Quiche of Death is the third installment of the Sugar & Spice Mystery series, starring Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer, cookbook publishers, who have been invited to a weekend getaway for the Arbor family so that they can capture the ambiance of the family’s quiche business with family recipes. Unfortunately, one of the attending family members brings his girlfriend and she is murdered. Sugar and Dixie are amateur sleuths, and they get involved in solving the murder.

This is a fun, fast moving series; the characters are well-developed, believable, and likeable. The two friends work well together in their amateur sleuthing, and even get themselves into a bit of trouble. The plot is organized, and the book is easy to read. There is some building suspense, however, which is nice for readers. The dénouement is surprising, and most mystery lovers enjoy an unexpected ending.

One bonus to this series is that it is a culinary cozy mystery and contains not only the recipe for The Arbor Family’s Famous Quiche Lorraine, but also for a banana bread and chicken salad. This makes the series fun, and gives incentive to prepare the recipes to eat while reading the book.

All told, this is a fun series. Most readers will want to read the previous two novels in this series as well as Quiche of Death. Since it is a cozy, it is suitable for all ages and doesn’t contain any profanity, violence or sex.

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

Sugar and Spice are anticipating a fairly relaxing weekend at the Arbor B&B, collating family recipes and jotting down food memories for their latest commission, when they sit down for the meal on the Friday evening they see two empty seats, which seems odd, but soon after they had started eating the youngest member of the Arbor family, Theo (the grandson) and his new fiancee, Collette, arrive. Pretty much the first thing Collette does is put her toy poodle ON the dining table which leads to mayhem! But even with this no one expects the outcome that arises the following morning when Sugar finds the poodle running loose, and then she trips over Collette, literally!

Now things are getting hotter than a commercial kitchen and the two friends need to look out for each other and their business before someone decides they are surplus to requirements!

A lovely setting, interesting & quirky characters, and a narrative voice that keeps you turning the pages. What more could you want from a cozy mystery?

Mary Lee Ashford, one half of the Sparkle Abbey duo, continues to delight with this new Sugar and Spice mystery set in Iowa. A family gathers to celebrate a big event, and invite the cookbook compilers to spend a couple of days with them collecting recipes.

Murder ensues, of course, and it gets solved with a combination of cleverness and charm.

Quiche of Death by Mary Lee Ashford is the third book in the Sugar &Spice Mystery series. Sugar and Dixie have moved on to their next cookbook, a family cookbook for the Arbor family who made their fortune in quiche. I feel like with this book the series has settled in nicely. Sugar and Dixie work well together along with several fun supporting characters. When a guest at the Arbor home is found dead, the entire family and staff are on the suspect list. This is an enjoyable cozy mystery with just a touch of romance. I am already looking forward to the next book.

I loved this cozy mystery. The small town setting is so appealing to me. I love the characters, they are quirky and fun. The mystery satisfied me and I look forward to. more books in the series.

I loved the small town setting and the quirky characters. A very good cozy.
Many thanks to Kensington Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

An enjoyable coking mystery that reminded me of the Goldie Schmidt novels I love. It was a fun and well crafted mystery and I am looking forward to more.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Sugar and Dixie are enjoying dinner with the family with whom they are collaborating on a cookbook when the grandson arrives with his fiancée. Granted she causes a furor as her poodle crashes through the dishes on the table but was that any reason for someone to kill her the next day with an arrow. Dixie finds her body during her morning walk and if she had been wise, she would have walked away.

This is a dysfunctional family with lots of sibling rivalry and quite a few secrets. It becomes obvious that Colette, the victim, annoying and mysterious as she was, may not have been the intended victim. There is intrigue surrounding her but the attempts on other family members indicate that her death may have been an accident. What has happened to make someone desperate enough to kill and kill again? And can Dixie stay alive long enough to find out the truth.

There are some red herrings in the story, two adorable animals and some exciting moments. The process of creating a cookbook is also interesting. Over all, an enjoyable summer read. Four purrs and two paws up.

Another entertaining installment of the Sugar and Spice Mystery series. Looking forward to more titles. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the complimentary digital review copy of this book!

