I enjoyed this book. It went quickly. I like the characters. It's got a focus on everyday life more than the investigating but it's interesting. The reveal of the bad guy was thrilling but everything turns out ok. The ending was the best. #CandySlainMurder #NetGalley

Indiana, small-business, small-town, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, amateur-sleuth, family-dynamics, friendship, cozy-mystery

The house fire exposes a skeleton in the attic, but was it misadventure or murder. Lots of stuff and gossip going on in the Country Store and restaurant in the small southern Indiana town. Surprise relatives, newcomers, misguided hatred by an already suspicious character. Then there's another body that only the coroner knows what questions to ask. Great characters and and a cohesive mystery plot are the best assets, add in the concerns and lingo of the characters which are classic small town everywhere, and the problems of the small business owner who is the central character, and a lot of
witticisms. Great but quick read!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

What a great series its Christmas time in robbies hometown. When a murder happens in town robbie sets out to investigate before the killer murders again. To hear more read the book.

Candy Slain Murder is intriguing and has lots of twist that will keep you guessing. The characters are deverse and sometimes hard to figure who's good and who's bad. You'll enjoy following the clues.

Oh my goodness this was an amazing read. I had the pleasure of reading an ARC of this wonderful book. You have a little romance, a sprinkling of recipes and a whole lot of cozy mystery all in one book.
Think “Christmas “ in July!

Although well written, this 8th book in the series is the first I have read. A good story and liked Robbie, but struggled to stay invested in the story. Would help to read earlier stories. Would recommend if you have read more.

This 8th book in Maddie Day's Country Store mystery series. I love all of the characters in this series!!

Robbie owns and runs a Country store and cafe. She and her two employees enjoy coming up with specials for the locals to enjoy. Besides running a successful business she can’t help but keep getting caught up in murders.

This Holiday season she has her hands full. First a man raises eyebrows at Pans ‘N Pancakes when he claiming to be the long-lost half-brother of Robbie’s assistant. Then a fire destroys the home of a controversial anesthesiologist, exposing skeletal remains in his attic.

All Robbie wants for Christmas is to stop her winter wonderland from becoming a real nightmare.

This is the 8th installment in the Country Store Mysteries. Robbie Jordan is getting ready for the Christmas holiday as is the entire town of South Lick Indiana. The house an anesthesiologist is burned and skeletal remains are found in the attic. Guess the doctor has had a questionable reputation according to some. When a young man comes in wanting to talk to Danna, Robbie gets involved and learns that he is claiming to be her half brother. What the heck is happening in this nice small town. Robbie will sort it all out including a new murder. I love cozies set during the holiday season and this one definitely does not disappoint. This is a great addition to this series and look forward to the next installment.

What do I love about Candy Slain Murder? Everything.
The advent of a man who says he is Danna's half-brother and son of Mayor Corinne Beedle kicks off both the Christmas holiday season and a new set of mysteries for Robbie to solve. I love that touches of the holiday are woven through the story even though murder is the focal point. Among the things that keep me coming back to this series is the great group of regular characters, the warm community feeling, the awesome complex mysteries, and the way everything is woven together around the diner; we actually see that work is a major part of Robbie's life even as she solves murders, her relationship with Abe and his son Sean grows, and friends deal with issues in their lives. In Candy Slain Murder there is the probability of more than one murder when a modern day skeleton appears and possibly leads to a new death.

As a BIG fan of the series I requested an ARC via NetGalley and was thrilled to be approved.
I think it is the best of this cozy mystery series and I have loved very book. Of course I have to share my excitement with my friends and followers.

#NetGalley #CandySlainMurder

This was my first time reading this series while set in its normal locale. I really enjoyed the characters and the murder mystery was interesting. Robbie manages to run Pans 'n Pancakes all the while inserting herself in a murder investigation. I guessed who the killer was early on, but it was still an enjoyable read.

This 8th book in Maddie Day's Country Store mystery series is another outstanding cozy, this time, with a Christmas theme.

I love the main and secondary characters in these books and, in this particular installment, love how the past and the present connect.

Absolutely loved the ending.

These are always a treat and I'd highly recommend them to people who love cozies.

#Candy Slain Murder. Robbie Jordan is living her dream as the owner of a small café/country store and Inn. She enjoys coming up with daily specials to please the locals and tourist. It is the Christmas season and she is looking forward to sharing her celebrations and town traditions with her boyfriend and his teen son.
Before the holidays get into swing a fire in the home of a local doctor reveals a skeleton. The town is soon buzzing with talk of who it may be and the doctor is once again under scrutiny for the murder of his wife.
Robbie's assistant and friend in a side story is approached by a young man claiming to be her half brother whom her mother had put up for adoption.
while Robbie is trying to decide if this young man will be a good addition to her friends life the sister of the skeleton in the attic is murdered and Robbie steps into help solve the murder to help ease any pain that could arise from finding out the new addition to the family is a murderer.
There is an underlying subplot dealing with racism and the ugly nature of people who judge solely o race or religion. This is a well thought out story line. I enjoyed getting to know the characters as well as trying to solve the crime. I highly recommend this book.

