie’s mother, an environmental activist, died from a brain aneurysm two years ago, but Paul Etxgeberria tells her that he believes she was poisoned with a pesticide manufactured by a local company. When Robbie learns that Paul was found dead in his home, also from a brain aneurysm, she begins to wonder if the deaths are related. Robbie can’t stop herself from asking questions or trying to figure out if foul play was involved in both deaths, and her mother’s best friend and two of her high school friends help her in search for the truth.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.