Crêpe Expectations

While Crepe Expectations is the fifth novel in A Pancake House Mystery series, it can be read alone. Marley cannot believe that she is once again wrapped up in a cold case (neither can I). She is loving her life in Wildwood Cove with running the Flip Side, her beautiful Victorian home on the beach, good friends, a friendly feline named Flapjack, and a handsome boyfriend. If Marley could just avoid these pesky bodies that keep turning up. Sarah Fox’s writing style is casual like friends chatting on the front porch. The story proceeded as a relaxed pace with interesting characters, a charming tourist town, and adorable cats and a frisky dog. The little kittens’ antics had me chuckling and Bentley, Brett’s dog, with his happy, welcoming demeanor had me smiling. Marley is busier than a kitten with a ball of yarn in Crepe Expectations with the cold case, judging the competition, running the restaurant, worrying about Chloe, curious if someone from her past has risen from the dead and wondering if someone is sabotaging the contest. I would have liked more complexity to the cold case so it would have been more challenging to solve, and I hope cold cases have run their course for this series (need something different). Crepe Expectations has amiable cozy moments with girl’s movie night, the animal’s antics, shared meals, and romantic interludes. Readers of the series will especially love the ending. There are recipes for Boston cream crepes, marzipan pancakes, and banoffee crepes at the end. Relax back in your lounge chair as you enjoy the lighthearted Crepe Expectations.

Wow. Sarah Fox knows how to take a cold case and turn it into a fast-paced, thrill of a ride. In this book, she brought all the feels and I was left with a major book hangover. I already loved this series but the end made me love it all the more. This series has become one of my must-reads and the author has become one that I automatically lean toward wanting to read. Thank you to NetGalley, Sarah Fox, and Kensington Books for allowing me the chance to read this book and to share my honest thoughts and opinions with others.

This is one of my favorite diner-based cozy series, and Crepe Expectations is the best in the series so far. I love the Pacific Northwest coastal setting, despite the spring rains that flooded the area. It sounds like the perfect place to visit or live with some of the best neighbors anyone would want to have. We have multiple mysteries in this novel, each of which is a challenge to solve. The Flip Side pancake house had belonged to Jimmy, a cousin of Marley McKinney. It was a rousing success when he was murdered. To Marley’s surprise, Jimmy had left her the restaurant, the gorgeous Victorian oceanfront home that he and his late wife had owned, and his orange tabby, Flapjack. Marley had spent summers visiting Jimmy in the past when she was growing up and is now a full-time resident of the town that has welcomed her. Marley has helped the sheriff’s department solve crimes over the past several months, including who had killed Jimmy. The sheriff is “Uncle Ray” to Brett, the landscape designer who was once a teen that Marley had a crush on. They have been dating since she moved to Wildwood Cove and continue to grow more and more in love. This time, Marley tries hard to keep out of the mysteries that appear, but she has questions here and there and…she just seems to find them! Take the events in this novel. Marley goes to a soon-to-open grand Victorian that will be an inn where Brett is putting in flowers and shrubs. As she admires his work, she sees a little black kitten that they try to capture. She found the kitten…and a skull. Yup, a human skull. In the woods neighboring the inn. The investigators find the related skeleton. Sadly, it belongs to Demetra, a young woman last seen on the night of her graduation ten years earlier. One afternoon a man nearly walks into Marley, and she is stunned to see what looks like her father would look like today if he were still alive. She has only seen photos of him as a young man, since he passed away before she was born. Could she have relatives she hadn’t heard of yet or worse, was her father’s death faked for some reason? Marley attends the annual amateur chef cookoff on the Olympic Peninsula. One of the towns on the peninsula sponsors it each year, and it is now Wildwood Cove’s turn. Her expert chef, Ivan, will be a judge at the first of the three rounds of competition. Brett’s sister Chloe is in the competition, and the son of a neighbor is in the teen category. When the second round began, one of the judges was sick. As the final round begins, a chef from each category suddenly becomes ill and can’t compete. Was it sabotage, and if so, why? There are some great clues and a couple red herrings that kept me busy, but I could not figure out who killed Demetra. Her ‘tude would have been a big motive, but it was so long ago. Guessing who the strange man could be was beyond me, but even guessing who might have reason to make amateur chefs sick was hard. The prize money could be a motive, but probably not the reason given the clues. There are some intriguing surprises at the end, and one huge delight! I was very satisfied with the end in every way, and highly recommend this to fans of the author and series, well-written cozy mysteries with a seaside setting, café, and pets. From a thankful heart: I received an e-Arc of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley, and this is my honest review.