Pies and Prejudice: A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery by Ellery Adams

            Here is another book found during the raid of my library’s mystery section.  While there is some magic in it, there is not as much as in other series I have read.  The magic that is included, I am very curious to see how it is used in future books.

                Ella Mae LeFaye was all too eager to escape her hometown of Havenwood, Georgia, especially with the bully Loralyn Gaynor hanging around.  Her escape does not last too long, though, because one day Ella Mae finds her husband cheating with two women in an elevator.  Immediately Ella Mae leaves New York City, where she has been living, and returns home to her mother, aunts, and their friend Reba.  It is these women that encourage Ella Mae to open a pie shop, especially once they find out that Ella Mae has the ability to infuse whatever she is feeling into the pies. 

The problem is the space Ella Mae wants for her pie shop is also being eyed by Loralyn, Ella Mae’s high school bully.  A woman who marries and divorces men for their money, Loralyn has convinced her newest fiancé to buy the storefront for her as a present, so she can open up another nail salon.  When she finds out that Ella Mae has already claimed the space, Loralyn threatens to take Ella Mae, her shop, and her dog down.

Ella Mae can take the other threats, but the one against her dog, Chewy, is the final straw.  She threatens Loralyn’s life.  Or at least she tries to.  Before getting out her threat (in the drive-through of a bank), Loralyn has closed her car window.  Bradford, her fiancé, still has his open, though, so everyone thinks the threat was directed at him.  So, of course, it is Bradford that turns up dead, killed with Ella Mae’s rolling pin.

                With the police perfectly happy to have Ella Mae as the culprit, she has to go about on her own to prove her innocence.  Along the way she befriends Bradford’s son Chandler, and her old high school crush, Hugh.  While getting to know these men and working on the case are good ways to spend time, working the case becomes even more important when a woman is killed in Ella Mae’s pie shop.  Now the police are really ready to accuse Ella Mae of killing people, no matter what she says to the contrary.              

                As I said before, I’m really fascinated to see where the magic Ella Mae has with her pies will take her.  The results so far have definitely been interesting, especially with some people taking off their clothes and declaring their love for someone after eating one of her pies.  The other women in Ella Mae’s life also have magic.  They each have their own specialty and I’m excited to see how it will be used in future books.

                Something I’m not looking forward to is more of Loralyn.  Not only is she nasty, but she also has Hugh wrapped around her little finger.  With her having so much power over Hugh, I don’t know why Ella Mae is still interested in him.  I agree with one of the women in Ella Mae’s life (I’m not sure which one since I kept mixing them up) that Hugh is not the man for her.  Ella Mae doesn’t understand this right now, so I guess only time will tell.