An interesting setting and context - a family home with the matriarch closest to the grandson, for the primary purpose of creating a cookbook based on the family business. Sugar and Dixie have their work cut out for them as they sort recipes and try for the personal touch. When Collette is found dead, they suggest putting off the project, if only out of respect. The family disagrees and the project moves forward, Sugar taking possession of Collette's dog.

The key mystery here is the why of Collette's death. Noone other than Theo even knew her until they arrived and announced their engagement. The pace of the story is steady and the murderer nor the motive is truly obvious until the end. That's a good thing. There are some humorous moments and some tense moments. This is the third in a series, but can be read easily as a stand-alone. And there are some yummy recipes! If you like culinary mysteries with the added bonus of creating a homey cookbook, you'll enjoy Ashford's contribution to the genre.
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

A Sugar & Spice Mystery 3

Sugar and Spice are invited to do a cookbook for the Arbor's family who prepare food and sell it as frozen food. They are asked to spend the weekend at their bed & breakfast to go over recipes and photos for the book.

At dinner Theo shows up with his fiancee Collette and her little dog who proceeds to jump on the dinner table knocking over glasses and getting into the chocolate dessert. They all try to grab the dog because chocolate is bad for dogs. That finally get it and Theo and Collette go oitside. They all retire for the night.

Sugar is into getting her steps in so while Dixie is still sleeping she decides to go for an early morning walk. While out for her walk she stumbles over Collette's body with a arrow stuck in her chest. It seems nobody in the family was thrilled with Theo's choice of brides so there are many suspects to choose from and some that aren't even at the party.

There are so many secrets in this family and the more Sugar finds out the more the killer needs to keep her quiet. While at the B & B she goes to get the mail and there is a bomb in the mailbox intended for someone else. Sugar is taken to the hospital not seriously hurt. She still can't figure out who would benefit from the death of Collett.

She goes to get some papers from the B &B about genealogy research that one of sister in-laws is doing on the family and Sugar wants it because she wants to do research on her father.
While home alone that night she gets a visitor asking for the paperwork and with Sugar's quick thinking she catches a killer.

This was a great read, I loved the story and the food references and the fun back and forth romances!!
I can't wait for the next book in this series!

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Sugar and Spice Publishing usually compiles fundraiser cookbooks but when the well to do Arbor family, who made their money with their quiche recipe, ask them to create a family cookbook they just can’t refuse. The family is all getting together for the weekend and has invited Sugar and Dixie to join them to meet the family, go over recipes and get some background stories to use alongside the recipes in the cookbook.

Instead, they see the family is pretty high maintenance and that was before the grandson arrives with his new fiancée. A fiancée who is killed her first night with the family. Accident or murder?? Amateur sleuths Sugar Calloway and baker Dixie Spicer can’t help themselves; they start doing their own investigation which could end up being a recipe for disaster.

____

Again, we are introduced to a large cast of characters, the Arbor family. The author does a great job of giving the reader time to learn the family dynamics before we got too deep into the mystery while leaving much to be revealed over the course of the story.

The core characters continue to grow. Sugar is obsessed with getting in her steps every day and enjoying her new relationship with photographer Max. Dixie is still baking up a storm and a certain sheriff stops by often to do a little tasting.

The mystery is well done with Sugar taking the lead trying to get information out of the family. Everyone seems to have a secret but she is a smart woman and even when things get dicey she doesn’t give up. I was totally caught up in the story and pegged almost every family member to be the guilty party at one time or another. After more than a few twists and a fair share of humor, I was pleased with the way things wrapped up.

As someone who has taken part in making fundraising cookbooks in the past, this theme always brings back memories, some good, some frustrating. I would have loved working Sugar and Dixie to keep our committees on track and make key decisions. I have always wanted to make a family cookbook too, so I found the Arbor family ideas pretty appealing, sans all the drama and dead body.

Of course, the food descriptions had my mouth drooling. The Arbor family did have quite a few delectable recipes and some are included in the back of the book.

Quiche of Death is an entertaining addition to this series. I am looking forward to their next cookbook adventure.

Book 3 in the Sugar & Spice Mystery series sure was a tasty read to me!

