The Chocolate Snowman Murders (A Chocoholic Mystery, #8) by JoAnna Carl

The Chocolate Snowman Murders (A Chocoholic Mystery, #8) Reviews

• 
  Luffy

  Like it happens sometimes, a fair handful of characters were introduced what seems like simultaneously. I inferred from that crowd that one of them was going to be the victim. It was fun right from the start to guess who it would be to die. The fun in this book stayed constantly. I thought Mozelle was the one to bite it. I was wrong. When the true victim appeared in the story, I had my doubts absolved. Here was a revolting chap, ideal and all fattened up - not only literally - for sacrifice.
  
  I was less joyful with the second murder. It seemed pointless. It was pointless. There is no more dangerous than a murderer who's paranoid. It looked like the guilty one had used up all goodwill from fate or whatever, and had run out of safe ground. In retrospect it seemed that the nice person, the second victim was lost forever, but then a superficial character found redemption and was the new nice person in the Warner Pier committee. I'm guessing that touch was intentional, but you never know what is the intent in a fast paced, solid if not brilliant book.
  
  The one constant conclusion with this series is that each book differs from its siblings, although there is a common signature. I was pleased to be able to picture parts of the scenery and the landscape, and that's saying a lot as spatial recognition is not my forte. The tight, no nonsense, and suspenseful prose of the climax caught me unawares. I missed minor appearances like Tracy and Brenda. And aunt Nettie. The latter gave me the impression that she had retired and left the shop to Lee. It seemed that only the committee was present in Warner Pier.
  
  I am surprised that Joe never once became annoying in the series. After all he's, quote unquote, the best catch in West Michigan. Nevertheless he was the state debate team winner and wrestling champ too. Maybe it's because the focus is on his wife, but I think he will always be more of a Mary Sue than a Gary Stu, if that makes sense. He's supposed to be rugged and virile but he's in the background. Having said that, there are more males than females in this story. There are more unpleasant male characters too. Whether I personally find that true in real life is an opinion that stays variable from day to day.
  
  I've now read eight books of Joanna Carl and that's a relatively prolific output. Unless you're a writer and your name is Nora Roberts, or Barbara Cartland, or Danielle Steel, or Agatha Christie. Okay so J Carl is not so prolific but it has been a real treat to read these books of hers over the span of a year. I dread the day when I'll have naught to look forward to except the books of other authors. I've made my peace with reading all of Miss Marple books, and I hope to handle the loss of this series' unblemished presence better. At least it's not outstayed its welcome. Unlike this review, and unlike life, really. My next to go to series would be crucial. Until then let's hope for the best.
• 
  Larry Bassett

  Sexual harassment and murder seem way out of place in a book that has been mostly frippery. But there is a body on page thirty-five. And another on page ninety-five.
  
  When I compare this to the other books I am reading, I wonder what I am doing reading
  The Chocolate Snowman Murders. I must be in desperate need of a break from literature. Am I in no man’s land? Am I the only guy to have ever read this book? Maybe this is my way of exercising my feminine side. Or maybe just resting my brain.
  
  This is the best line in the book. In fact, it may be the only good line.
  

  “’Lee, I’m going to ask you to do something that you’re not going to want to do. Something you’re going to think is immoral, and that I know is illegal.”
  
  I looked at her warily. “You don’t want me to put preservatives in the chocolate, do you?”
  
  “Good heavens, no! I’d never do that.”

  
  
  Now, I want to explain my view of two stars: GRs says “It was OK.” That’s what I mean too. I have just learned about the cozy genre and this book is of that ilk. It may be that a cozy book can get no more than two stars from me. Apparently I have several more on my shelves that I will have to read when I get down off my high brow. Even more in this chocoholic series. And, to tell the truth, chocolate was the attraction.
  
• 
  Linda

  Another good adventure in Warner Pier! I liked the WinterFest setting and the snowmen chocolates seemed so cute. I did find the culprit pretty obvious but since that doesn't happen to me often I did keep questioning my choice. A good Christmas story.
• 
  Dawn

  The small town of Warner Pier, Michigan is preparing for their annual Winter Arts Festival. Lee and her husband Joe are members of the WinterFest committee and this time of the year they are very busy. When the art show’s guest juror shows up drunk, Lee drops him off at a motel only to learn he has been found dead in the motel room the next day.
  Lee becomes an instant suspect when the story of the short ride from the airport to the motel comes out. She refuses to be steamrolled by the local police and works on her own to find out what happened to the man.
  
  I read the first five pages of this book twice. I felt like I couldn’t invest in the narrative at all. When I turned the page and began page five I finally became interested in the story. I feel that even though I hadn’t read the previous books in the series the author gives enough background throughout the book. That said, I still prefer to read the books in any series in order. The plot moves in waves. I prefer a steady pace. The characters are well developed, but again, I will I knew more of the history from previous books. I fluctuated between rating this a 3 or 4. I ultimately went with a 4 because the problems I had with the book were more about personal preference and not the actual writing or plot. I did enjoy the book and it peaked my interest in going back and reading book one. I did enjoy that the setting is in an area I am familiar with and love. The characters are relatable. I recommend giving this book a read.
• 
  audrey

  I hit the snowman with twenty pounds of chocolate.

  
  
  Synopsis: She totally did. Then she had to run screaming through the snow like Jason XI: Jason Freezes His Tail Off.
  
