Jaymie Mueller is approached by the mother of her daughter’s classmate for help. However, Alicia never gets around to telling Jaymie the what she needs before she is killed. This is a very involved, interwoven murder with complicated family ties. Jaymie goes through step by step only to have new information come forth which changes everything again.

This was my first read in the series. It was a darker mystery than I expected and was partly a true story. I really enjoyed Jaymie and her family and would have like to hear more about them.

Thank you #Netgalley for the advance reader copy of A Calculated Whisk by Victoria Hamilton in exchange for an honest review. Jaymie Leighton loves the smell of junk. Her husband, Jakob, has a junk store, The Junk Stops Here, that she helps at. A detective Vestry stops by, Jaymie wonders if it is in connection to the Labor Day weekend murder. Fall is arriving in Michigan as Jaymie plants tulip bulbs. She is on a nature walk with her daughter when she comes across the body of an acquaintance. This was a story that kept my interest. I was even crying at the end.

Michigan, cozy-mystery, law-enforcement, recipes, family-dynamics, friendship, murder, murder-investigation, secrets, small-business, small-town, rural****

The first death, five years ago, was somewhat suspicious and the local detective is still fixated on the wife. Said wife was murdered now and just after the detective asked the continuing character to get involved. Interesting but unexpectedly dark.
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Beyond the Page via NetGalley. Thank you

A Calculated Whisk is the 10th book in the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries written by Victoria Hamilton. I've been a fan of this wonderful series and author for almost a decade, and I've read all her books in this collection and the ones in the Merry Muffin series too. I can't decide which one I prefer! That said, this review is all about the latest and greatest, and boy did the author whisk up a complicated family drama. I loved the genealogical aspects of this tale, plus the revisit of a death from years ago.

Jaymie tries to stay away from murder investigations, but they follow her like bad karma. This time, she's asked for help by a woman whose husband died in a supposed accident nearly five years ago. The woman is the mother of a friend of Jaymie's daughter at school, so she feels compelled to do the right thing. After a couple of conversations, the woman arranges to meet Jaymie to explain who she think murdered her husband. When Jaymie walks through the woods to meet the widow, the poor woman's been stabbed by a vintage kitchen instrument. Any guesses which one?

Oh, the book had it all. I loved the family drama - seriously, between the mothers and daughters, husbands and ex-lovers, who cheated on whom, and what's really going on today, it was a lot to keep straight. But a good author balances repeating the relationships and offering clues to keep you entrenched in the plot. Watching Jayme become a mother to her new stepdaughter, Jocie, is incredibly heartwarming, and I can't wait until she's pregnant with her and Jakob's child (okay, wishful thinking, of course).

The mystery was strong. The characters were memorable. The setting was charming. The book really held my interest, and I highly recommend beginning your journey from the very first book. The series changes when Jaymie falls in love, but that's also where it really settles into its own. Grab a copy now while it's hot! You won't be disappointed.

A Calculated Whisk is the tenth book in the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series. Jaymie is stunned by the suspicious death of Jace Vance, and looks to help solve the case. But when prime suspect Alicia Vance is murdered a short time later, Jaymie quickly finds herself in over her head. She will not leave a single stone left unturned, even if the search may leave her in danger.

A Calculated Whisk is the first book that I have read in the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series and I found it easy to read as a standalone novel. I am still new to the mystery novel genre, and I enjoyed reading this book. The story was darker than I expected, and I mean this as a positive note; the fact that it is based on a true story likely adds to this feeling. I liked Jaymie's character and found her to be rather relentless when it came to solving this case...even when people asked her to stop. The twists will also keep the reader interested throughout the book. A Calculated Whisk is a good mystery novel that will leave the reader wanting to read the earlier books in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for this ARC; this is my honest and voluntary review.

