Of Spice and Men

Marley McKinney is the owner of the Flipside Pancake house in Wildwood a small seaside community.
The town is being used as a filming site for a remake of a horror movie. Marley gets invited to see some of the special effects makeup being done by Christine, but when she gets there Christine is found murdered and the main suspect is Alyssa, Marley's boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. Of course Marley has a history of solving mysteries and goes ahead and does some sleuthing, which of course puts her in the killer's eyesight.

It was a nice cozy mystery that moved along very nicely giving enough details on past relationships and places to keep you in the know. Which I appreciated since I had not read the prior two books.

The book was provided to me free from the Publisher for an honest review.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I LOVE the setting. I like hearing numerous descriptions of the ocean and of the pancake house. I like hearing what is being served to people because I like dreaming of these flavors. So this series is becoming a favorite. A haunted house movie being filmed in the fall makes for a fabulous set up. The romance is not over the top. The ex-girlfriend showing up brings expected tropes. It isn't my favorite trope, but I have read worse. Thankfully, we are not dragged into a long drawn out romance issue. It just shows up a couple times and seems to be realistic.
The part that I didn't like and the primary reason for the 3 stars is the murder. The reasoning behind the murder is too exaggerated. Without giving away too many spoilers, it seems like an extreme action to cover a much less bad action.
Overall, I would read this one just to visit the pancake house again even if this mystery isn't my favorite. I will be visiting the pancake house again.