Review: Death by Chocolate

Savannah Reid is a full figured PI in California. She owns the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency. Savannah was a police detective but was fired several years back.

She is assisting her friend Detective Dirk Coulter as an undercover decoy to try to catch the ATM thief. The Carmelita Police Department is too cheap to give him a partner. They happen upon a bank robbery.

John Gibson, friend and former CIA agent, gets Savannah job as a bodyguard for Lady Eleanor, the Queen of Chocolate. Savannah is ecstatic. She has watched Lady Eleanor on TV on her show "The Gourmet Network."

Lady Eleanor has gotten death threat letters. She wants Savanna to find out who sent them. Savannah tries to get more security measures in place but Lady Eleanor fights them. She believes someone on her staff or in her family sent the death threats.

Lady Eleanor is a big let down to Savannah. She is rotten, puts down everyone and is nothing like her TV character. Her daughter, Louise, blames her mom for everything. Louise doesn't take good care of her daughter, Gilly. Lady Eleanor loves and treats Gilly well except when she's been drinking. The butleer/Chauffer Sydney and Marie, the housekeeper, treat Gilly great.

When Lady Eleanor dies, Savannah feels she has failed. There is no shortage of suspects. Dirk is the detective on this case. Savannah assists him. Tammy, Savannah's right arm, assists them as well. So do John Gibson and his life partner Ryan Stone.

In the midst of all this, Cordele, Savannah's sister (one of her many) flies in for an unexpected visit. She keeps wanting to "hash out" all the bad things their parents did. Savannah mostly wants to ignore her childhood.

I truly enjoy this series and this newest book was terrific. The relationship between Savannah and Dirk is interesting. I keep wondering if they will ever become more than friends. It always helps that she has friends in law enforcement.

Savannah's relationship with a lot of her family is strained. In most of the books, they are miles away, but this time her sister arrives uninvited. This keeps Savannah's life in constant upheaval.

G. A. McKevett has really made Savannah come to life for me. The descriptions of the other characters are great too. I feel as if I know them all.

I like the California setting. But it is also interesting with Savannah's southern heritage coming out.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Dawn Dowdle

Book Review: Death by Chocolate