Death of a Gingerbread Man is the perfect Christmas cozy mystery for the upcoming holiday season! For once, Hayley is preparing for a stress-free holiday season; she even has closed her restaurant until the start of the new year. When she accompanies Mona on an emergency trip to the cottage to ensure Mona's dad has his medication, the last thing she expects is to come face-to-face with her estranged father. Now, with her mother visiting from Florida and her father insisting he wants to make amends, Hayley's drama-free Christmas is turning out to be anything but. THEN, when tensions can't be higher, one of her father's former enemies is murdered at the gingerbread house competition. Of course, Dwight is the main suspect, and Hayley feels that she must find the real killer before her father is put in jail.

I absolutely love this series, and Death of a Gingerbread Man is a great next installment. Hayley, Mona, and Liddy are such a fun group of characters. I also love reading about their local businesses (Hayley's Kitchen, Drink Like A Fish, Mona's store, etc). I am always craving seafood, especially a lobster roll, after reading one of these books. Death of a Gingerbread Man has a ton of great recipes - all focused on ginger. I can't wait to try the pancake recipe, the meat recipes, and all of the cocktail mixtures. I can't wait for the next book!

Hayley Powell is in for the shock of her life when she goes to accompany one of her best friends, Mona Barnes, on what should be a routine if time-consuming errand. Mona’s dad Bubba has gone to his cabin about three hours’ drive from their home in Bar Harbor, Maine, for an ice-fishing weekend. Unfortunately, he’s neglected to bring his heart medication with him. Mona’s mom Jane has insisted that Mona drive out immediately with the meds, so Mona has recruited Hayley for company on the impromptu road trip.

The last thing either woman expects on arriving at the cabin is to see that Bubba isn’t alone. They’re surprised to discover that Elmer Crawford, the father of their other best friend Jane, is there too. Worse, so is Dwight Jordan, the deadbeat dad whom Hayley hasn’t seen or heard from since he ran out on their family when she was a small child.

Neither of the women is pleased to learn that Dwight has apparently been getting together with Elmer and Bubba every winter for the past few years for a boys’ weekend. Dwight is contrite, saying that he’d wanted to reach out to Hayley and her younger brother Randy but never knew how. Now that he and Hayley have come face to face after decades apart, the “how” has been decided for him, and he wants to return to Bar Harbor to get to know his kids and their families.

While Hayley isn’t completely against letting her father back into her life, she would much rather he waited till the summer. Her mother Sheila moved to Florida a while ago but is coming back for Christmas, and Hayley does not want what’s sure to be a dramatic showdown between her parents to cast a pall over the season. Dwight, however, doesn’t take Hayley’s advice and comes down anyway, upsetting not only the family he left behind but plenty of other Bar Harbor residents… including someone willing to go to great lengths to ensure that Dwight does not survive the holidays. Will Hayley be able to figure out who and stop them before she loses her father for good?

This was an emotionally heavy installment of the long-running Hayley Powell Food & Cocktails Mystery series, as Hayley has to deal with the repercussions of Dwight’s bad choices, both in the past and – to her growing discomfort – in the present day. Dealing with a parent who is as irresponsible but charming as Dwight can be is hard for Hayley, even before his life is put in mortal danger not once but several times. Hayley handles a tough situation really well, which will come as no surprise to other series fans.

There were fourteen delicious ginger-themed food and drinks recipes included here. Since my children have recently discovered the joys of chicken wings, I decided to try out this recipe:

QUOTE
Bruce’s Ginger Garlic Chicken Wings

½ cup honey
⅓ cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
¼ cup water
2 pounds fresh chicken wings cut into wings and drumettes
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

With paper towels, dry your chicken wings so they are not wet.

In a bowl, toss your wings with the olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and put a wire rack on top of the parchment paper. Spread out your wings in a single layer onto the wire rack.

Bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is crispy and done.

Sauce:
Add honey, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and water to a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes until a little reduced and thickened.

Remove your sauce from the heat and it will thicken as it cools.

When your chicken is done, remove from the oven and toss in the sauce. When the wings are all coated, put back on the rack and return to the oven for 15 more minutes. Remove and enjoy!
END QUOTE

I realized as I was putting this dish together that I wasn’t sure whether my wire rack was a baking rack or a cooling rack. I chose to err on the side of caution and use a perforated pizza pan instead, which I think did well in a pinch. I probably did wind up overbaking these a little, but the delicious sauce more than hid any defects in my cooking, as my family gobbled these wings right up. I served the wings with pasta and peas in an attempt at making a balanced dinner, but the chicken definitely disappeared first off of everyone’s plates.

Next week, we continue with the holiday season while whipping up a tasty baked good and investigating a pointedly addressed murder. Do join me!

This is one of my favorite series because I enjoy the setting, the characters, the writing, and the food so much. I loved visiting with Hayley and her family, and getting to see a more vulnerable side as she deals with feelings of seeing her dad for the first time in a very long time. The mystery was well=paced and kept me guessing; the solution is definitely something I could not have figured out on my own. I can’t wait to see what they get up to next.

