A DASH OF DEATH is the first book in the Cocktails and Catering series by Michelle Hillen Klump. While there are lots of cozy mysteries with a culinary bent, this one focuses on an amateur sleuth who makes bitters - an ingredient in mixed drinks that’s made with botanicals.

Samatha’s lost her job and her fiance and is trying to put her life back together. She decides to repurpose all of the bottles of bitters she created to use as wedding favors and give them away at a local event. Maybe even drum up business.

Instead, someone dies after drinking them. So now she’s a suspect but her former reporter’s skills drive her to investigate and clear her name.

This has a lot of the comforting cozy tropes - relatable woman with a new small business, needs to clear her name with the support of some besties. Small town shenanigans.

For fans of Susan Wittig Albert, Raquel Reyes, or Kate Lansing.

First in the Cocktails and Catering Mystery series.

Samantha Warren not loses her job as a reporter, gets dumped by her fiancée shortly before the wedding day and has to give up on buying the house she had chosen. When she is invited to fill in as a bartender/mixologist at a historic home tour, she decides it’s a great way to get rid of the bottles of homemade bitters that had been intended as wedding favors.
Unfortunately a council member becomes seriously ill the affair and dies after being transported to the hospital. It appears that he was poisoned by a drink served at the affair. Samantha ends up on the suspect list and ends up being sued by the man’s wife for his death. To clear herself, Samantha and friends investigate to see who wanted the councilman dead to clear.

Good start to a new series. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC and the opportunity to review this book. This is the first in a new cozy mystery series. Samantha, Sam to her friends, is down her luck. Her fiance ended their engagement three weeks before her wedding. Her job prospects are limited, and her future feels uncertain. A friend persuades her to vend the scratchmade bitters that were to be her wedding favors at the Historic Homes Tour. Her bitters are a success, and things are going smashing until one of the guests mysteriously falls ill.

Samantha's past work as an investigative reporter compels her to dig into the situation, which quickly becomes complicated. The plot is well written. The supporting characters are engaging. Sam falls the most flat for me. Beyond her reporter's instincts and relationship troubles, there is not much fleshed out about her.

I did find the book engaging and liked the inclusion of recipes, though I would have preferred more of the recipes mentioned to be included. I will likely read a second outing for this series if there is one to see if Sam becomes more fleshed out.

The opinions expressed her are mine alone and are freely given.

This is the first book in the Cocktails and Catering Mystery series, and boy is it a great beginning. I really like Sam as a character, especially her pluck and can’t wait to see what she and her friends get up to in future books. I also appreciate the unique spin on a culinary cozy with Sam’s passion for creating cocktail Bitters. The mystery was interesting and very well paced. I very much look forward to reading many more entries in the series.

This is the first in the series. I was drawn to the book by the cover and description as I have never read a book by Michelle Hillen Klump. I found the premise interesting and the book was well-written but not well formatted. My Advanced reader’s copy was riddled with missing letters to too many words. It took me twice as long to read this book as any other cozy mystery I have read in the past six years. If faced with this dilemma in the future, I’ll just stop reading. I had a headache by the time I stopped reading each day.

I did have a hard time connecting with Samantha and her friends and for this reason, I will pass on future episodes.

Thank-you to the publisher, Netgalley, and the author for allowing me to read the book.

A Dash of Death by Michelle Hillen Klump feels like a Hallmark move gone wrong. This is a familiar trope, the ex boyfriend and a mystery. Overall a kind of fun read, but felt like it has all been done before.

A Dash of Death is the inaugural book in the Cocktails and Catering Mystery series by Michelle Hillen Klump. The story opens as the main character Samantha Warren is preparing to help with a historic home tour by serving cocktails on a night that was supposed to have been her wedding day until her fiance changed his mind.

This book started off a little slow with the author providing a significant amount of backstory and history for all of the characters. As it progressed, it became a book to be placed in the OMC (One More Chapter) category as Samantha's history, both personal and professional, became integrally entwined in the story often causing her to second guess herself in many ways

At times, I became disgusted with the main character as she reached out several times to her former fiance but was happy that the author used that portion of the story to create a sense of closure on the prior relationship so the main character can move forward in her personal life.

