The Chocolate Book Bandit

August 12, 2013
Lee Woodyard, the business manager of TenHuis Chocolade, her aunt’s sweet shop in Warner Pier, Mich., has an important choice to make in Carl’s appealing 13th chocoholic mystery (after 2012’s The Chocolate Moose Motive). Does she join the library board or the chamber of commerce’s tourism committee? She’s too busy to take on two new jobs. Before committing herself, Lee decides to attend the library board’s next meeting, the first for the library’s handsome new director, Henry “Butch” Cassidy. At the meeting, just as Butch raises the issue of Sunday hours, a scream from another part of the building interrupts the proceedings. Library clerk Betty Blake has just discovered the body of retiring board member Abigail Montgomery at the bottom of the basement stairs. Everyone on the committee becomes a suspect in Abigail’s murder, as does Lee. Realistic characters, an engaging plot, and lots of local color distinguish this superior cozy. Agent: Maureen Walters, Curtis Brown.

September 15, 2013
Who knew serving on a library board could be so dangerous? When Lee McKinney Woodyard is asked to serve on the Warner Pier Library board, she attends a meeting to see if the task fits her already busy lifestyle, which includes running TenHuis Chocolade. The meeting is uneventful until library clerk Betty Blake discovers the body of board member Abigail Montgomery dead at the bottom of the basement steps. Although Abigail's death looks like an accident, further investigation shows that the murder weapon was a wooden rod Lee finds on the floor. It soon becomes obvious that several members of the board have something to hide. Lee, whose uncle by marriage is the police chief, realizes that she can get access to insider information by becoming a board member. Lee's life is already in turmoil because she suspects her husband, Joe, a lawyer, is far too interested in his recently returned high school sweetheart, while Lee finds herself attracted to hunky Butch Cassidy, the newly hired library director. When Betty Blake is also found dead at the library, Lee continues to investigate her fellow board members. Even the bossy retired English teacher whose family donated the library building comes under suspicion. An attempt on Lee's life only makes her more determined to reveal the killer. The latest installment in Lee's chocolate-themed series (The Chocolate Moose Motive, 2012, etc.) includes lots of suspects, red herrings and chocolate trivia.

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