This is the absolute perfect mystery to recommend to anyone who loves Christmas and loves cozy mysteries! Lots of appeal, with great characters and a picturesque coastal Maine setting in a storybook winter. Hayley is super busy getting things ready for the holidays when there is a murder during the gingerbread house making contest. She springs into action to solve the case, but is hampered by the unexpected arrival of her long-estranged father. Great fun!

I love Christmas themed cozies. And when its one of my favorite series, its even better. Its Christmas in Bar Harbor, Maine, and Hayley's mother and boyfriend are in town for the holidays. What she didn't plan on was her estranged father who she hasn't seen since she was a child showing up in Maine. What she expects even less is a murder being committed and the victim being an old rival of her fathers. Hayley wants to believe the best in him and sets out to prove he is no killer.

I love the characters in this series and the growth they have shown throughout the books. Hayley food and wine column is always a favorite of mine. I really enjoyed seeing Hayleys father in this book. It added something different to the story to see Hayley with both her parents.

Death of a Gingerbread Man is book #17 in the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery series by Lee Hollis.

I can’t believe this is book17 in the series. I love following the characters through the series and see how they grow and change. Hayley always has a lot going on the encounter with the father that abandoned her didn’t help. There wasn’t as much humor in this one but I still really enjoyed it

Thank you to the author, Kensington, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Death of a Gingerbread Man by Lee Hollis is a return to Maine and the return of Hayley’s long lost father, Dwight. Not great timing as her mother, Sheila, and her boyfriend, Carl, were coming for Florida for the holidays. Keeping them apart was not going to be easy. To say Sheila held a grudge who be an understatement. But Dwight sailed in as if everyone should be happy to see him. A few were. Hayley arranged for him to stay with her brother, Randy, and his husband, Sergio, who was the police chief. Certainly the police chief could keep Dwight on the straight and narrow. Alas, that was not to be. There was even a murder and, of course, Dwight was the primary suspect. It turned out he was innocent, but still. Hayley nearly got herself killed cornering the real killer but that came after a lot of to and fro with Dwight and his cronies. It looked like someone wanted Dwight dead, and there was no shortage of suspects.

Hayley is married to Bruce, who is the perfect husband for her. He doesn’t get riled up easily. He is the crime reporter for the local paper, which is still managing to publish five days a week despite the internet. Hayley writes a couple of articles a week about food. They have a good life, Hayley’s children are grown and out of the house. Her restaurant is going well and she has good friends. As in any small town, there are plenty of characters and Hollis uses them in her book to good effect, sometime hilarious, always interesting. This is a decent murder mystery. One, not just anyone could solve. There are twists and turns aplenty, what with Dwight’s antics. She didn’t spend much time in the restaurant, but then again, it is Christmas. Sheila adjusted, not well, but Carl helped. Good story. Intriguing characters and situation; one with ramifications. I loved every minute of it.

I was invited to read Death of a Gingerbread Man by Kensington Publishing. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #KensingtonPublishing #LeeHollis #DeathOfAGingerbreadMan

An engaging cozy mystery. A wide variety of characters. Not a fan of con men so I had no sympathy or empathy for one of the main characters. Carl was a favorite. Several surprises. Interesting movie references. Yummy sounding recipes. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

This is the 17th release in this loved cozy foodie series by cozy author Lee Hollis. I have been devoted to this series since book one. Haley is a smart savvy protagnist and adds humor as well as fine tuned investigation skills to each book. The supporting characters are richly drawn to each book and delightful. I highly recommend this series to all cozy readers.

Thank you to the publisher, the author and Net Galley for the opportunity. In this Christmas theme release Haley is busy planning for a bake off when her long lost Father shows up just in time for her Mother and her boyfriend to arrive. After not having her Father in her life Haley is very forgiving and welcomes him into her life. Antics arise with problems when his rival is murdered and he is suspect number one. Between the bake off, parents not getting along and Haley stuck in the middle trying to develop her receipes while she investigates its a suspense building hilarious story. The Christmas theme receipes are wonderful. A enjoyable fun read that I highly recommend.

Hayley gets a surprise when her long lost father shows up in town. With her mother already there for the holidays, it makes for some uncomfortable moments. When her dad becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation, Hayley has no choice but to get involved. A fun read, good plot and great stories in the newspaper columns. It was fun to have the Dads featured in this story. Looking forward to the next adventure!

"Death of a Gingerbread Man (Hayley Powell Food & Cocktail Mystery #17)" by Lee Hollis is set around the Christmas and New Year's season. Hayley's mom and mom's boyfriend are coming to stay the month-ish with her since her kids aren't going to be home. Then, Hayley's long lost father is suddenly part of all the holiday events after she catches him in his annual visit to his friends/the dads of her friends. Gee, he could make time to see them but hasn't seen her in several decades/her early childhood.

This is part of the story that really kind of annoyed me. Hayley was pretty quick accept her father into her life like she'd been talking to him off and on for years rather than this is the first time since before she was 10. She and her brother are also quick to defend him whenever he proves he really hasn't changed and only thinks of himself. I really don't get the impression he's there because he feels he should be there to make up with them rather that he's there because he's lonely and wants to force his company on them.

