Book 53, 2020
Two Bites Too Many by Debra H. Goldstein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've used my day off to finish reading Two Bites Too Many by Debra H Goldstein. This is the second part of her "Sarah Blair" mystery series, featuring the title character.
Now that Sarah has been named the legal guardian of RahRah, a Siamese who inherited a fortune, she has settled into the carriage house of the property belonging to RahRah. Sarah still enjoys working for local attorney, Harlan, and she's also busy helping to plan the town's first ever YipYeow event to raise money for the animal shelter. Sarah has to put things aside when her mother, Maybelle, insists she accompany her to the bank, where Maybelle intends to tear a strip off of the bank president, Lance, for denying her other daughter's loan. Emily and her partner, Marcus, want to rebuild their restaurant, Southwind.
Sarah leaves to attend a city council meeting, only to learn shortly thereafter that Lance has been murdered in his office. Her mother is now a primary suspect. Sarah knows Maybelle wouldn't have killed anyone, but when the acting chief of police doesn't seem inclined to look any further than Maybelle, Sarah is determined to clear her mother's name.
On the plus side, the story was engrossing and moved along at a good pace. Characters were fleshed out, even the odious ones, and I always enjoy reading stories that feature cats. On the minus side, I had things figured out rather quickly, although it was interesting to see how it all came together. In addition, the author is turning Sarah into a Mary Sue, something I find quite vexing. Harlan seems to be holding a candle for her, which is wrong on too many levels. Hot-tempered Cliff starts flirting, and even his brother, the polished Thomas, tries to butter Sarah up. Enough already!
Favorite line: In her mind, the best way to keep a kitchen clean was to never turn on the stove.
Good story, if a bit predictable. Four stars.