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Book Review
Reviewed: 03 February 2024

A Doomful of Sugar

by: Catherine Bruns

Maple Syrup Mysteries - Book 1

  • Rating: full starfull starfull starstar outlinestar outline (3/5)

A different kind of cozy with lots of maple

The Khoury family is a Lebanese and own a maple farm in Vermont where they have a store, cafe and give tours. Leila comes home to bury her father and finds out she has inherited it. I enjoyed the sharing of the Lebanese, along with the bits and pieces of their culture. I liked that the characters were not perfect and had personal challenges different than typically found in cozy stories. 

I did think that Leila protested a little too long and a little too often given her comments as a child about the farm. It felt like there was also one piece left dangling, not material to solving the murders though. 

Leila made some mistakes under duress that I hope in the next book she is smarter about, assuming the next murder is not a family member.

Looking forward to seeing what is next in store for the Khoury family, Heather, Noah, and Emma.

Happy Reading!

Release Date: 25-October-2022
Cozy Mystery, Audiobook, Food Mystery, Female Sleuth

Plot Summary

First in a new cozy mystery series!

There's nothing sweet about murder…

Leila Khoury has always believed that everyone loved her father as much as they loved his artisanal maple syrup. But when he's killed, and she returns to Sugar Ridge, Vermont to take over his business, she starts to realize how much of his life she's left untapped.

With her brother under suspicion, her mother just barely holding it together, and police not producing any leads, Leila will have to investigate herself if she wants answers about her father's sticky end. But the more she learns, the more she worries that there won't be a sappy ending to the story.

A cozy mystery perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke, this edition includes 5 delicious maple recipes for mystery readers with a sweet tooth!