What I’m Reading: All you need is Fudge by Nancy Coco

I finished reading Hollywood Prisoner a few days ago and now what I’m reading is All You Need is Fudge by Nancy Coco.

Disclosure: if you click on the Amazon link for All You Need is Fudge, or other books mentioned, and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission for the referral.

I discovered the Candy Coated Mysteries about 3 years ago and have read all of them, including one ill-advised short story All I want for Christmas is Fudge. Many reviewers, including myself, pre-purchased the book not realizing it was a short and that it was written from a different point of view. It’s kind of hard to find, because the publisher decided to remove the link from Nancy Coco’s name, probably due to the unhappy reviews.

To give a little background, Allie has inherited the McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop located on a quaint island that doesn’t allow cars except for emergency vehicles. People get around on foot, bike, or horse-drawn carriage. Most of the buildings are Victorian and there are lots of fudge shops there. There is ferry service from the mainland and the locals call the tourists “fudgies”. It sounds like a cute setting, but imagine my surprise when I Googled it and found out Mackinac Island is a real place in Michigan in Lake Huron. Check out the Mackinac Island Tourism web page for more information.

The Candy Coated Mysteries are cozy mysteries, and if you aren’t familiar with the genre, think of the old TV show Murder, She Wrote. Cozy mysteries usually involve a female amateur sleuth who is always stumbling over bodies and then solves the crime. They usually have an element of humor plus a romantic interest who is often in law enforcement.

I’m about halfway through All You Need Is Fudge, and this time the dead body Allie stumbles across is floating in the lake and is the first female victim she’s come across. The main suspect is Paige, the sister of Allie’s boyfriend, Trent. And no, he’s not in law enforcement. He runs a horse stable and operates a carriage taxi service. The law enforcement is hunky cop, Rex, who adds the undercurrent of sexual tension.

The other thing about cozy mysteries is they don’t always include bedroom scenes, though it is implied. They also don’t usually have the blood and guts murder scene. The body is there to be discovered, no witnesses, including the readers, to this heinous crime.

The Candy Coated Mysteries really need to be read in order starting from the first novel, All Fudged Up. They’re just not going to be easy to understand if you don’t start at the beginning, they’re not stand alone novels. All the characters are set up in the first novel and have recurring story lines. It’s certainly possible to start with one of the later novels in the series, but after you read it, you’ll want to go back and start from the beginning.

Next on my reading list is Gone Daddy Gone by Cheryl Bradshaw, patiently waiting on my iPad’s Kindle app. If you’d like to keep up with what I’m reading and other blog posts, click the banner below to receive an email when I have a new post up.

All I can say is I wanna be a fudgie! I definitely want to visit Mackinac Island one day, and a big thanks to Nancy Coco for introducing this quaint island to me.