I am a sucker for Christmas time books, no matter what the genre. Maddie Day did not disappoint with this Christmas book and taking us to South Lick, Indiana with Robbie and her crew. Love to cuddle up with these books, no matter the time of year.

Robbie owns her own restaurant and store in the small town of South Lick, Indiana. Robbie has good employees that work with her at her restaurant and they have been super busy making up special creations for breakfast and lunch in the restaurant. Robbie thinks that things are going well and uneventful until there has been a body found in the attic of a local anesthesiologist when his house caught on fire. According to some in town, his reputations has been questionable for a while at the hospital.

Robbie also has another suspicious event come up with her employee Danna. One afternoon a young man walks in and asks to speak to Danna and Robbie being the mother hen that she is to Danna asks who he is. Come to find out, he is Danna's half brother that she never knew anything about. Danna wonders why her mother never told her anything about him.

A few days after the first body was found in the attic of the house that burned, another murder happened and now things are just getting too strange in the quiet town of South Lick. With an article coming out about Danna's newfound half brother and fingers pointing at him for some of the stuff going on in town, Robbie sets out to find the truth about what is really going on. When and investigator comes to town that has a past with Robbie, she knows that she is going to have to hold her tongue a lot in order to get to the bottom of what is going on in town. I thought this story was well thought out and the whole mystery of who the killer was kept me guessing until the end. Very well done by Maddie Day! I highly recommend this book for a great cozy Christmas time mystery!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced copy of this book.

2.5/5 stars

I received an ARC copy of Candy Slain Murder through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Candy Slain Murder is the eighth book in the Country Store Mystery series. In Candy Slain Murder, Robbie goes about solving the mystery of a murder, a fire and a skeleton in the attic.

This is the first book in the series that I have read and I have to say it didn’t really catch my interest. It was well written, planned out and I did like the Christmas theme, but it fell a bit flat for me. I especially couldn’t get into the characters and the way most of them talked, they sounded very uneducated, even the ones who had gone to law school. The catching of the killer also came off as very anticlimactic to me, but that could have been because I couldn’t get into the story and characters.

I really wanted to like this cozy mystery, but it wasn’t for me. Maybe one day I’ll go back and try the other books in the series to see if reading them in order makes me like them any more.

This was another installment in the Pans 'n pancakes series. Robbie seems to have her hands full with a skeleton, prejudice and a long lost relative of a co-worker. The culprit is not a surprise or the reason. The prejudice theme seems strangely timely given the time it takes to get a book published. overall it was an okay book, not the best in the series but okay.

Thank you for granting me access to this book. I think that the small town murder mystery during Christmastime is intriguing. The narrative did well at giving the reader a small-town vibe with the numerous townspeople and their personalities that you might expect and some of the language used in the dialogue between the more "country" characters. I think it may be helpful to note that the story, though some may enjoy it, has a lot going on. There's too much with the KKK, the anti-Muslim, and so on. I don't think these aspects will be received well with a general audience. I don't believe in censorship by any means but I do think it's important to be mindful of what's going on currently and some may be sensitive to these aspects of the book.

Robbie Jordan had a busy life running her restaurant. Her employees were close friends and she had a loving relationship with her boyfriend Abe. Her employee Danna just found out about a half brother, when a body was discovered. When a second one turned up, a local reporter wrote a slanderous article pointing at Danna's newly discovered brother.
Police Chief Buck was grateful for information that Robbie was able to discover. Det. Octavia Slade...not so much, but then again, Robbie and Octavia had a history.
Robbie and various friends did some investing together, and various town residents gave Robbie important information that they worked hard to add up. Adding to that information Buck gave her and the little she gleaned from Octavia, she was able to provide the police with plenty of data that put them on the right track. Unfortunately it wasn't soon enough to prevent the killer from attacking Robbie one night when she was alone.
She saved herself and was able to provide the police the last of the evidence they needed.
This is a wonderful cozy series and I especially enjoyed this book. It is a winner.
I requested and received a NetGalley ARC and offer my opinion gratis.

Always happy to take a visit to South Lick with Robbie and the rest of the town. Maddie Day doesn't disappoint and isn't afraid to take on difficult topics (KKK, prejudice). Clever as always.

I like the series overall and this book was good, but it was also longer than I thought it needed to be. Also, the author used irregardless.....seriously, I spent the rest of the novel trying to determine if she needs a better editor or if it was some sort of character flaw. Or maybe that’s how they use it over there in Indiana?

There’s nothing better than curling up with a new book in this wonderful series. Robbie is a sweet character, but when murder interrupts her holidays, she steps up and takes charge.
This book is packed with great details and colorful characters, not all of them very nice.
The colors of the book cover are vibrant and eye catching, and will certainly grab the reader’s attention.