Death at the Cafe by Alison Golden – Book Review

Book: Death at the Cafe

(Book 1 in The Reverend Annabelle Dixon Mystery Series)

Author: Alison Golden

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Number of pages: 162 pages

Publication date: 24 October 2015

ASIN: B01759EIJW

Death at the Café is the first book in the Reverend Annabelle Dixon Mystery series written by Alison Golden and my first read in the series as well.

It's easy to fall in love with Annabelle from the opening lines.

"Nothing brought Reverend Annabelle closer to blasphemy than using the London public transport system during rush hour."

She's smart, sleuthing, caring, and funny. It's also cool in a way to have a main character who is member of the cloth and a woman no less.

That said, I was a bit confused by the idea of a woman reverend and the idea of reverends in general. I'm not a Christian and I don't think I've seen a woman reverend amongst Orthodox Christians. But then again I'm no expert. I quickly got over it.

Back to Death at the Café, the book opens with Reverend Annabelle Dixon going to meet a friend of hers, Mary, at a café in London, before the latter heads back to missionary work.

However, when they arrive a woman approaches Mary, hands her a paper and drops dead. Mary is also set to meet a woman named Teresa who will supposedly give her funds for the missionary work.

Once the woman drops dead, Annabelle takes her friend to visit Teresa and discover what is happening.

"Where are we going?"

"Baker Street."

"Home of Sherlock Holmes," Mary added, joviality returning to her voice.

"Perhaps he can help us with this confounding turn of events!"

Soon after the duo locates Teresa, she ends up dead. And guess who isn't happy about this and thinks it's too big a coincidence? The police.

"I don't believe anything in my line of work. I just deal with facts. You have been at the site of two very similar deaths within the past three hours. The woman at the café died from poisoning, and I would bet a large chunk of my retirement fund that this Teresa died from the same poison."

With two deaths, and Mary being framed for them, Annabelle begin sleuthing and questioning people.

Death at the Café is narrated in third person. Although most of the book focuses on Annabelle and her viewpoint, one section – or line - was from another perspective and I felt it was jarring for me.

That said, I loved Annabelle, her pure-heartedness and her determination.

Death at the Café also has some recipes at the end like "Cherishable Cherry Blossom Cupcakes." I'm new to the kitchen but I'm definitely planning on giving this book's yummy treat a try.

Overall, I fell in love with Death at the Café and finished in a day or two. It's fast-paced, enjoyable, and definitely a perfect start to the series.

Overall rating for Death at the Café by Alison Golden: 5 stars

Check out my other reviews for Alison Golden books:

The Case of the Screaming Beauty (Book 1 in the Detective Inspector David Graham Mystery Series)

The Case of the Hidden Flame (Book 2 in the Detective Inspector David Graham Mystery Series)

The Case of the Broken Doll (Book 4 in the Detective Inspector David Graham Mystery Series)

The Case of Sampson's Leap (Book 8 in the Detective Inspector David Graham Mystery Series)

Horror in the Highlands (Book 5 in the Reverend Annabelle Dixon mystery series)

Killer at the Cult (Book 6 in the Reverend Annabelle Dixon mystery series)

Witches at the Wedding (Book 8 in the Reverend Annabelle Dixon mystery series)