Today I'm happy to join

Berkley Mystery

in celebrating the release of  

EGG SHOOTERS

Book 9 in the Cackleberry Club Mysteries

by Laura Childs

A murder in the local hospital is raising everyone's temperature in the latest book in the New York Times bestselling Cackleberry Club series.

Suzanne Dietz co-owner of the Cackleberry Club Café is visiting her fiancée, Dr. Sam Hazelet when a masked gunman bursts into the emergency room. He shoots two people and would probably have done more damage had Suzanne not brained him with a thermos full of chili. Still, the gunman manages to escape.

Now the ladies of the Cackleberry Club are determined to find the killer before he finds them.

It’s always great to get back to Kindred and the ladies of the Cackleberry Club. Reading a book in this series is like getting back in town and catching up with friends.  

In this ninth installment of the Cackleberry Club Mysteries, author Laura Childs comes out like a shot. I had barely cracked the cover when the action started. What happened was intense and more like stories out today’s headlines than that of a cozy mystery. Also, with any fast paced beginning, a book slows down for a bit. It’s to be expected. However, EGG SHOOTERS didn’t seem to regain its momentum.

The above aside, author Childs, as she always does, has written an intelligent tale, and a hard to guess mystery. She’s brilliant at leading her readers through many wrong turns so convincingly, we fail to notice the little hints along the way that would have lead us to the right answer. As true with her other books, I didn’t know whodunit until the reveal.

While, EGG SHOOTERS wasn’t my favorite book in this series, it was still a good read, and has me looking forward to book 10.

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fund raising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries - set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She's also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn't rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries - a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans' spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries - set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe's undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.

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