Chai Another Day

Nothing sounds my peaceful than going to a yoga class and then to a massage, and Pepper Reece is looking forward to both of those events. In Chai Another Day by Leslie Budewitz, Pepper's tranquil massage is interrupted by a medical emergency.

As her friend and massage therapist Seetha rushes downstairs to help, Pepper struggles into her clothes and goes downstairs to her other friend Aimee's vintage decor shop. There she finds Seetha covered in blood, Aimee looking like she is going to faint and someone surrounded by emergency medical technicians. The victim turns out to be Aimee's employee, Joelle, and she has been stabbed to death. 

Shocked and frightened for her friends, Pepper tries to soothe Seetha's anxiety. After the three have been questioned by the police, Pepper helps Seetha gather her things and head to another friend's house. 

As Pepper recalls events, she remembers catching snatches of what sounded like an

argument before she went to Seetha's office. Could she have overheard the murder arguing with Joelle? Could she have interceded and stopped the crime?

At her Pike Place Market Spice Shop, Pepper is planning her fall and winter lineup even though Seattle is experiencing very hot weather. She'd like to add chai to her teas, but wants to make an authentic brew similar to the one Seetha's mother sends her from Boston. 

When Pepper's main suspect winds up murdered, she realizes she has been looking in the wrong direction.

I love these books and every time I read them, I start to plan a trip back to Seattle. This time I mean it. We are going next year. 

Thyme for All Seasons

As MapYourMystery.com turns one in February, I thought I would review the author I began the blog with - Leslie Budewitz. Thank you to all the readers authors and publishers who have made this possible. Keep reading!

When a long lost family friend turns up with a different name and pretends she does not know you, Pepper wonders what she is hiding. In Killing Thyme, Pepper and her mother Lena are browsing through the Pike Place Market when they catch sigh of a new potter who turns out to be an old friend who disappeared years ago.

Later in the day, Pepper sees her mother and the potter arguing in the street. Although she cannot hear them, she can tell they are having angry words. When the potter winds up dead in her apartment the next day, Pepper is worried her mother might be a suspect.

Pepper remembers those days long ago when the family home was more of a cooperative household and so many people came and went. But why doesn't her mother want to talk about the past? Who is Peggy Manning or Bonnie Clay as she is known now? How is she connected to the disruption of Pepper's childhood home and the long ago death of two of the co-op members?

Meanwhile in the Seattle Spice Shop, Pepper and her crew have developed a bridal registry and have to deal with bridezillas along with all the other activities surrounding the shop.  And if you've always wanted to know what Pepper's real name is, you will find out in this book. Gotta love those hippie parents!

Read the first review of Leslie's Food Lovers Mystery series here. For more books by Leslie Budewitz, click here

Piper vs Pepper - Dueling Spice Shop Mysteries

Two mystery series use the spice shop as their locales. Leslie Budewitz's Pepper Reece books take place in Seattle and Gail Oust's Piper Prescott books take place in Brandywine Creek, Georgia.

First Pepper Reece in Guilty as Cinnamon. These books take place in Seattle's famous Pike Place Market where the Spice Shop is located. If you have been to Seattle and have visited the Pike Place Market, these books will enable you to mentally revisit the area. Budewitz gives much emphasis to Place. You can almost see the fish sellers entertaining customers by tossing fish around and smell the air redolent with a mix of spices and flowers. The Pike Place Market is all that and more. That may be why I enjoyed this series better than the other one.

Pepper is newly divorced but not rid of her ex-husband, Tag Buhner, a bicycle cop whose beat is the Pike Place Market. When one of Pepper's clients, young chef Tamara Langston is found dead in her soon-to-open restaurant Tamarack, the death looks accidental at first. When the cause of death is determined to be from ingesting too much of the fiery hot ghost chili carried in Pepper's shop, the death becomes a murder investigation.

Pepper wonders why an up-and-coming chef would open her restaurant in a space that is supposed to

be "haunted" and adjacent to an Indian restaurant called Tamarind. Who wanted to keep Tamara's new cafe from opening? Is it her current boss and mercurial chef Alex? Or is there something in Tamara's past that led to her death.

Guilty as Cinnamon effectively weaves tidbits of spice facts into the mystery surrounding the death. One thing you will learn is not to eat or handle too much of the ghost pepper!

The first book in the series is called Assault and Pepper.

Second series features Piper Prescott in Cinnamon Toasted.

The books take place in Brandywine Creek, Georgia, where Piper returns after being dumped by her husband in New York. Piper's ex-mother-in-law Melly may be a Southern Belle, but she also seems to be a computer whiz. She modifies a software program used in inventory control at Piper's shop and soon the original software company is interested in the modification.

The two owners of the company, "Trusty" Rusty Tulley and Chip Balboa arrive to discuss a deal. Everyone is excited, especially Melly as she dreams of software millions and maybe a potential romantic suitor. Chip comes to call on Melly, but the next day he is found dead in the basement of Melly's home. Why did Melly wait so long to call the police?

I enjoyed this series as well, and as in the other Spice Shop mysteries, you will learn interesting factors about spices and will want to incorporate them into your cooking. There's a little too much ex-husband in these books for my liking.

The first book in the series is Rosemary and Crime.