FINAL SENTENCE

&

INHERIT THE WORD

by Daryl Wood Gerber

FINAL SENTENCE

In need of a change, Jenna Hart leaves the high-pressure world of advertising to help her aunt Vera open a culinary bookshop and café. Back with her family in Crystal Cove, California, Jenna seems to have all the right ingredients for a fresh start--until someone adds a dash of murder.
 
As a marketing expert, Jenna wants to make sure the grand opening of the Cookbook Nook draws a crowd, and no one is better at getting attention than her old college roommate, celebrity chef Desiree Divine. But when Desiree arrives in quiet Crystal Cove to do a cookbook signing, the diva stirs up more trouble than business...especially when she turns up dead.
 
Known for stealing husbands and burning bridges, Desiree left behind plenty of suspects--including Jenna. Though the celebrity's life always appeared to be an open book, Jenna will have to read between the lines in order to clear her name, and catch a killer before another body is served cold.

  

FINAL SENTENCE is the first book in the Cookbook Nook Mystery series. It is also the first book I’ve read by Daryl Wood Gerber and I knew it wouldn't 
be the last!

I knew from page one that I was going to enjoy this book because I instantly fell in love with protagonist Jenna Hart and her Aunt Vera. I loved the surroundings of The Cookbook Nook, Jenna and Vera’s store, and the attached café. I could envision myself spending many hours lost there, just as I became wonderfully lost in the book. Indeed, I enjoyed my visit to Crystal Cove so much that I was disappointed when I closed the book and found myself back in my own town.

The mystery of who killed celebrity chef Desiree Divine was well written and I was left with plenty of suspects to throw me off the trail of the real killer.  And no, I didn’t guess who did it.

If you like mysteries with cozy settings, memorable characters, and surprise endings, this is a must have book for you. And you’ll also be delighted with the fantastic recipes included. I sure was!

INHERIT THE WORD

The Cookbook Nook is set to host the town's upcoming Grill Fest, a tasty tradition which pits local amateur chefs against one another to concoct the most delicious dishes. This year's challenge: grilled cheese. But with competing chefs bearing grudges from past years, more mouths are running off than savoring the fare.
 
The expression "too many cooks" proves all too true when the eight-time champ is found murdered in the alley behind the café. Soon a local diner owner (and Jenna's "second mother") is suspected of bumping off the competition, and Jenna has to douse the flames before the wrong person gets burned...

I enjoyed the first book in this series, FINAL SENTENCE so much, I just knew I was going to love INHERIT THE WORD, and I sure did!

It was great to be back in Crystal Cover with Jenna Hart, her Aunt Vera, and the rest of the great cast of characters. The Cookbook Nook is hosting the town’s Grill Fest with the challenge being grilled cheese sandwiches (I stayed hungry through the entire book). On the first day of the challenge the eight-time champ is found dead. As with her first book in the series, Ms. Gerber had plenty of suspects, but the investigation seems to be centered on Jenna’s second mother Lola.

There are many twists and turns throughout the entire book. I keep going back and forth on who I thought the killer was. I was completely surprised when reading the reveal!

If you read FINAL SENTENCE and liked it, you’re going to love INHERIT THE WORD. You don’t have read the first book to be able follow this one, but I would recommend it since 

they are both so wonderful.

To sum it up, this is a fantastic mystery, set in a beautiful location full of characters you’ll love. And there are awesome 

recipes included!

Read both FINAL SENTENCE and INHERIT THE WORD now and get

 yourself ready for STIRRING THE PLOT coming in September!