Yeast of Eden

I have enjoyed this series since the beginning, and it just keeps getting better! This is fourth in the Pancake House Mystery series and is my favorite; it can be read as a standalone. Watching the characters grow closer together and stronger is a delight. The beautifully described oceanside setting of Wildwood Cove makes me want to pack up and go there! The mystery kept me guessing throughout as the suspects grew in number. Marley McKinney inherited The Flip Side, a pancake house started many years earlier by her grandmother’s cousin, who left it to Marley. It is the only restaurant in town that specializes in breakfasts. Marley and Ivan, the chef who almost always wears a scowl, develop seasonal recipes, currently signature dishes in preparation for Christmas. Wally Fowler, a former resident of the Cove, inherited millions from his great-aunt, so he returned to Wildwood Cove to start a new breakfast restaurant, Wally’s Waffle Kingdom. Wally had few friends when he grew up there and is liked even less now. Shortly before his grand opening, Marley leaves Ladies’ Night at the hardware store and sees that the tires on Wally’s van are slashed. She goes into the waffle shop to tell Wally, and runs into Ivan, who was there to tell him the same thing. Unfortunately, Ivan found Wally dead in the kitchen, possibly murdered. As Marley tries to help her friend, the prime suspect in the murder, she is caught up in another mystery. The wife of her late cousin had a sister who disappeared many years earlier. Marley finds the sister’s journals and an album of the newspaper clippings in the attic and is fascinated with the very cold case. Brett, Marley’s boyfriend, helps his father with his remodeling business during the winter. Brett’s father collapsed on a job site, and he gives his father CPR until paramedics arrive. He is transferred to a hospital in Seattle for bypass surgery; Brett, his mother, and sister Chloe will stay there with him. Each of the characters is defined well through actions and realistic dialog; Marley and her best friend, Lisa, are my favorites. Even the grumpy Ivan is a favorite in his own way. Sienna, a part-time waitress for Marley, is an enthusiastic friend and employee, who decides to be Marley’s sidekick as she listens for information about Wally. Few people liked Wally and several people despised him because of the things he did when living there before. Even so, he didn’t deserve the horrible death he died. What a great mystery! The days are fraught with tension with so many people Marley cares about either ill or falsely suspected of murder. Even as she works hard at the Flip Side, Marley pores over old journals and tries to gently ask questions about Wally without sounding like she is accusing anyone. One family takes exception to the questions, even threatening Marley. She has good instincts, and may get ahead of herself at times, especially when led down a questionable path by a distraught teen…and almost ended up in jail. I was stunned to see who the real guy bad is, someone I would not have guessed. The end is satisfactory, leaving no loose ends. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys well-written cozy mysteries set in the Pacific Northwest, breakfast restaurants (and recipes!) and realistic characters. From a grateful heart: I received a copy of the e-arc from the publisher and NetGalley, and this is my honest review.