  
  
  When series heroine and chocolate entrepreneur Lee Woodyard agrees to sit on the board of the Warner's Pier, Michigan Winterfest, she's expecting a little bickering with the other board members and hopefully a lot of great publicity for the chocolate shop she runs with her great aunt. What she gets is, say it with me, a dead body. No scratch that, two dead bodies.
  
  She also gets a mercifully plausible reason for being suspected by the police, and a chance to tell the story in her own uniquely mellow and readable voice.
  
  See, I used to be mighty fond of culinary mysteries, and then as the field saturated, I either burned out on them or just read a whole string of them that sucked it, hard, so I don't read as many as I used to. But I'm a sucker for well-written small towns, for a start, and I have a thing about first-person narratives: they have to be really well done for me to go near them. Weird, right? Well, I do very much like Lee's voice. She's strong and capable and snarky and arrogant and sometimes she's just flat-out wrong, which are all characteristics I find myself empathizing with a great deal. Make of this what you will. :)
  
  The scene in the blockquote is probably my favorite from recent cozy-culinary memory, btw. Lee's lured out to the abandoned conference center at dawn and then chased by a homicidal life-sized snowman over hill and dale. The scene is executed flawlessly, and it's only later, during The Big Reveal, that I realized there is no earthly reason for the murderer to have dressed up like a snowman. I sort of still don't care. It was that much fun of a scene.
  
  But a facile voice can't carry a whole book. Facile doesn't mean artistic or compelling, and luckily this book was only a quarter (yes $0.25 and gods bless my crazy Hannafords used book bin) because it's headed right back out there. Notice that the title and quote are one and the same. That's because really, there were no other sentences in the book that made me perk up and take notice, made me stop and just admire the way the author wrote. It was almost as if oh hey, deadline for the next book's coming up, better take a week and crank this out. Soulless, kind of.
  
  Just like a box of chocolates, I'll read one more from this series and then I'll stop, I swear.
• 
  Kris

  My first dip into the world of the Chocoholic Mystery Series, and my first Joanna Carl book. I really enjoyed it - so much that I finished it in one day!
  
  As usual, I grabbed a book that was about halfway through the series, but it didn't really seem to matter. I got an idea of the characters and location pretty quickly. I loved the little history of chocolate notes, and I learned white chocolate isn't really considered chocolate at all. Too bad because I love white chocolate the best! As an added bonus, I even got to knock Michigan off my 50 States list - I didn't know that when I picked the book up.
  
  Was the book perfect? No, but some things were pretty accurate (like how dark it is in Michigan in the winter!), and the small town feel of the book completely over rode anything that seemed a little off. All in all, it was a quick cozy to that helped me take a very small break from school work. Just what I needed right now!
  
  Challenges this book counts towards
  Outdo Yourself
  Cruisin' thru the Cozies
  Support Your Local Library
  Read the 50 States (Michigan)
  
  ~Kris~
• 
  Anastasia

  The Chocolate Snowman Murders by Joanna Carl is the 8th book in the Chocoholic Mystery series. The Warner Pier Winter Arts festival is marred by the murder of the guest art show judge after he was dropped off by Lee at a hotel when he had become drunk and obnoxious. The story was interesting but I found it difficult ti like any of the characters and Lee's speech slip ups become tired after a while. The chocolate facts were interesting although they did little to add to the story. The chocolate descriptions though sounded wonderful and delicious -dangerous if you are watching your weight.
• 
  Kayla

  This is the first cozy mystery I've read and I really enjoyed it. I've only ever read suspenseful mysteries and I'm in love with the cozy ones now. Joanna Carl had me guessing who the murder was until the very last chapter. I didn't expect who it was but once it was revealed it all made sense. I can't wait to read another cozy by Joanna Carl.
• 
  Shannon

  Not my favorite in this series. Having reached book #8, I know I do love most of the characters and everyone, but I have to say this one seemed a little formulaic. We don't really have any of the characters developing, and there's the same two-murders-one-attack-on-Lee plot device as in most of the other books. I'm wondering what happened to Lindy and Dolly and some of the other regular characters that we've had pushed aside in this edition. None of these suspects were even that interesting.
• 
  Vicki Gooding

  An enjoyable read. There was twice she seemed to jump back a page or two after appearing to move on to the nest day which confused that portion of storyline. I loved the "flavor" of the story though, as well as some wonderful historical trivia leaving us "hungry" to learn more. I liked the characters, and am eagerly looking forward to reading more of her books.
• 
  Connie

  There's always some twist at the end that I didn't remember. So I really thought it was the one suspect the whole way through! Dang! Missed it again! LOL
  I love little cozy mysteries! Great job on this one!
  I want to know, did those chocolates she was running with get used?? I would have tried to see if they were sellable, even at a discount. She could give them to me, lol.
  Enjoy!
• 
  Knight

  Good read. I enjoyed it. The author was kind to us and didn't have Lee doing too many stupid things in this one. One incident early on revealed a person to be the murder or co-conspirator, but the incident seemed to be forgotten. But it all came together in the end, in a very inventive way.
• 
  Pat Sawtelle

  Small town life draws in big-time crime but everyone falls for the chocolate. Can you spot the chocolate clue that trips up the killer? Lee and Joe are in the thick of it this time with their marriage in the middle of it. Another great Chocoholic Mystery.
• 
  Mary

  Enjoyable mystery. With Lee and hubby Joe as possible suspects in a murder of an obnoxious man.
• 
  Jessica Walters

  Awesome.
• 
  Lynn

  A Fun Easy Read
• 
  Gale Wilkinson

  I loved this book and this series. The characters work well together. The plot was great and the mystery kept me going to the end.