I have read all of the books in this series and enjoyed them. A Calculated Whisk is the 10th book in the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series by Victoria Hamilton. This book is based on a real life True Crime story. Jamie Layton Muller loves vintage kitchen tools and has a blog and a newspaper column about them. She is married to Jakob who has a daughter Jocie. Jakob and Jaymie's friends, Valetta and Mrs Stubbs, keep the story from getting too heavy, not there is any humor or lightness in the story. Jamie meets Alicia through Jocie who is school friends with Mia, Alicia's daughter. Alicia is obviously troubled and wants to talk to Jamie but she keeps postponing it and then Alicia ends up dead. Most of the new people in this story have interwoven relationships and are keeping secrets. This book was good and I didn't really guess who the culprit was but it is not a typical cozy mystery. There was no humor and the crimes were a bit too much. #NetGalley #ACalculatedWhisk

This is a fantastic series! Jaymie Leighton is deciding whether to help a woman with a mystery surrounding her. Then the woman is found murdered near Jamie’s house.
This one was a fun page turner!
#ACalculatedWhisk #NetGalley

I do not normally jump into a series without reading all the books in order but the cover on this book convinced me to read this book.
I enjoyed meeting Jaime and her family. There were a few details which really made me wish I had read the earlier books but they were small detail. This was a very good mystery with plenty of red herrings and I didn’t know who did it once the murderer was revealed.
I enjoyed how it wrapped up snd it did make logical sense.
My only wish is the book cover had their little dog on it instead of this cat. The cat was mentioned maybe twice while the dog was very prominent in the book.

Overall good story.

This is honest review of ARC I received from NetGalley.

The 10th Vintage Kitchen Mystery follows Jaymie Leighton as she tries to help Alicia Vance, who is under scrutiny by police for the five-year-old death of her husband, Jace. Jaymie is uncertain about her innocence until she finds Alicia dead on the path through the woods to Jaymie’s house. Now Jaymie needs to find the truth behind both deaths – Jace’s and Alicia’s.

Victoria Hamilton plots an elaborate mystery with red herrings and enough misdirection to make A Calculated Whisk almost hard to follow. A well-written story with an unexpected outcome.

Secrets Abound….
The tenth in the Vintage Kitchen mystery series finds Jaymie confronted with not one but two murders. As Jaymie digs deeper in her amateur investigation and secrets abound, is she putting her own life in danger? As ever, an entertaining and escapist cosy mystery with a likeable protagonist and a colourful cast of characters. A fun read with a reliable vintage recipe included.

Author Victoria Hamilton has a very intriguing storyline in her latest Vintage Kitchen Mystery, A Calculated Whisk. I was so surprised at the murder weapon in this book. Not something one would think would work as a murder weapon. I enjoyed amateur sleuth Jaymi Leighton Muller's way of getting information from seemingly casual conversations that ended up being clues that helped solve the mystery. This was a very enjoyable read and a great addition to the series.

I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Loved reading this book and series. One of my favorite authors and if you haven't read this book yet I highly recommend doing so

Wow. This was not what I expected from a cozy, it was a great mystery, much more serious and psychologically driven then I expect of a cozy. It's almost more like if Dennis Lehane, or Louise Penny wrote a cozy. I mean we've got the antiques and adorable pets happening yes, but the mystery itself and the majority of the story was a very deep and heavily psychologically driven domestic/family secrets murder mystery. **Thank you so much to both NetGalley and Beyond the Page publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!**

This one kept me guessing pretty much the whole way through (and I can usually figure out who-done-it pretty early on) and I was much more emotionally engaged in this than with your typical cozy. Several generations of a couple local families and all their buried secrets come into play here - there are so many layers to sift through here to try and make sense of both the crime that happened before the book started and the murder that occurs at the very beginning. A really good twisty domestic thriller kind of mystery.

This was my first introduction into this series (which is obviously very successful since this is #10 in the series), so I didn't have all the background on Jaymie and her husband, however Hamilton did a great job of filling in whatever gaps were necessary to this particular story without any huge info dumps (which I greatly appreciate). I love psychologically driven mysteries - Louise Penny is one of my favorites and this had those sorts of small town river runs deep vibes that I love about the characters in her books.The characters are all too human and complicated here, which always sets up for a great mystery with great and often conflicting motivations. I will definitely be starting this series now and catching up on all the ones I've missed.

Highly recommend to mystery lovers in general, but especially those who love a deep psychological angle, or the twisty turns of domestic thrillers.


Check back for a link closer to release date on my "Must Have New Mysteries For Fall" which will include this title.