Author Mary Lee Ashford sure gets series leads, Sugar and Spice, smack dab in middle of some sticky messes, and she has done so once again. But it sure is a lot of fun trying to help them figure it all out! Please note I said “trying”.

Ms. Ashford was so many steps ahead of me in QUICHE OF DEATH that I didn’t think I’d ever figure it out. And, I didn’t. This author is brilliant at leading you into one direction while she’s finding two or three more other wrong turns to send you down. Seriously, bring your GPS!

Having read the first two books in the Sugar & Spice Mysteries, I had no doubt I was going to enjoy, QUICHE OF DEATH. And enjoy I did! I was so lost in this story, that thank goodness I was reading it on my Kindle, because I didn’t even notice day turning to night around me.

So well written and wonderfully plotted, you’re going to love your time spent reading, QUICHE OF DEATH.

The delicious new addition to the "A Sugar & Spice Mystery" series by Mary Lee Ashford, Quiche Of Death, published by Lyrical Press is out now. Fan's of this tasteful culinary series will rejoice as the heroines stir up trouble and find a killer whose half baked.

Sugar and Dixie have put everything on the line and taken on a project that has them spending a few days at a beautiful old mansion. They had no idea a killer would be hanging around at the same time. With this new volume in the highly acclaimed culinary series, Mary Lee Ashford has once again shown her boundless talent and creativity to keep this series going strong.

This book has all the elements needed to delight readers, and fill their heads with mouthwatering culinary dishes they can't wait to try. It's almost impossible to read this story and not want to raid the pantry to cook up something wonderful. The murder is a bit on the light side, but the investigation will keep readers guessing. There are numerous suspects, a bounty of evidence, and plenty of twists and turns. The problem I had with the book was the killer. I just did not find the person believable and felt the unveiling was rushed for no apparent reason.

Quiche Of Death is easy to read, keeps you interested, and allows you to think for yourself. The food, with the included recipes, is tantalizing. I love culinary cozies as I always want to cook the dishes; I dislike them for the same reason. These types of cozy mysteries add inches to my waist. I am happy to recommend this new addition, and hope readers enjoy it as much as the others in this series.

Quiche of Death by Mary Lee Ashford is a fascinating mystery that revolves around a wealthy family, their past secrets, and keeping those secrets buried.

Will Sugar and Dixie figure out what is going on with the Arbor family before the mess follows them home?

Sugar and Spice
Sugar and Dixie are working on a cookbook for the Arbor family. They are visiting the farm over the weekend to gather the recipes and to get bits of history to include in the book. However, Sugar finds the body of Colette out on the archery range. Sugar needs to quit finding bodies, or people are going to start talking.

I love the dynamics of Sugar and Dixie; not only are they partners and friends, but you could say that they are also like family. Sugar has the business head, and Dixie supplies the fabulous food created by the recipes for the cookbook pictures. Dixie also feeds the neighborhood with her trial runs.

The Arbor Family
This family consists of the matriarch, two sons and a daughter, their spouses, and a grandson. They are all spending time at the family farm that John and his wife Gwen have restored. The farm is currently a lovely bed and breakfast. The setting is gorgeous, with lots of nature and quiet time—the perfect place to recharge.
However, the Arbor family are all very different and don't truly mesh well as one unit. They bicker with each other and fight over petty things. You know as a family does. I enjoyed getting to know each of them, and yet I found my favorites to be the spouses, Gwen and Lucinda. The other members didn't really stand out.

The Mystery
The mystery that Sugar can't stop thinking about is the death of Colette and whether it was an accident or murder. Then there are the attacks on the other family members and the break-in at the inn. Sugar doesn't do much investigating, but she is still there when the culprit is caught.

Four Stars
The dynamics of the characters and the mystery are entertaining. I also like learning about the process of putting a cookbook together. Therefore, my rating is four stars. I recommend this mystery and the series.

These are the included recipes:
• The Arbor Family's Famous Quiche Lorraine
• Hilda's No-Fail Banana Bread
• Greer Gooder's Chicken Salad

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Quiche of Death by Mary Lee Ashford.

