Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder by Chris Cavender

I like cozy mysteries, but the most satisfying ones are ones in which the amateur sleuth has a good reason for investigating a murder.  In other words, how many times can the owner of a cookie or candy shop actually have a reason to push their way into an ongoing case?  Chris Cavender's Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder offers a legitimate reason for pizzeria owner Eleanor Swift to take action.

Acting as narrator, Eleanor clues the reader in quickly.  A dead body was found in the kitchen of her pizzeria, A Slice of Delight, with a thin crust pepperoni pizza and a bloody rolling pin.  And, since it was her delivery man who was the primary suspect, Eleanor and her sister, Maddy, had a reason to look for a killer.  If Eleanor can't be stopped when she's the victim of an armed robbery, why would Kevin Hurley, the police chief in Timber Ridge, North Carolina, think she can be stopped in a murder investigation?  This murder hit too close to home for Eleanor to be intimidated.

Once again, readers will find themselves rooting for the two feisty sisters in the sequel to A Slice of Murder.  Cavender gives us a likable cast of characters, humor, a killer that isn't the obvious suspect, and two great leading ladies.  Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder has every element a discriminating cozy mystery reader could want.

The website for this series is www.pizzamysteries.com.

Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder by Chris Cavender. Kensington Books, ©2010.  ISBN 9780758229502 (hardcover), 304p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - The author sent me an ARC, hoping I would review the book.