Finished this book mainly because it got such high ratings. I wanted to see why that was.

There is so much wrong with this book. And that's not even mentioning that two women start their catering businesses in a town so small that the local police only have to deal with speeding tickets and the occasional tourist out of sorts. That does not sound like there will be much of a clientele for the caterers.

Never mind that. The two women got a catering gig at the women's club. The next morning a woman is found dead at the club. While local police wait for state police and forensics to show up they already manage to talk to witnesses from the previous evening (how?) who tell them all the woman had to eat was dessert after which she got sick and everyone thought she went home.

Apparently, there are no obvious signs of shooting or stabbing, so the local sheriff questions the pastry chef (who showed up at the club because she forgot to pack some of her stuff the previous evening) and asks her about ingredients and food safety.

Now, I hate, hate, books where the police is portrayed as dumb and incompetent. Sure, they can make mistakes, miss a clue or even get tunnel-vision if all the evidence is pointing in the same direction, but, please, give them a chance, at least.

Not so pastry chef Ashley. She's doesn't think she should mention she heard the dead woman argue with a man the previous night, because "she couldn't figure out who was yelling at Colleen." Well, that bit is for the police to find out. You don't have to give them a full who-how-what-where-when when you give them a possible clue. Snippets of information are good too. What you do need to do, is give them the smartphone you find in the toilet. Better yet, you should tell them there is a smartphone in the toilet and have them fish it out.

It would not have been much trouble for Ashley to get the police, they are probably still in the same building. Yet, she gets a pair of meat tongs and a baking pan and gets the phone herself. She decides to get the data from the phone before handing it over to the police. She thinks it is Colleen's phone and data on it can help her out of the mess she's in. Currently, that mess is: Colleen got sick and died after eating dessert. Which is bad advertising for a starting catering business.

So rather than give the police the information she has that points in the direction of foul play (argument, phone in toilet), Ashley decides to tamper with the evidence. Surely, that should get a person in a bigger mess than rumours about food quality?

When Ashley gets back to her car with her loot, she remembers she left her dog in the car. She was only going to go inside "briefly", but seen as "Texas heat can be fierce" that is still irresponsible behaviour for a pet owner. The dog does not seem to be worse for wear.

Next, Ashley gets her friends involved. Friends that raise eyebrows and say clever things like: shouldn't the police... But Ashley quickly convinces them they can do a better job. This all would be more believable if Ashley had personal experience with incompetence of the police and was wary because of that. But though she used to dabble in criminal activities, she does not seem to have a criminal record. She just thinks local police don't have the (financial) resources to investigate a crime properly and that state police is not interested in a small town matter. Even if the small town matter is a suspicious death. In tough on crime Texas?

As to Ashley's friends, are they really? Patty, her business partner, probably is. Ryan, a former co-worker, probably isn't. Though she calls him a kindred spirit and they got on brilliantly when working together, she did not mention to him she quit her job and was going to Paris. If she got on so well with him, why didn't she tell him that she found no more enjoyment in her job and had other dreams? Maybe she dreaded his reaction, was afraid he would talk her out of it? But then, not really a good friend if he doesn't support her in her pursuit of her dreams. He doesn't seem to hold a grudge, though, that she left for two years with a mere "See you later".

Later, her brother tells Ashley Ryan often called him to ask how she was. To which she responds: "He had my email address. He could've asked me himself." Or you know, as a friend, she could've emailed him herself. So I'm left thinking Ashley may consider Ryan a friend, she sure does not treat him like one.

As for the dumb police, the local sheriff does come out as unskilled for the job. He's heard about the vandalism and harassment of the McCays, but does nothing about it, because they didn't ask him for help. Huh, maybe if he can afford the time away from his gardening, he could go and offer his help. Like he says: "not like we go much else to do." And when he calls Ashley with information he says: "The poison. Guess." I doubt that was a ploy to entrap her as the culprit.

The motive of the murderer is a good one, I liked that, but how Ashley put the pieces together needed more padding out. Now, it made no sense and was aided by a lucky admission of the murderer.

For instance:

Spoiler

Ashley sees Hope's necklace in a photo she took at Eddie's RV. Of course it is strange for Hope to leave a necklace she claims to always wear.

But it is no reason to jump to the conclusion that Hope went to Eddie immediately after she talked to Ashley. There are at least three days between when Ashley saw Hope and when she sees Eddie. (Unless she catered a wedding in the morning, catered Smoke Daddy Lee's birthday in the afternoon and then had dinner at her brother in the evening.) Much less, to jump to a conclusion what Hope and Eddie talked about.

Also, that Monty Gahn is at the estuary is not strange "because he supposedly was in Houston". Earlier it is mentioned Houston is an hour and a half drive. In a state as large as Texas, that's a stone throw away from around the corner.

And lastly, the timing of the murder. Colleen was poisoned. That takes preparation and premeditation. The murderer must have prepared the poison before hand and taken it to the women's club meeting. So the murderer was already planning to kill Colleen way before the argument Ashley overheard in the bathroom. And how did the murderer get the poison in the cream puff without anyone noticing? (Or was the poison administered in a way that was never mentioned in the story?)

So, no, I don't see why this book has the ratings it has. I do understand that people are surprised by who the killer was, but that was because more clues are needed. Not so the reader can piece the case together before the sleuth, but so the reader can look back and say "hey, that's a clue and that." I didn't have that here.