A Suspicion Of Strawberries by Lynette Sowell
Mass Market Paperback: 250 pages
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc (2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1597895237
ISBN-13: 978-1597895231
From the backcover:
When Charla Rae Thacker and her bridesmaids show up at Andi’s soap shop in Greenburg, Tennessee, for a morning of pre-wedding pampering, Andi bends over backwards to make it a pleasant experience for them all. But then Charla keels over and dies from anaphylactic shock after she uses Andi’s personally blended cherries jubilee facial scrub. Andi suspects sabotage and murder when she discovers strawberries – a lethal allergen for Charla – in the scrub. Now, Andi must save her business and her reputation.

As if she doesn’t have enough stress in her life, Andi’s long-time boyfriend, Ben Hartley, a long-haul truck driver, decides now is the time to settle down. With him out on the road, it’s been easy for Andi to keep him at arm’s length. What’s a woman to do when she’s tracking down a murderer and expected to help her man pick out his new house plans all at the same time?
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Andi has had a hard time choosing a career path for herself over the years. Now that she’s in her mid-thirties, she’s opened a soap shop that’s barely keeping itself afloat. However, after Charla Rae Thacker dies right after using the specially designed cherries jubilee facial scrub that Andi has created, Andi is worried about the young woman’s sudden death as well as the solvency of her business in this small town. When the police fail to take Andi’s concerns of sabotage to her cherries jubilee facial scrub seriously, she decides to solve the crime herself.

Her long-time boyfriend, Ben, urges her to mind her own business, but he finds himself offering her some assistance as she struggles to solve the crime on her own. However, finding Charla’s murderer is not the only thing on Ben’s mind. He wants to find a job in town, give up his life as a trucker, and buy a house so that he can settle down and ask Andi to be his wife. Andi has cold feet, and she’s unsure of committing herself to her long-term beau.

As the story unfolds, Andi finally convinces the police that there is truth to her allegations. You’ll enjoy this story as you see how this mystery is solved.

~Cecelia Dowdy~