[Archive] LITERAL ADDICTION's Review of Still Life in Brunswick Stew

Larissa Reinhart loves small town characters with big attitudes, particularly sassy women with a penchant for trouble. Her Cherry Tucker Mystery series, beginning with PORTRAIT OF A DEAD GUY (Henery Press), received a 5/5 Star review from the Examiner.com, is a 2012 Daphne du Maurier finalist, a 2012 The Emily finalist, and a 2011 Dixie Kane Memorial finalist. The second book, STILL LIFE IN BRUNSWICK STEW, arrives in May 2013 followed by HIJACK IN ABSTRACT. A Cherry Tucker prequel will appear in a December 2013 mystery anthology, THE HEARTACHE MOTEL.

After moving around the midwest, the South and Japan, Larissa now lives in Georgia with her husband, daughters, and Biscuit, a Cairn Terrier. When she's not writing about Southern fried chicken, she writes about Asian fried chicken at her blog about life as an ex-expat athttp://theexpatreturneth.blogspot.com. You can find Larissa chatting on Facebook on her author page; on Twitter as RisWrites; and on Goodreads. She loves pinning on her Cherry Tucker and other boards at Pinterest.

Still Life in Brunswick Stew, CHERRY TUCKER, MYSTERY Book #2

by Larissa Reinhart

Synopsis:

Cherry Tucker’s in a stew. Art commissions dried up after her nemesis became president of the County Arts Council. Desperate and broke, Cherry and her friend, Eloise, spend a sultry summer weekend hawking their art at the Sidewinder Annual Brunswick Stew Cook-Off. When a bad case of food poisoning breaks out and Eloise dies, the police brush off her death as accidental. However, Cherry suspects someone spiked the stew and killed her friend. As Cherry calls on cook-off competitors, bitter rivals, and crooked judges, the police get steamed while the killer prepares to cook Cherry’s goose.

Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Michelle L. Olson:

Still Life in Brunswick Stew is the second book in Larissa's Cherry Tucker Mystery Series, and our super lovable Cherry is back and getting into more and more trouble! The poor girl just can't help it.

Like book 1, Still Life in Brunswick Stew is a delightful, light-hearted Southern mystery with lovable characters, fantastic dialogue and a truly fun story; the characters simply come to life on the page, and light up the picture of these quaint Southern towns vividly in the mind's eye.

Beyond the new mystery of book 2, it was fun to enter Cherry's quirky mind and mull over the issues of her current relationship with Deputy Luke, while entertaining paranoia that her simple, stupid, and loyal as a Labrador ex Todd may actually be a genius in disguise, and master manipulator as well, all while acknowledging that she's inherited a disease from her mother - a weakness & stupidity for handsome men.

This installment wasn't quite as fast-paced as the debut novel of the series, but there were enough twists and turns to keep it interesting (especially at the end - I honestly didn't see the final outcome coming!).

My only complaint about the book was that I felt like there wasn't enough emotion displayed with regards to her friend's death. Yes, Cherry was hell-bent on finding Eloise's killer, but I didn't feel like she grieved...

Still Life in Brunswick Stew is still a very good book & I would recommend it and its predecessor Portrait of a Dead Guy. - it's a solid 4 Skull read! :)

Still Life in Brunswick Stew