Ellery Adams - Peach Pies and Alibis

The second book in the Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery series, published March 5, 2013.
Genre: paranormal cozy mystery
Cover: I love it, it is gorgeous. I want to pet Chewy and eat some pies!



Ellery Adams serves up a mystery that's a real peach...

Ella Mae LeFaye's Charmed Pie Shoppe is wildly popular in Havenwood, Georgia - which is not surprising since Ella Mae can lace her baked goods with enchantments. The shop's extraordinary success seems destined to continue when Ella Mae meets an engaged couple who hire her to handle the dessert buffet at their wedding.
But Ella Mae has a lot on her plate. She is also searching for the origin of her magical powers - and hoping to determine if the spark of attraction she feels for the handsome Hugh Dylan is authentic or just her new abilities gone awry.
Then Ella Mae discovers a high-standing member of the community dead, and a wedding guest becomes seriously ill at the event she's catering. Now she'll have to use all her sleuthing skills and culinary talents to prove her pies don't contain a killer ingredient . . .


When I finished the book, I posted this on Facebook:
I just finished Peach Pies and Alibis, a paranormal cozy mystery, by Ellery Adams and it is absolutely totally amazing. Awesome. I am in awe of her creativity. She has absolutely become my favourite cozy author now, and I wish she had a backlist of dozens of books for me to devour.

Doesn’t this say it all? Do I still need to write a review? Yes? Okay.

Ella Mae LeFaye has been back home in Havenwood, Georgia, for a few months now. Her pie shop / lunchroom / tearoom is going extremely well, and she needs to hire another employee. She is even thinking about doing some catering and delivering. But for that, she needs to buy a car. For now, she is managing everything on her bike, even buying all the fresh products for her creations.
Ella Mae really enjoys her new life, when as a teen she could not leave fast enough to go to the big city. But discovering her husband cheating on her put an end to her marriage of 7 years. So why doesn’t he want to give her a divorce? Ella Mae needs to find out her true feelings for her husband Sloan, before she can fall for her childhood love, Hugh Dylan.
Ella Mae enjoys living in her mother’s guesthouse with her little dog Chewy, running her own business, which is really a dream come true, and discovering more about her new powers, and her family. Still, her mother and aunts are forbidden to tell her anything, she will have to find it out on her own, and she cannot talk about it amongst strangers either.

Finding a car is the first step of business for Ella Mae, and luckily for her, there is an ad in the morning paper about a former mail van, which is totally what she is looking for. When she calls about the van, and is invited to come over for a test drive, she discovers a great new cheese making business. This will be just what she needs for her pie shop, as she loves working with fresh and local products. A young couple is tasting cheese for their wedding buffet and are delighted to meet Ella Mae and talk about her doing the dessert buffet part. Which is really interesting for Ella Mae, but she needs a new employee for that, so she has more time to bake. And as it so happens, they have a friend who needs a job. Ella Mae likes the young woman, and asks her to drop by the pie shop soon so they can talk it over. So, in one morning, it seems like all her urgent problems are solved. The van is just what she is looking for. The Sherman’s will deliver it to her pie shop the next day, along with a bath of their cheeses so she can taste them and decide if she will use their products. A win-win for every one.

Then her aunt Dee asks her to come with her to her old friend Melissa Carlisle to deliver her sculpture. Melissa is a beekeeper, and Dee thinks that Ella Mae might like to buy her honey to use in the pie shop. Ella Mae accepts, but when they arrive at Melissa’s house, they find her dead. While waiting for the paramedics and police to show up, Ella Mae is totally distracted by a beautiful rainbow, and she has this unshakable compulsion to follow it. And when she finds the starting point of the rainbow, she …..


Okay, I am not going to spoil anything. Just read the book for yourself and enjoy the journey. I think the book is getting more paranormal than usual in a series, but as I love most things paranormal, I do not mind at all. I enjoyed reading about Ella Mae and her new life, I really like her. She works hard, and spends some time with her cute little dog, who is in doggie day care when she works, playing with other dogs. I like that too, better for a dog than staying home alone for so much time. And the fact that the day care is run by her crush Hugh (whom is also one of the volunteer fire men!) is giving her some chances to meet him.
She also makes a great new friend, which was something that was missing in her life, girl talk! The relationship with her mother keeps improving, and I sure like Reba a lot. Still not really an idea what she is, but she is a great character with a taste for men and licorice.

Ellery Adams is a great author; she blends the cozy parts, the mystery parts, the gentle romance and the magic into one delicious book. I love her writing style, her very realistic characters, and the descriptions of everything. I wish I could live in that village and meet all the people there.

If you like your cozy mysteries with a paranormal twist, you need to read this series. And it has some great mouth-watering recipes in the back as well.

11 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian