Banana Split by Josi Kilpack

Review by Heather B. Moore

If you haven't read Josi S. Kilpack's culinary mysteries, you are in for a huge treat!

Sadie Hoffmiller is NOT at it again. In fact, she is taking a much needed break and living in Kauai for a few months to recover from her recent traumatic events. So when Sadie discovers a dead body in the ocean, she interviews with the police, then puts it out of her mind. It's time to focus on her own healing and working through her crippling anxiety. But when a young boy, Charlie, appears at her doorstep asking if she was his dead mother's friend, Sadie slowly starts to change her mInd. It seems that the case has been closed by the police, yet the answers not really found to the cause of Charlie's mom's death.

Author Josi Kilpack does an excellent job with the setting and creating a believable plot. The Sadie Hoffmiller series continues to be one of my favorites.

Devil's Food Cake by Josi S. Kilpack

Review by Heather Moore

Sadie Hoffmiller is at it again! But of course it's not her fault she just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bestselling author, and former resident of Sadie's hometown, Thom Mortenson arrives to give a presentation for the library fundraiser. When Thom's manager is mysteriously shot while getting the microphone ready on the stage, Sadie is right there to uncover all of the clues.

No, she didn't actually see the shot blast because she was savoring--eyes closed--a delicious bite of her very own Devil's Food Cake. But that fact would never deter Sadie's spry involvement.

As the whirlwind night unfolds, Sadie is drawn into a complex web of information, each turn more surprising than the next. But the only caveat is that she must follow the trail of clues without the police, which takes a bit of navigation on Sadie's part.

Sadie Hoffmiller is a delightful character, quirky, funny, and never fails to disappoint. Devil's Food Cake is another Kilpack classic, and like the other books in this culinary mystery series, the "whodunit" comes at a surprise.

If you haven't read any of Kilpack's Sadie Hoffmiller series, you need to catch up! Previous volumes are Lemon Tart, and English Trifle, with Key Lime Pie coming Fall 2010. They are fun to read in order but not entirely necessary!

Visit the author's website HERE.

Lemon Tart by Josi S. Kilpack

Review by Heather Moore

Lemon Tart

by Josi S. Kilpack

Deseret Book, January 2009

A recipe for murder!

5 families living on Peregrine Circle
1 flowered curtain tieback
1 missing child
1 body in the field

Mix with a long list of suspects and top with two very different detectives. Increase heat until only the truth remains.

This cozy mystery is just that--Cozy! Main character and amateur sleuth/busy-body neighbor Sadi Hoffmiller is a delight. At 50-something, Sadie is a single widowed mother who is in a steady relationship once again. She is the rock of her neighborhood and every neighbor has trusted her with keys to their homes. When a tragic murder takes place, Sadie is the first to discover the circumstances. Trouble is, she knows more about each neighbor than the police could possibly discover on their own. Sadie is funny, quirky, and just the person to get her neighborhood back to normal. With a little romance and a lot of yummy baking, you'll have fun trying to guess "who-done-it" until the last couple of chapters. After reading this I baked some peanut butter bars--nothing as fancy as lemon tart or cinnamon-ginger cookies--but now I have a few new recipes to try . . .

Josi Kilpack's Website Here

Her Good Name by Josi S. Kilpack

Her Good Name
by Josi S. Kilpack
Reviewed by Heather Moore

I’m a longtime fan of Josi Kilpack and her books rank among some of my favorite LDS fiction. Her recent suspense novels are just as good as anything written in the national market. Her last book, Sheep’s Clothing won the 2007 Whitney Award for Best Suspense by an LDS writer, and it was well deserved.

So you can imagine the anticipation that I had to read Her Good Name. I was caught up in the story right from the first chapter. Chrissy, a thirty-five year old member of the Church, risks another blind date (in a long line of disastrous relationships). The date with Micah is interesting, but she gets a phone call and has to leave early. Unbeknownst to her, the cashier makes a copy of her debit card and i.d.

Chrissy’s identity is stolen and sold to a professional organization that promptly takes over her credit and bank accounts. Chrissy is faced with the challenge of proving her identity and getting her credit restored.

The book is full of twists and turns that I didn’t expect, and the characters are colorful and lively. I found myself laughing out loud at the interactions between Chrissy and Micah—as Micah tries to help her restore her credit, and works his way into her heart.

At the end of the book are the author’s notes on how to prevent yourself from becoming an identity theft victim.

Sheep's Clothing by Josi Kilpack

Recently I read Sheep's Clothing by Josi Kilpack. The main character, Kate, was someone I could relate to and that's probably why it made the story a little eerie. When her daughter, Jesse, starts to chat online with a child predator, things start escalate.

What parents wouldn't be horrified if they found out their child was being solicited by a 40+ man posing as a 13-year old girl?

The book takes you through 16-year old Jesse's journey of insecurity and how she turns to a friend "Emily" who she meets online. We also catch a glimpse of Kate, Jesse's mother, who is trying to be the "all" for her six children, her husband . . . but essentially falls short when she doesn't pay close enough attention to the changes in her daughter's life.

Of course it can happen to anyone. And it does. So that's why I really appreciated the Author Notes that Kilpack added at the end of her book. They detail resources that parents can use to help prevent internet predators from infiltrating their homes.

I definately think Sheep's Clothing is an excellent book for parents and teenagers to read together. It will open up the line of communication of becoming educated about internet predators.