Asking for Truffle

Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Dorothy St. James

Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu

When Charity Penn receives a letter saying she won a trip to Camellia Beach, South Carolina, complete with free cooking lessons at the town's seaside chocolate shop, The Chocolate Box, she's immediately skeptical. She never entered any contest.

Her former prep school friend offers to look into the phony prize - only to end up drowned in a vat of chocolate. Struck with guilt, Penn heads to the southern beach town to investigate why he was killed.

But as wary as she is of the locals, she finds herself lured into their eccentric vibe, letting her defenses melt away and even learning the art of crafting delicious chocolates. That is, until delight turns bittersweet as she steps straight into the midst of a deadly plot to destroy the seaside town.

Now, only Penn's quick thinking and a mysterious cask of rare chocolate can save the town she's learning to love.

©2017 Dorothy McFalls (P)2018 Tantor

Twists and turns, but WOW!

I’m usually pretty good at solving the who done its before the end. This is my second Dorthy mystery so had a little more on-site. I had it down to three and was wrong on one, but it was not without some doubts! It would be nice to have Penn’s familial mystery solved! Excellent writing and storyline. While the narrator may not have been the best (often difficult to tell whether male or female or even which character was speaking at times), she did an admirable job of interpreting the story.

The stiry

so sorry but the narrator made it difficult to like her speaking but the story itself kept me listening

Main character is depressing

if not for a good plot line, and a good narrator, I would have stopped listening. Penn was very whiny and negative. About three quarters through the story, her attitude did start to improve, thank goodness. I understand establishing a history and backstory, but it nearly overtook the entire plot.

I'm not sure

This story is actually good. However, there were some annoying aspects of the story that really irritated me.
1. Penn is an annoying character. She is constantly complaining about the circumstances of her life. I get that her grandmother is mean to her, but she's 35. She needs to put her big girl panties on an make a life for herself.
2. Penn is constantly complaining about someone trying to use her for her money.
3. The pacing is incredibly slow because Dorothy St. James keeps repeating things over and over again.
Although the story is a bit predictable, the plot is interesting. I'm not sure if I will get the next book. I skipped ahead several times to get pass the slow moving story and the pity party of one.

Ok

Too long and drawn out for me. I also didn't like how the main character didn't seem to particularly like the dog or cat in the book.