The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle: A Chocoholic Mystery by JoAnna Carl

               The wonderful thing about a series is the writer does not have to spend a lot of time explaining the main characters in each installment.  When the reader picks up the book, if they have been following the series, he or she knows what is being gotten into.  Once the cover is cracked open, it is straight into the story.               

                Aubrey Andrews Armstrong is a movie producer who has newly arrived in Lee’s town.  He walks around with his dog, Monte, and is quite the charmer.  Lee is not fooled.  When Aubrey asks to take out Aunt Nettie, and Nettie agrees, Lee becomes greatly concerned.  She does not understand why Nettie is going out with a man like him.  Lee tries to express her worries about her aunt’s new “relationship”, but those she talks to tell her not to be worried.  There is something going on, and Lee can sense it, but no one will tell her what it is.  Talk about frustrating!

                In the meantime, there is something else strange going on.  Maia, a local writer, has published a book about her family.  While in general this would be a cause for celebration, the result has been an interesting and drastic personality change in Maia.  Despite this, Maia’s life appears to have taken a positive turn.  Positive until Maia’s Uncle Silas is found dead.  Of course, Lee, curious about the truth of the matter, goes about figuring out what is really going on in her town.                

                As much as I enjoy this series, I did get frustrated with everyone not telling Lee what was really going on.  I wanted to jump up and down and scream, “Just tell her, she can handle it!”  At the very least they could have said there is something, but because of various reasons you cannot know the specifics.  Would that have been so hard?  Ah, well.  I still had a good time figuring out the mystery and that is the important part.