3 in 1 Review of the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mysteries

I like going back in time on my 

blog to see what I was doing and how I did it. 

From August 18, 2013

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3 in 1 Review of the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mysteries

Another 3 in 1 review. Written by Lee Hollis AKA brother and sister writing team 

Rick Copp & Holly Simason, I really enjoyed the Hayley Powell Food and 

Cocktails Mysteries. The three titles are as follows.

 

Single mom Hayley Powell is barely keeping her leaking roof over 

her head when her boss at the "Island Times" gives her a new assignment---

taking over the paper's food column. Hayley's not sure she has the chops---

she's an office manager, not a writer, even if her friends clamor for her 

mouth-watering potluck dishes. But the extra income is tempting, 

and Hayley's chatty first column is suddenly on everyone's menu---

with one exception.

When rival food writer Karen Appelbaum is found face-down dead in a bowl 

of Hayley's creamy clam chowder, all signs point to Hayley. To clear her

 name, she'll have to enlist some help, including her BFFs, a perpetually

 pregnant lobster woman, and a glamorous real estate agent. As she whips 

up a list of suspects, Hayley discovers a juicy secret about the victim---

and finds herself in a dangerous mix with a cold-blooded killer.

 

 

 

Local food and drink writer Haley Powell thinks she's done solving murders 

in scenic Bar Harbor, Maine. But when a taste of the South comes to New England, 

Haley's following another recipe for disaster... As a single mom, 

Hayley Powell already has a full plate--she's got deadlines to make and 

a teenage daughter with eyes for an aspiring singer-songwriter. 

But when country music superstar Wade Springer rolls into town, 

Hayley spies an irresistible side gig: personal chef to her all-American idol. 

After he tries her home cooking, Wade's so impressed that he hires 

her on the spot--and invites her to dine with him alone.

Hayley and Wade are hitting all the right notes. . .until a body turns up. 

Wade's tour bus was torched overnight and a roadie named Mickey Pritchett 

came out well-done. But the real cause of death isn't barbecue: Mickey was shot, 

his mouth stuffed with one of Hayley's trademark chicken legs. 

An ornery drunk, Mickey had already made plenty of enemies in town, 

but Wade's reputation is on the rocks. Hayley reckons it's up to her to settle

 this mess--a charbroiled mystery with all the fixin's.

 

 

 

Hayley Powell, food and cocktails columnist for Bar Harbor's Island Times, 

is. . .well, kind of broke. So when she's selected for that extreme coupon-clipping 

reality game show coming to town... ...she's thrilled, especially when her 

competition is nasty nurse Candace Culpepper. But when Haley stumbles 

across a face-down-in-the-snow Candace—scissors gleaming between 

her shoulders—she knows the next thing she'll be selected for will 

probably be a police line-up.

Meanwhile, though Hayley's BFF Mona was only joking about 

"taking Candace out," Bruce Linney, the Island Times crime reporter, 

definitely isn't laughing. And what about the smarmy, cold-hearted 

host of the show, Drew Nickerson, who may have been having a steamy 

affair with the intentionally-iced nurse? Hayley needs to cut to the 

chase and find the killer. Everything may hinge on a stray coupon, but 

Hayley better keep her eyes on the real grand prize: 

staying out of permanent cold storage!

 

While the first in this series was my favorite, I enjoyed all three of these books

 and look forward to the fourth in the series, Death of a Chocoholic, 

due to be released January of 2014.

 

Author Lee Hollis (Mr. Copp & Ms. Simason), has created a delightful protagonist 

in Hayley Powell. Her exploits in these three tales had me laughing out loud more 

times then I can count. Hayley is a very real, less than perfect woman, making her 

way in life raising her two children and working her job at the newspaper. I liked the 

situations she finds herself in. Hayley is helped through her adventures by her best 

friends Mona, an always pregnnat lobster boat captain and Liddy, a high class 

real estate agent. Throw into the mix her brother Brain owner of the local bar, 

his partner Sergio the chief of police, Hayley's children, her dog Leroy 

(named for her NCIS TV crush Mark Harmon) Sal the editor of The Island 

Times and Bruce the smarmy crime reporter at the paper---you have a very 

well rounded cast of characters. Add to that, Bar Harbor, Maine as the 

beautiful setting and you have winning combinations.

 

With fast paced plots, interesting twists and solid story lines, this series is 

destined to be a favorite among readers.

 

Recipes lovers, you won't be disappointed. Every book features 

Hayley's column Island Food & Spirits, which includes seven recipes 

from Hayley's kitchen along with cocktails to enjoy while preparing your meal!

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Wow. My reviews sure have changed. 

For one thing, I don't talk about each

and every character. Mmmm . . . 

what do you think?

Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell is back on the case in 

Bar Harbor, Maine when her friend and owner of a gourmet ice 

cream shop finds that her husband may be a cheater and a killer...

Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell doesn’t know what to believe 

when Lydia Partridge, the put-together owner of gourmet Bar Harbor Ice Cream, 

suddenly reveals fears that her husband may be having an affair. 

There’s no other way to explain why Jamie, a respected professor, was 

spotted in a remote part of town with a much younger woman. But instead 

of learning the truth about the secret meeting, Lydia opens her freezer truck 

to find another surprise—the dead body of a summer employee...
 
The shock continues as photographic evidence proves Jamie was spending time 

off campus with the victim, one of his students. Now, Lydia desperately needs 

Hayley to discover if Jamie really is a cheater—and, worse, 

a ruthless killer. With her own complicated family issues to address, can 

Hayley make sense of a popular college girl’s love life and out the true culprit 

before the case, or another person, goes cold?

The Hayley Powell Mysteries 

are still going strong!

DEATH OF AN ICE CREAM SCOOPER

just released July 26!

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

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