A review by undinereads
Murder at the Taffy Shop by Maddie Day

3.0

Murder at the Taffy Shop is the second book in Maddie Day's Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery series. What a fun series! It has all of the elements of a good cozy mystery series.

Our amateur sleuth, Mac, owns a bike shop in the small Cape Cod town where she grew up. Her astrologer mother and pastor father live in town as does her half brother who also works in her bike shop. We also get Mac's unstoppable grandmother and her adorable niece, Cokey.

Mac's boyfriend, Tim, owns a nearby bakery. And her friend, Gin, owns a candy shop. Plus Mac and Gin belong to a book group that reads and discusses a new cozy every week. I love that Maddie Day gives shoutouts to real books and authors.

Instead of a dog or a cat, Mac owns the hilarious Belle, a very chatty and smart parrot.

Mac and Gin walk on the beach every weekday before opening their businesses. Until Gin discovers a dead body near her store. The corpse is Beverly Ruchart, wealthy genealogist, bike enthusiast, and disliker of puppies (I knew she was getting murdered when she complained about Cokey's puppy ruining her expensive landscaping).

Unfortunately, Gin is a suspect so it's up to Mac and the other members of the book group to find the real killer.

Maddie Day's created a charming tourist town and peopled it with interesting, likable characters. I enjoyed that Mac and Tim had real-world relationship issues. I loved Mac's family and look forward to seeing more of them in future books. Especially Mac's spunky grandmother.

The mystery of who the killer was kept me engaged. It's always a letdown when I figure it out long before the ending of the book.

Even if you haven't read the first book, this is a great entry point into the series. Murder at the Taffy Shop is a fast-paced cozy with a determined amateur sleuth supported by a quirky group of secondary characters as they solve a puzzler of a murder.