Come find me on bookstagram @museignitedreads

A Calculated Whisk was an enjoyable read. Jaymie Leighton Mieller is the main character of the story. The other characters add a lot to make the story intriguing. There are two murders, the first Jace Vance died from a car jack accident and five years later his wife, Alicia Vance is killed walking through the woods to Jaymie's house. Jaymie wants to find out who killed Alicia for the sake of her daughter. Mia who is a good friend and classmate of her stepdaughter, Jocie. The story has lots of twists and turns with many people in the story that could have murdered both Alicia and her husband. This story keeps the reader on their toes and in the dark who actually did the two murders until the end.

Thank you NetGalley and Beyond The Page Publishing for this ARC.

When Jaymie’s daughter becomes friends with a girl in her class, Jaymie meets the mother and the woman asks to meet with Jaymie alone to talk to her. The woman keeps putting off sharing what she wants to discuss one too many times and is killed on her way to see Jaymie and tell her what she wanted to discuss. Now Jaymie is seeking justice for the young mother and begins sleuthing. The family was incredibly unlucky, but maybe the dead woman’s husband, who died in an accident fiver years ago, was also murdered. Jaymie will find out, if it’s the last thing she does!

This is a favorite series and I always follow the author to find out when the next release will be. Between the three legged dog, a little daughter and vintage kitchen items, I’m there. It’s the great whodunit in each entry that keeps me coming back! Already longing for the next entry in the series.

The death of Have Vance was always questionable. The police highly suspect his widow of causing his death . Alicia Vance is hiding some related to that "accident" but what is the big question. She ask Jamie to help her . However on her way to the Muller farm Alicia meets her end. Is there more to this mystery than meets the eye? Seems the real killer is still out there. Jamie just can't step aside. She knows she needs to let the police handle things but she's driven to clear her new late friends reputation. Can Jamie solve the mystery and bring a killer to justice without endangering herself and those she loves.?

When a woman suspected of killing her husband approaches vintage kitchen utensil collector Jaymie Leighton for help, Jaymie is surprised. What does the woman need Jaymie's help for? Unfortunately, Jaymie will never know what the woman needed, because the woman was found dead just days after meeting Jaymie. With not one, but two murders to consider and one or more killers on the loose, Jaymie must untangle a web of complicated clues and get to the bottom of the case before the killer(s) get to her and her family.

Hamilton has a beautifully expressive writing style that helps bring her characters to life. I particularly enjoyed her descriptions of the setting and of Jaymie's train of thought as she investigates the mystery. And I'm always a sucker for a punny title!

I also enjoyed the strong character building this novel featured. Many of the characters are interesting, yet flawed, making for a suspenseful mystery. This contributed to making a complex mystery complete with red herrings, false assumptions, and a lot of investigative work on Jaymie's part.

The highlight of the book for me was the thoughtful way in which Hamilton addressed the impact of crime on the family and friends of victims. Though it made for a heavy read at some points, this is an important topic that isn't often mentioned in cozy mysteries. The integration of this topic into the mystery was very well done.

At times though, I did feel that the book was almost <i>too</i> expressive. This is a slower paced mystery, which makes sense given the attention Hamilton gives to both her characters and the execution of the mystery. However, the slowness meant that the plot dragged at some points. I think some scenes could have been edited or even eliminated to help make the book tighter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for providing me with an ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Readers should know that there is minimal violence in the book and no foul language. For those who are sensitive to the topic, there are discussions of infidelity.

Jaymie is my all time favorite character and I enjoy each new book that comes out.
Everyone knows that Jaymie is a vintage cookware expert, so it comes as no surprise when someone seeks her out, for advice or help. This time, it wasn't her cookware knowledge that was needed, it was her experience in solving crimes that was needed.
A bizarre turn of events finds Jaymie in the middle of another murder investigation, and this time it's too close to home for her.
Keeping her family safe is her number one priority, so when she begins asking questions, she has no idea of the dark family secrets she will be revealing.

I really enjoyed the storyline, and there were plenty of red herrings to keep me guessing.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.
#ACalculatedWhisk #NetGalley

This is the first in this series for me and i felt it was a little slow in the beginning, but as I read on I found I enjoyed the slower pace. Our heroine didn’t do anything stupid or crazy, she just talked to people and she didn’t really jump to conclusions either. The mystery itself was very good; definitely not what I was expecting. And there were plenty of good red herrings. I liked the recipe added on, but I do hope there’s a little more about vintage cookware in the next one.