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A review by tessa_talks_books
The Solace of Bay Leaves by Leslie Budewitz
4.0
The Solace of the Bay Leaves is a cozy mystery with a modern feel that gently pushes against the genre's conventions.
What I Liked
The main character, Pepper Reece, is the mistress of Spice and runs The Seattle Spice Shop is Seattle's famous Pike Place. She dropped out of college, divorced her husband, and lost her dream job in the HR Department at a local law firm. But she bounced back, and that's what makes her so relatable and an enjoyable character to follow through mystery after mystery. She didn't let all the bad things get her down. Instead, she rebounds every time and ends up in a situation that is bigger and better. She now owns the spice store and enjoys spending her free time with her boyfriend and her dog, Arf. She also has a knack for solving mysteries.
I enjoyed the two different mysteries that only Pepper can solve. One is related directly to her spice store – it seems that another chef stole the unique spice blend that Pepper made for a loyal customer, and that customer wants to know how that happened. Then, there is a bigger, more serious mystery of who shot Pepper's childhood friend, Maddie. The two mysteries are not related, but one stays within the setting's bounds, and one goes beyond. The one that goes beyond gently pushes at the conventions that make up the cozy mystery genre, and I enjoyed that very much.
I also appreciated that even though it seems very cutesy that someone named Pepper owns a spice shop, the story is not cutesy at all. It falls somewhere in between a cozy and a hard-boiled mystery in that regard. It's a coincidence that her nickname is related to her career.
The story has a subtle theme of immigration and the American Dream running through the plot in an intricately layered and natural way to the tale. Never preachy, it sheds a modest light on the issue in day to day life.
To Read or Not to Read
If you would like to try a more modern approach to the cozy mystery, then The Solace of Bay Leaves is a book you will be happy you picked up.
What I Liked
The main character, Pepper Reece, is the mistress of Spice and runs The Seattle Spice Shop is Seattle's famous Pike Place. She dropped out of college, divorced her husband, and lost her dream job in the HR Department at a local law firm. But she bounced back, and that's what makes her so relatable and an enjoyable character to follow through mystery after mystery. She didn't let all the bad things get her down. Instead, she rebounds every time and ends up in a situation that is bigger and better. She now owns the spice store and enjoys spending her free time with her boyfriend and her dog, Arf. She also has a knack for solving mysteries.
I enjoyed the two different mysteries that only Pepper can solve. One is related directly to her spice store – it seems that another chef stole the unique spice blend that Pepper made for a loyal customer, and that customer wants to know how that happened. Then, there is a bigger, more serious mystery of who shot Pepper's childhood friend, Maddie. The two mysteries are not related, but one stays within the setting's bounds, and one goes beyond. The one that goes beyond gently pushes at the conventions that make up the cozy mystery genre, and I enjoyed that very much.
I also appreciated that even though it seems very cutesy that someone named Pepper owns a spice shop, the story is not cutesy at all. It falls somewhere in between a cozy and a hard-boiled mystery in that regard. It's a coincidence that her nickname is related to her career.
The story has a subtle theme of immigration and the American Dream running through the plot in an intricately layered and natural way to the tale. Never preachy, it sheds a modest light on the issue in day to day life.
To Read or Not to Read
If you would like to try a more modern approach to the cozy mystery, then The Solace of Bay Leaves is a book you will be happy you picked up.