Cooking the Books: A Sloane Templeton Mystery by Bonnie S. Calhoun

After her mother dies from a heart attack, Sloane Templeton goes from Cyber Crimes Unit to bookstore owner before she can blink. She also "inherits" a half-batty store manager; a strange bunch of little old people from the neighborhood who meet at the store once a week, but never read books, called the Granny Oakleys Book Club; and Aunt Verline, who fancies herself an Iron Chef when in reality you need a cast iron stomach to partake of her culinary disasters. And with a group like this you should never ask, “What else can go wrong?”

A lot! Sloane begins to receive cyber threats. While Sloane uses her computer forensic skills to uncover the source of the threats, it is discovered someone is out to kill her. Can her life get more crazy?

My Review:
What a fun read! The protagonist, quirky Sloane Templeton, who just inherited her mom's bookstore, has a snappy answer for everything. I love the dialogue! Unfortunately, Sloane makes bad decisions when choosing men. With one divorce under her belt, she next aligns herself with an abuser. Leaving him, she connects with Dr. Andreas Comino, a perfect guy, but her mother did not like him.

The novel contains: an elderly book club group who never read, but do take their guns to a shooting range; real estate agents harassing Sloane to sell; two doctors vying for a rare book; email death threats; and a foul smelling UPS package containing a dead rat.

This is a fast paced novel that had me smiling and gasping as I read.

I'm looking forward to the next installment of Sloane Templeton. I hope she sees more of the Denzel Washington clone, Detective Griffen Justice who has "a voice as smooth as Godiva chocolate."

Thank you to Bonnie at Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and Abingdon Press for my copy.

If you would like to read the first chapter, click here.

If you would like to buy a copy, click here.