This Guest Review is for Baroness' Book Trove.

Until the next time,
~Jen

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.

Quiche of Death was a brilliant and exciting read! This is the third book in the 'A Sugar and Spice' mystery series by Mary Lee Ashford and I had previously read the second one, Risky Biscuits but not the series opener, Game of Scones. Quiche of Death would serve fine as a standalone.

The owners of Sugar and Spice Community Cookbooks, Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer, are spending a weekend with the Arbor family to source material for a cookbook with the aim of preserving favourite family recipes, some of which have been turned into the frozen meals that the family is renowned for. Theo Arbor turns up with his fiancée, Colette who is meeting the family for the first time and things immediately turn pear-shaped. The next morning, Sugar is out and about for her morning power walk and happens across a dead body... it is Colette.

Set in Iowa, this was a fantastic mystery and with the addition of developing love interests, some rankled townsfolk, a wealthy family with a few skeletons in the closet, Frenchie the Poodle, and a cranky neighbour, it was definitely a page-turner. I loved Mary Lee Ashford's writing style and fantastic characterisation. I fully appreciated the comedic aspect of this engaging tale and I am looking forward to catching up with the first book of the series. Highly recommended!

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Kensington Books via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Quiche of Death by Mary Lee Ashford
Book #3: Sugar and Spice Mystery Series
Source: NetGalley and Kensington
Rating: 3/5 stars

**MINI-REVIEW**

The Bottom Line: Rather than saying I didn’t love this book, I’m going to go with, I think this may be the slump book in the series. I completely enjoyed the first two books in this series, but Quiche of Death just didn’t measure up to the precedent. What I am hoping for, and saw some signs of, is that this book is going to serve as a sort of launching pad into the next several installments of the series. Everything in this read seemed to be a bit more subdued than in the previous two books from the characters to the plot to the big reveal. I dove in expecting something exciting and was left with something not quite so. I didn’t dislike this book by any means, but I felt it just didn’t have the same punch as the first two. With luck this is only a slump and the girls will be back in business in book four and beyond.

Quiche of Death by Mary Lee Ashford is the third in the Sugar and Spice Mystery series. It can be read as a stand alone. I started the series with book two and was able to get current quickly.
This is an easy to read Cozy with great characters, humor, a hint of romance, and plenty of suspects that have you guessing to the end.
I was given an ARC by NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

New client and that means a new set of recipes and a new mystery for Sugar and Dixie. This time it involves a family in the frozen food business and the quiched Lorraine recipe that started it all. Sugar heads out to meet the family as they gather for a reunion-like weekend that begins with some family drama and ends in murder, mayhem, and a meloncholy pup. This latest story has more than one mystery for Dixie and Sugar to solve and more than one delicious sounding recipe to make. On the romance front, little progression seems to be made by either lady as Dixie and the Chief seem to be as a good a pairing as chocolate and well, anything they are like a slow cooker with regards to acting on it. A little progress is made between Sugar and her photographer but any realy developement has yet to take place. While this is a stand alone story and not a continuation of an ongoing it is easier to understand the relationships if you are already familiar with the characters. The quiche baked up beautifully and I enjoyed the story just as much as I the quiche. Looking forward to the next mystery and recipes, hopefully a comfort food story with maybe a bit of fall flavor.

This is the third book in the Sugar And Spice Mystery series. I have read the previous books in the series and always enjoy returning to this charming series. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinions are my own. This book can be read as a stand alone however I highly recommend the previous books for your reading enjoyment to be introduced to the series.

Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer, are both the owners of Super and Spice Cookbooks. They are spending a weekend with the Arbor family to review their historic family receipes for a cookbook to preserve family memories of their food empire which is based on a successful line of frozen foods. When distension among the family occurs as a new fiancee is introduced to the family by their Grandson the family is visibly shaken and arguments ensue. The family wants to preserve their family and their wealth from outsides which they consider the fiancee. When the new fiancee is discovered dead by Sugar the next day she and Dixie feel they must act fast to solve her death and bring the rightful killer to justice.

I like this series for its well crafted sleuth, the emphasis on baking and the great charcters. This is a wonderful addition to the series.