MARRIAGE AND MURDER ( Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries 2) by Penny Reid-Review & Excerpt tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 2, 2021
The Devil is in the details . . .
Cletus Byron Winston wishes to marry Jennifer Anne Donner-Sylvester (aka The Banana Cake Queen) posthaste! He’s spent the last year wanting nothing more than for the celebrations to be brief, libations flowing, and BYOB (bring your own blueberries). His future mother-in-law has other plans, plans his intended has been willing to indulge, much to Cletus’s chagrin. Therefore, so must he, to a point. But truth be told, he wouldn’t mind if the meddlesome matriarch disappeared, at least until the nuptials are over.
On the night of Cletus and Jenn’s long-awaited engagement party, just when the surly schemer is of a mind to take matters into his own hands, a shocking event upends everyone’s best laid plans and sends the small hamlet of Green Valley into complete disarray. The final months leading up to Cletus and Jenn’s matrimonial bliss are plagued with chaos and uncertainty. Will Cletus and Jenn finally make it to the altar? Or will murder and mayhem derail their happily-ever-after?
And most importantly, who done it?
‘Marriage and Murder’ is the second book in the cozy mystery series Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries. It is best read after Winston Brothers #3, ‘Beard Science’ (which can be read as a standalone) and Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries #1, ‘Engagement and Espionage.’
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REVIEW: MARRIAGE AND MURDER is the second instalment in Penny Reid’s contemporary, adult SOLVING FOR PIE: CLETUS AND JENN MYSTERIES romantic, suspense series focusing on engaged couple Cletus Winston, and Jenn Donner-Sylvester. MARRIAGE AND MURDER can be read as a stand alone but for back story and cohesion, I recommend reading book one ENGAGEMENT AND ESPIONAGE as the events in book two are as of a direct result from the events in book one. The Solving For Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries is a spin off from the author’s Winston Brothers series. Cletus Winston and Jenn Sylvester’s original story can be found in book three of the Winston Brothers series BEARD SCIENCE.
NOTE: Although the series is categorized as a ‘cozy mystery’-meaning no $ex, violence or swearing on the pages- there is $ex, violence and foul language, so in actuality I would not say, by definition, this is a true cozy mystery series.
SOME BACKSTORY: In book one ENGAGEMENT AND ESPIONAGE Jenn’s father Kip Sylvester scammed a number of people in the small town of Green Valley, and in the wake of these scams left several townsfolk looking for payback and revenge, targeting Jenn, and her mother in the process.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Jenn and Cletus) MARRIAGE AND MURDER follows in the aftermath of Jenn and Cletus’ almost engagement party but gun shots, murder and a missing mother in law-to be finds Cletus and Jenn on the short list of suspects in the wake of secrets and the revelation that Jenn is about to inherit everything and more. As Cletus begins to unravel a series of clues leading to the who, what and how, Jenn’s role as suspect turns victim with potentially deadly consequences. What ensues is the ongoing relationship and romance between Jenn and Cletus, and the fall-out of sins from the past are about to destroy our story line couple.
The relationship between Jenn and Cletus continues to grow as Jenn’s attachment and need for Cletus begins to take on a life of its’ own. The $ex scenes are passionate, seductive and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, energetic and familiar characters including most of Cletus’ siblings and their significant others- Congressman Billy Winston, Drew and Ashley, Jethro and Sienna, Beau and Shelly, Roscoe; Deputy Jackson James; Jenn’s mother Diane Donner, her father Kip Sylvester, and Kip’s lady friend Elena Wilkerson; Jenn’s brother Isaac aka Twilight; Wraith’s MC treasurer Jason aka Repo; and farmer Kenneth Miller. The requisite evil has many faces.
MARRIAGE AND MURDER is a story of betrayal and vengeance; greed and jealousy; love and forever. The premise is intriguing, suspenseful and intense; the romance is captivating; the characters are animated, dynamic and edgy.
Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one ENGAGEMENT AND ESPIONAGE
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
He held out my underwear. His eyes were bright even in shadow, and I could see they were half-lidded as they lazily trailed over me. He looked at me like he was hungry, and I was dinner. Despite all the encore orgasms I’d just had, the effect hit me right between my legs.
I wondered what he was thinking, watching as he licked his bottom lip and drew it into his mouth. Was he just as insatiable for me? And if so, was he okay with that?
Tearing my eyes away, I pulled on the lace and fixed my skirt, telling my body to settle down. We were getting married for hootenanny’s sake!
Cletus cocked his head to the side while I smoothed my hands down the red fabric, working to get a hold of all this raging want always coursing through my veins whenever he was near. Maybe it was because he was my first, and I guess, my only. Was that why I felt so crazed for him all the time?
“Miraculous,” he said.
I surmised he meant the dress. “Right? The wrinkles are hidden, if there are any. It’s ’cause they ruched the outer fabric at the seams, see?” I turned to the side to show him the seam, and he stepped forward as though he were going to investigate.
Instead, his hands cupped my face and tilted my chin back. He stared at me with a vibrant intensity I felt all the way to my fingertips. “No, Jenn. Not the dress. You.” Cletus gave me a soft kiss, ending it by gently nipping my bottom lip. “You are my miracle.”
I sighed. And I smiled. And I felt like I was walking on a cloud instead of in four-inch heels, which was also probably something of a miracle. “You say the sweetest things.”
“I think you mean, I say the truest things.”
I laughed, and he kissed my forehead. He held me there, in the dark with his lips pressed to my forehead. “I love you so completely, with every cell in my body. I wonder sometimes if I’d cease to exist—just evaporate or disappear—if anything ever happened to you.”
“No.” I anchored my hands to his wrists and squeezed. “Don’t think like that. We’ve got our whole lives in front of us. There’s nothing anyone can—”
Three bangs in quick succession pierced the quiet moment, and not a second later Cletus had me on the ground beneath him, covering my back with his body.
“Gunshots,” he whispered in my ear. “From the parking lot. Don’t move.”
Penny Reid is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today Best Selling Author of the Winston Brothers, Knitting in the City, Rugby, and Hypothesis series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she just writes books. She’s also a full time mom to three diminutive adults, wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja.
Please feel free to drop her a line. She’d be happy to hijack your thoughts! You can find her on her blog or email her: pennreid at gmail dot com
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