REVIEW: The Uninvited Corpse

The Uninvited Corpse
Author: Debra Sennefelder

Hope Early has had a rough time lately. Her career as a magazine editor ended. Then she flopped on a reality baking show in NYC and got a divorce. Now she's back home in Jefferson, CT, trying to put her life back together. Her food blog, Hope at Home, is becoming popular and she's starting to feel a bit better about her life. The Jefferson Garden Club is having a spring garden tour at Audrey Bloom's home. Audrey writes books about gardening and has a new 5-book series coming out on the different growing seasons. The spring tour is a big deal for Audrey, and Hope wants to help her friend make it special. Relationships between some of the garden club members is strained after the town lost its listing in the Top 25 Community Gardens in Connecticut. And local real estate agent Peaches McCoy shows up uninvited. Peaches is unpopular because she's been buying up area farmland and properties for development into subdivisions. She and Audrey are at odds over many local issues including the development projects. But, Peaches' drive and personality have caused many people to dislike her. In fact, someone at the garden tour disliked her enough to kill her. Hope discovers the real estate agent dead in the study after the tour. Who hated the woman enough to bash her head in with a rock? Unfortunately, Hope's sister Claire is the number one suspect. When a second killing casts more suspicion on her sister, Hope jumps in to do some amateur sleuthing. She knows her sister didn't kill anyone, and Hope is determined to discover who did.

This book is a great start to a new cozy mystery series! I enjoyed the story from beginning to end. The ending caught me a bit by surprise. I love it when a cozy doesn't end the way I think it will. The mystery is nicely paced, and had some twists and surprises. I like Hope as a main character. Her friendship with the cute Chief of Police has some hints at upcoming romance. The background theme of blogging is interesting and current. Throw in some quirky, fun side characters and a dog and you've got a great cozy mystery! Plus, there are some yummy recipes included at the back of the book.

The Uninvited Corpse is Debra Sennefelder's debut novel. She will have another book, Murder Wears a Little Black Dress, coming out in January 2019. It's the first novel in the Resale Boutique Mystery series.

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**