In Premeditated Peppermint by Amanda Flower, Bailey King has gotten settled in at Swissman Sweets with her Amish grandmother in Harvest, Ohio. Then one day she gets alarmed when Eric Sharp, her ex-boyfriend whose relationship with Bailey caused a major scandal in the food world earlier, walks in to the family candy shop. Eric now has his own cooking television show and has decided that the perfect Christmas special would be to feature an Amish village and show him rekindling his relationship with Bailey.
Refusing to participate in such a plot, Bailey finally agrees to meet the next morning with the executive producer, Rocky Rivers, to discuss appearing in the show without any romantic themes. But when Bailey shows up to see Rocky, she finds Eric bending over the body of Rocky with a string of lights wound tightly around her neck. Believing that Eric is too focused on his career to have murdered his producer, Bailey decides to help him as she participates in the Harvest Christmas Market, for which Swissman Sweets has been busily making all sorts of peppermint candies. Happily for Bailey, she gets surprised by the arrival of her best friend, Cass, who has arrived to help her cope with Eric but who now eagerly jumps into the investigation.
Premeditated Peppermint is a delightful book with a great mystery and a lot of fun characters. The mystery plot kept me changing my guess as to the identity of the murderer. The creativity of the plot kept me fascinated throughout the whole book.
The characters in this book and details of the local community get shown vividly and are the particular draw of this book. Bailey has many adventures that show her human side. The potential love triangle among Bailey, Eric, and Deputy Aiden Brody has interest, and we find ourselves rooting for Aiden to succeed. Cass is a fun, vivacious character, as are even Jethro, the pet pig, and Melchior, a camel in the nativity scene. Further, we get a good feel for the Amish community, both the good and the bad.
Rebecca Mitchell narrates the audio edition of Premeditated Peppermint and gives an effective performance. With good accents for the Amish, the New Yorkers, and Bailey, the audiobook makes each seem real. As the first person narrator of Bailey, Mitchell makes the book an extra delight to listen to.
I highly enjoyed listening to Premeditated Peppermint. I have never been disappointed by anything by Amanda Flower, and this book is no exception. I appreciated it greatly and give the book five stars.
To purchase this book for yourself, click here on Amazon.
