Criminal Confections: A Chocolate Whisperer Mystery by Colette London

Image provided by Kensington Books.

           As is my habit, I always have to start a series at the beginning.  Beginning in the middle is not for me.  That’s why when I received one of the Chocolate Whisperer books as a galley proof, I had to go back and find the first book in the series to see where everything started.  I’m glad I did, because in the first book, Criminal Confections, the main character hasn’t even met an important character in her life that is in the galley I received.  From the first book to the one I received, there is so much story to learn.              

                Hayden Mundy Moore is a chocolate expert.  She travels the world learning about chocolate and uses the knowledge she gains to help chocolate-related businesses.  Sometimes the help is with a single product or line.  Other times she helps with the business as a whole.  Either way, Hayden’s assistance is kept very quiet, because no one wants to admit they need help with what their business is based upon.

                Lemaître Chocolates is Hayden’s most recent client.  It is run by Christian Lemaître, someone who is not exactly the easiest person to deal with.  Christian is someone who likes to shake things up and throw his weight around.  He even had his uncle Bernard removed from the company, despite Bernard being the one to bring the family’s chocolate company to success.

                With such bad behavior, one would probably expect Christian to turn up dead.  Only he doesn’t.  Instead, it is his head chocolatier, Adrienne Dowling, who is killed.  It happens at a chocolate industry retreat, located at Lemaître’s chocolate-themed resort and spa.

                The chocolate line Adrienne was working on involved chocolates with added caffeine.  It is a recipe not going well, but Christian insisted she keep trying.  With the stress of creating the line, and the stress of preparing for the retreat, it’s quite possible Adrienne accidentally put too much caffeine additive into her drink.  Putting too much in, could be exactly what killed her.

                That is one theory.  A theory Hayden is not so sure about.  When someone breaks into her hotel room looking for Adrienne’s notebook, Haden becomes even more certain something else strange is going on.  Far more than an accidental death.

                Then another body turns up, and Bernard’s wife disappears.  Hayden feels after these events it is more important than ever for her to figure out what is going on.  And she must uncover the truth before she is killed herself.

                I will be honest; I am not really fond of Hayden.  My feelings about her went back and forth through the whole book.  She would bother me, then I would be fine with her.  Not long later, she would bother me again, then I would be fine with her.  It made for a very up and down book, as I frequently found Hayden irritating and full of herself.  These are characteristics I hope lessen as the series goes on.

                Two characters I really liked were Danny and Travis.  Danny is Hayden’s friend.  He’s at the retreat as Hayden’s guest, but ends up acting as her bodyguard.  With a questionable past, Danny doesn’t always do things by the rules.  Something that does not sit will with Travis, Hayden’s financial advisor.

                Throughout the entire book, Travis is only seen on the other end of the phone.  It’s they only way Hayden has met him as well.  With the relationship being this way at the start of the series, it will be interesting to how everything develops as the series goes on.  I’m also curious to see how things develop with Danny.  To me, these two men are the interesting characters of this series.

Something I did like about Hayden was all the chocolate facts she knows.  As much as she herself drove me crazy, her chocolate knowledge was fascinating.  I hope these facts continue in the other books, because I am definitely eager to learn more.