Throughout the story, the author keeps the reader guessing at the true identity and motive of the killer going as far as creating reasonable expectation as to the guilt of several different possible culprits. I was pleased that when the killer was identified it was apparent that while there was plausible reason for the murder, it was not something that the police would have been likely to have uncovered without Samantha's involvement. I look forward to the next book in this series and whatever the future holds for these characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review

Samantha's life was falling apart. She lost her job and her fiance. Now she has a lawsuit against her. Her fun escape was making bitters and fancy cocktails. When she has the chance to serve drinks at a function she jumps at the chance. Who knew it would become such a massive mystery when a man dies and she is blamed. What a twist of a tale begins when she starts looking into what happened. An interesting tale for sure. I was entertained as we follow her through the hunt for truth. Along the way she may discover a new occupation too.

A Dash of Death is a new series by Michelle Hillen Klump. Samantha Warren is trying to get over the pain of being jilted just before her wedding and losing her reporter's job too. Her friends convincer her to sell the cocktail bitters she had made as wedding favors at the Highlands Historic House Tour. This seems like a good idea, but when Mark Brantwell, a new member of the Historic Commission, dies after drinking one of her drinks that somehow was flavored with poisonous oleander and not phlox, Samantha is the number one suspect in his murder. Samantha decides she must clear her name and reputation and begins to search for answers and the murderer.
Inspite of some uneven spots this is a nice beginning to a new series. 4 stars.

This is the first book in a promising new mystery series set in Houston, Texas. Samantha is a reporter who loses her job and then on top of that her fiance dumps her weeks before their wedding. On the day she was supposed to be walking down the aisle her friend Marisa worries about her and tries to keep Samantha busy so she persuades her to go to the Highlands Historic tour event to serve cocktails and sell the homemade cherry vanilla bitters she had made as wedding favors. Someone is poisoned by one of the drinks and dies shortly after the event. Samantha is a suspect so she uses her reporter skills to clear her name and find the real murderer. Lots of red herrings which kept me guessing. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one in the series. Thank you Net Galley!

Interesting premise to a new cozy mystery series. The main character is a reporter turned mixalogist/herbalist turned amateur sleuth. It was a little slow to start, but then picked up a bit. A few red herrings and suspects kept me guessing. I'm interested enough in seeing what happens next.
3 1/4 stars.

Many thanks to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

Being an herbalist who makes her own bitters (they are not just for cocktails, but help with digestion if taken before meals!) and who loves cozy mysteries, I was really looking forward to A Dash of Death by Michelle Hillen Klump, the first book in A Cocktails and Catering Mystery, but unfortunately I didn’t enjoy it that much.

There just wasn’t much to the story as far as the characters went. I felt Samantha, who had been a reporter, should have been more analytical and less wishy-washy when it came to investigating and trusting people one minute and then doing a complete about face the next. And while she was very briefly a suspect, I don’t understand why she wanted to help Gabby out so much, a woman she didn’t know at all and was suing her.

Then there’s the Scooby gang, while I like that her friends are a lesbian couple (we need more diversity of every kind in cozies!) they were kind of unforgettable. No quirkiness or anything else to make them stand out to me and want to read more about them in future books.

And as far as the whodunnit, while I didn’t know the why right away, I did know the who due to there not being enough suspects for the reader to choose from. There are two people that you know didn’t do it due to how cozies are written, so you’re left with only a couple of others to pick from and I thought it was pretty obvious if you stopped to think for a second.

Just a small thing, but while the recipes at the end all look delicious, I was disappointed there weren’t any bitter recipes or bitter history/interesting facts spread out in the book. That’s one of the reasons I read cozies, to learn more about new hobbies and culinary arts.

While I do give Klump kudos for finishing a book (that is a huge feat!) and finding a publisher, I won’t be rushing to read the next book in the Cocktails and Catering Mysteries.