The mystery took a long time to build up. Once it got there it ended up being less about the first victim and all about the second, attempted victim. We get some Hitchcock inspiration with the mystery as well.

This is one of those cozy mysteries that likes to put recipes in between chapters. There's also little news articles that the main character writes to put a story with the recipes. I personally would prefer the recipes tied into the mystery part of the books rather than be tied to side stories that don't feel completely connected to the particular part of the story they're inserted into. I tend to skip this part of these book. They'd be great as a separate, series based cookbook though.

I might’ve been hoping for too much humor this time around because even though I loved spending Christmas with Hayley and the gang, I was really disappointed there wasn’t much in the line of hilarious moments going on, especially my favorite Sergio-isms! I really missed those a lot and I hate to admit it but he was boring this time. Earl was the only person just slightly funny and Mona was kinda off her game too. We got a good dose of her usual craziness in the beginning but that was pretty much all. There was a humorous scene at a cooking lesson that Hayley gave but it didn’t involve any regulars.

I’m sure it had to do with the nature of this story though and wanting to make sure Hayley’s father, Dwight got a decent backstory and mystery which was the highlight of this book and of course a returning father would make for a more serious subject. I liked it as much as previous books, but I really didn’t have as much fun reading it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Kensington Cozies via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

I love this series, but feel like this book is not the best of them. There is so much emotional drama that the murder is basically lost. All the focus is on Dwight. #DeathofaGingerbreadMan #NetGalley

I have read all the books in the Hayley Powell series and this one was good but just didn't match some of the others.

Hayley is going to have a full house for Christmas with her mother and her boyfriend coming to visit from Florida. Hayley has closed her restaurant for the season and is looking forward to time with family (mostly, since she has a strained relationship with mom). When she agrees to go with her friend Mona to drop off her father's left behind blood pressure medication, Hayley gets the surprise of the season to find her long-lost father, Dwight, at the fishing cabin with Mona's and their other BFF's dad. Needless to say, Hayley is stunned since she has not seen this man since she was in elementary school when he up and abandoned their family.

When said father says he wants to spend the holidays in Bar Harbor, Hayley knows the town isn't big enough to contain him and her mother's anger. What sets off the tumultuous holiday season is Dwight's reappearance in town causing a lot of hurt feelings to resurface and the amount of enemies he faces. When Dwight is challenged by a former rival to bake in the gingerbread contest, he thinks it's a good-natured competition, until the rival appears to suffer a heart attack during the judging.

The reason I enjoy cozies is because of the small-town, tight knit friend groups in the stories. While this one was set at Christmas, it felt like the holiday was the enemy rather than a backdrop and it made everything that followed seem less than cozy. I missed a lot of character rapport since Hayley's ne'er-do-well father and her relationship with her mother overshadowed the usual banter and fun I enjoy in these books.

I will eagerly await the next in the series but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with this one just a little bit.

My thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Cozies for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It was enough that Hayley's estranged father Dwight showed up out of thin air but then, then, he's accused of murder and well, she's got to find the real villain. This latest in the series sees a lot of family drama (understandable) mixed into the mystery. Luckily, Hayley's got good friends and her family to help her out. Dwight's a real mixer for sure - will he stick around? The mystery here is nicely twisty but it's the family dynamics are the highlight. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good cozy read.

Another wacky adventure with Hayley Powell, but this time her dad is part of the ride. Hayley's ne'r-do-well father has come to town at the worst time of the year - the same time her mom is there to celebrate Christmas with Hayley and Bruce! Hayley has to play peacemaker between her father and, it seems, most of Bar Harbor especially once he enters himself in the gingerbread house contest and once of the contestants bites the cookie crumbs. With holiday food and drink recipes and columns by Hayley, Death of a Gingerbread Man is a fun, light read to help your holiday season great.

Great addition to the series with all of the great characters we have come to expect from Lee Hollis. Loaded with Christmas touches- it’s a great holiday mystery.

I have to say I just love this series. It always means a laugh and smile, something we all need. This one definitely provided that plus a mystery of course.

It's Christmas season - see the title - and poor Haley is not going to have any peace or quiet has she deals with family and some surprises! No spoilers here.

I love when she does stuff with Mona and that is how we start the story. No offense to Liddy but Mona is fun! They are off on a little adventure and it leads into the story of the holidays.

We have all the usual characters of course with Randy and Sergio, and Bruce. In this story we learn more of Haley's history and Randy's so that made it interesting and fun.

As I said, there is a mystery and it is a good one with some twists and I did not fully guess it until near the end. Fans will enjoy. To those new, I'm sure you can jump in but it's so much fun to know the backstory.

Felt a bit long with a lot going on, but it definitely gives off the Christmas vibes. I liked the twist of who the killer was at the end.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lee Hollis for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Death of a Gingerbread Man coming out September 24, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I didn’t realize there were so many books in the series. I love Christmastime murder mysteries. I thought the recipes throughout the book was interesting. I think I was slightly lost in the mystery. I loved the Christmas activities, but it felt like the mystery took a backseat to other things. But I love cozy mysteries. I would definitely check out more books by this author.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Christmastime cozy mysteries!