Breaking the Mould

AudioBook Review: Stars: Overall 4 Narration 4 Story 4 The second that I’ve read in this series – it’s set in a small town in Northern Michigan, in one of the islands overlooking the Canadian border. Jaymie has built a successful café that specializes in vintage recipes with a twist, and her décor and much of the items for sale are also vintage kitchenware. Fitting nicely into the town, Jaymie is now gearing up for the Dickens Days celebrations, during the run-up to Christmas. With plenty of clever characters, the puns run amok in this when the town scrooge, Evan Nezer is found dead, his head bashed with a vintage pudding mould covering his head. Of course, Jaymie is a suspect as he was found in her diorama by her cider stand, with a vintage kitchen gadget making it seem as if only she could have done it. But, with her reputation for solving rather than perpetrating the crimes in Queensville and the Dickens Days celebration put on hold until the perpetrator is found, she puts aside her plans for a cookbook, juggles her marriage and stepdaughter and steps into the fray. Loaded with red herrings, plenty of puns and lots of characters that live in town, many of whom have connections to Jaymie and Evan, with few having reason to actually feel badly for Evan’s death, the potential for culprits is vast, or is it? Cleverly plotted, with plenty of input from Jaymie and her relationships with friends and family as he the story unfolds is lovely, and while those unfamiliar with this series may find this a bit difficult to pick up at first due to all the characters, it’s still a very solid story with a wonderful surprise culprit bringing the story to a climax and allowing the Dickens Days to commence with plenty of Christmas-style revelry and fun to be had. The frequent references to Dickens-like characters, puns and clever depictions allow the place and scene to come alive and while there aren’t quite as many scenes set in Jaymie’s shop, there are enough references and moments to keep that ‘vintage’ feel. Narration for this story is provided by new to me narrator Emily Woo Zeller, and her ability to voice Jaymie and the multitude of characters we encounter was splendid. Moments where the story and the puzzle of the murder become primary are allowed to take their place, while the offhanded moments of ‘comment’ to a character’s personality or the description of a scene all had their place. It was easy to follow along as the plot unfolded, and while the culprit was ultimately revealed, her tone and presentation didn’t give the story away. A lovely introduction to a narrator I will be eager to listen to again. I received an AudioBook copy of the title from Tantor Audio for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.