A Dash of Death by Michelle Hillen is the 1st book in A Cocktails and Catering Mystery series, and my first book by this author. This book had more twists and turns, and an excellent mystery that kept me reading. I found this book to be a quick read, with a well developed plot and characters. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, I'm always excited for a new and good series. If you love cozy mysteries, I highly recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I initially decided to not review this book after I had difficulty becoming engaged due to 113 instances of missing letters from words in the first chapter alone, making it a chore to read as it took me out of the book in order to figure out what the word with missing letters was. As this wasn't the first time this had happened with this publisher's offerings on NetGalley, I reached out to the author to let her know.
She was quite receptive and let me know that the issues had come to the publisher's attention, and that A NEW VERSION WAS AVAILABLE! I checked to see if I could get an updated copy by re-downloading it, and it was in fact the newer version.
I am so happy that I did so! This book is absolutely wonderful! As a former reporter myself, I found the main character relatable, but beyond that, the mystery is complex and intriguing, making the book a definite page turner. The supporting characters are complex and the settings are described in depth and intricately. Ms. Klump is an excellent writer, and has crafted a wonderful book.
If you got one of the early versions of this book, please do the author a solid and download the updated version. You will be glad you did.
#ADashofDeath #NetGalley

This book had some great moments for me, but also some sections where I just couldn’t help but shake my head. Samantha’s in a bit of a low place right now, but she’s trying to work it out when she’s thrown into a murder and a lawsuit. Having been a reporter, she decides to prove her innocence. She’s mostly a fairly strong protagonist, but there are moments when the author has her do something a bit out of character, in my opinion, and that just drove me mad.

This is the first book in a new series and I so enjoyed this book. Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity for review. My review opinions are my own.

Our protagonist is Samantha "Sam" Warren. She was a reporter who lost her job and her fiance Greg at the same time. Greg left her shortly before the wedding. Sam has moved home and is a mixologist . She mixes drinks of different types. She had created a mixed drink for her wedding and has so much left over she wants to share her creation. So she attends a local meeting to share her skills and serves her drinks but someone falls dead . The drink was poisoned and Sam is suspect number one. Both by the local police and the local people.

This was a enjoyable read with fun supporting charcters and a sleuth that kept me guessing to conclusion. Sam has a long way to go to be a independent woman and keeps falling backward contacting her old fiance which was sad to read. Once she finally moves on she will be a more powerful believable charcter . The sleuth was well defined which made reading this so much fun. I look forward to the next in series and hope Sam will find herself and become a stronger woman . A strong debut for this new cozy series.

I was so excited to receive this book. I love cozy mysteries and this is right up my alley! I made it about a quarter of the way through the book and had to stop reading it. There were so many words with missing or incorrect letters that it was distracting from the story.

The part of the book that I read was good and I really sympathized with the main character. I was really disappointed that editing errors kept me from finishing it.

This was the first in a new series by this author and I enjoyed the story. I liked Samantha and her friends Marisa and Beth and hope to read more about their friendship and Sam's new career path in future books. I think someone being a mixologist is new to a cozy mystery and I enjoyed the drink descriptions.

Sam's fiancé called of their wedding and moved to New York to work on passing the bar there to create a new life for himself. On her scheduled wedding day, her friend Marisa got her a job to serve the homemade bitters she had made as gifts for her wedding party at a historic home tour. She is hoping to make connections so that she can become a mixologist. Unfortunately, a man dies during the party after drinking one of her drinks, which had been spiked with oleander. There are quite a few suspects to choose from concerning his death. Unfortunately, I figured out the killer at the beginning of the story, but it was still fun to read the book and discover the why of the killing. Despite this, she did a great job of throwing out some red herrings to make you suspect other people.

I liked how Marisa called Sam out on using her ex (Greg) as a crutch to make decisions for her. Sam started out as weak and unable to make her own decisions and I hope to see her become stronger as a person. I look forward to more stories in this series. Love the recipes at the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Good beginning of a cute cozy mystery series. I enjoyed the story especially all the different cocktails brewed up. Good likable characters. Had me hooked and guessing on the mystery. Will definitely check out the next book in the series.

Loved this cozy mystery! Had a little romance, friendship, starting over and of course a mystery!
When Samanthas fiancé, Greg, decides to cancel the wedding weeks before the big day, she is at a loss as to how to pick up the pieces and move on. Her friends, Beth and Marisa, convince her to go to a Historical House Tour and sell the bitters she made as wedding favors. All is going so well until someone, Marc, gets sick and dies from drinking one of her drinks. There are a lot of suspects in his death, but Samantha is determined to play sleuth and find the answers. But as with any amateur sleuth, she soon finds herself in over her head.
Loved the plot, the characters, and the Historical Houses. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.