Kneaded to Death by Winnie Archer

Title: Kneaded to Death
Author: Winnie Archer
Series: #1 in The Bread Shop Mystery series
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Kensington (February 28, 2017)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ☕☕☕

Synopsis: Everyone swears by Yeast of Eden, the Mexican bread shop in town. But tonight, the only thing on the menu is la muerte . . .

Struggling photographer Ivy Culpepper has lots of soul-searching to do since returning to seaside Santa Sofia, California. That is, until the thirty-one-year-old enters a bread making class at Yeast of Eden. Whether it’s the aroma of fresh conchas in the oven, or her instant connection with owner Olaya Dias and her sisters, Ivy just knows the missing ingredients in her life are hidden among the secrets of Olaya’s bakery . . .

But Ivy’s spirits crumble when a missing classmate is suddenly discovered dead in her car, riddled with stab wounds. Even more devastating, the prime suspects are the Dias sisters themselves.

Doubting the women could commit such a crime, Ivy embarks on a murder investigation of her own to prove their innocence and seize the real killer. As she follows a deadly trail of crumbs around town, Ivy must trust her gut like never before—or someone else could be toast!

My Thoughts: I started this book with the expectation of a book with a bakery as the main setting and the protagonist being a baker. I was surprised this was and wasn't true...

The Good and The Bad: Ivy Culpepper, the main protagonist, is a photographer. This, of course, is mentioned in the synopsis. It would have been super clear...had I read the synopsis....which I didn't. Yes this book has a main setting in a bakery but the proprietor is not the protagonist. It's a little different but not terrible. Just a little weird. I am looking forward to seeing Ivy grow within this series. In this book she's consumed with grief and the decisions she makes are all influenced by her mental state. She only really committed the TSTL sin one time...well one glaringly obvious time. So I didn't hate her but I didn't quite get her either. She jumped to conclusion about murder when there didn't seem to be any tangible evidence. At one point someone mentioned she was maneuvering the clues to fit her theory rather than letting the clues lead to a theory...or something like that.

I loved the bread making parts of this book and the owner of said bread bakery so much but the photography details were lost on me. I have no idea what f/5 means in regards to cameras but I can appreciate the art of photography. If there had been more than a few specific camera details that went way over my head than there were I might have found myself irritated a bit. Nothing irritates me more than a whole lot of technical verbiage on a subject I know nothing about because I never wanted to know anything about said subject.

As far as the mystery aspect of this book I enjoyed watching Ivy trying to solve things with the help from her elderly friend, Penelope. Towards the end I was a little lost when things were revealed because I wasn't paying enough attention to the secondary characters within the book. Of course, this book did take me almost a month to finish this book and I've read many other books start to finish while pushing this one aside. For some reason it just didn't hold my attention but I seem to be in the minority with my opinion.


In a Nutshell: I am going to read the next book in this series because I'm interested in seeing what Ivy is like when not grieving. Also, I really liked the bread making process and am wanting to try some of the recipes.