Death By Pumpkin Spice by Alex Erickson (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

Friday 56 (share from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice (today 56%) 
& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader

Amazon Description Bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock would rather spend Halloween serving pumpkin goodies than wearing costumes with Pine Hills’ wealthiest at Yarborough mansion, especially when the soiree shapes up to be more trick than treat . . .
 
As if a run-in with an old flame and a failed marriage proposal weren’t enough to horrify Krissy for one night, a woman is found strangled to death in a room filled with ominous jack-o’-lanterns. All signs suggest a crime of passion—but when the hostess’s jewelry disappears, malevolent intentions seem way more likely . . .
 
With the estate on lockdown and a killer roaming the halls, Krissy must help Officer Paul Dalton investigate each nook, cranny, and guest for answers—while also confronting a few demons of her own. Someone has lots of skeletons in the closet, and Krissy better tread lightly to expose them . . .

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Oh Krissy, Krissy, Krissy.

I still can't decide if I adore you or want to swat at you like a gnat ... but I don't seem to be able to stop requesting your stories whenever they pop up on NetGalley.

I flew through the first one, Death by Coffee, and saw some definite promise. I flew through the second one, Death by Tea, as well and wanted to smack you upside the head repeatedly.  The positive sides for that one were that it did fly by quickly and you were called out on your annoyances by other characters at least a couple of times. Somehow by the time Death by Pumpkin Spice takes place most everyone seems to think it's perfectly normal and quite adorable of you to be playing Sherlock (while in a Sherlock Holmes Halloween costume, of course) and, for some reason, I still want to swat at you. 

I really wish that I could pinpoint what it is that I find so irritating. It can't just be the amateur sleuthiness since that's pretty much standard in cozy mysteries and it's one of my favorite genres. Maybe it's the way that you're always putting yourself down over one thing or another just to have anyone within earshot immediately start singing your praises. I know people like that. I don't like people who need constant coddling and you get coddled a lot.

(Thank goodness Buchanan finally made an appearance half way through! He doesn't like you much, either.)

So, dear reader, now that we've covered my little predicament with the main character (who's probably off crying to someone about how horrible she is now that I've been so mean), let's talk a little bit more about the book.

I loved the descriptions of the estate and the party guests. I could picture the spooky decor perfectly and could almost smell the pumpkin treats at the refreshment tables. The mystery, once again, was a little predictable for me but with enough twists to keep it interesting. Now, if we could just replace Krissy with .... hmmmm .... her gay neighbors? One of the nosy old gossipy women? Someone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? 

(sorry ... I got carried away there)

There's a fourth book for the series set to come out in May. Part of me is yelling "run away! run away!" and another part wants to give Krissy one more chance to redeem herself because according to the description already up for it on Goodreads her father will be coming to town and I've been pretty curious about him since the beginning...