First Class Killer

In First Class Killer, local girl Stella Jane Clark is back home in Sugar Creek Gap to promote her new book. Bernadette is proud as can be that Stella Jane's book is dedicated to her son Grady, who was Stella Jane's English teacher, and the entire community is excited about the opening of the new bookstore. That's where Stella Jane will hold her book signing.

Only everything doesn't go according to plan. Turns out Stella Jane's book is a whole lot of local gossip thinly disguised as fiction, and a lot of folks aren't happy about that. One of those unhappy folks is Bernie's best friend Iris, who caught her ex-husband in bed with bookstore clerk Piddy Satterly (eating pie straight out of Iris' pie plate, no less). Iris makes a very public display of her anger, and that puts her at the top of the suspect list when Piddy is found dead.

This is a humdinger of a good read! I love Bernie. I think she's my favorite of Ms. Kappes' sleuths, because I can relate to her. I'm middle aged, and my clothes don't always fit right, and sometimes things hurt and I need a good soak in Epsom salts to sort them out. She's a working woman, and while she's working and solving mysteries, she's wrestling with real-life problems to boot.

I also love that we learned more about Gertrude's daughter Revonda Gail. She is a delightful character, and I hope we see more of her in future books.

And this story kept me guessing right up to the end! I thought I'd figured out whodunnit, and then nope! Wrong again. I do love a good, clean mystery that can keep me engaged and trying to solve it all the way through the book, and Ms. Kappes delivers. This book can be read alone, but it's better to start at the beginning and read the entire series. You get all the back story that way.

If you like your mysteries clean and fun and filled with Southern charm, read First Class Killer. And there are recipes at the end - bonus!

Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy of this book from the author. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't like.