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    Assault and Pepper
    Assault and Pepper
    Assault and Pepper
    Audiobook9 hours

    Assault and Pepper

    Written by Leslie Budewitz

    Narrated by Dara Rosenberg

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Pepper Reece, owner of the Seattle Spice Shop, thinks she can handle any kind of salty customer-until a murderer ends up in the mix . . .

    After leaving a dicey marriage and losing a beloved job in a corporate crash, Pepper Reece has found a new zest for life running a busy spice and tea shop in Seattle's Pike Place Market. Her aromatic creations are the talk of the town, and everyone stops by for a cup of her refreshing spice tea, even other shopkeepers and Market regulars. But when a panhandler named Doc shows up dead on the store's doorstep, a Seattle Spice Shop cup in his hand, the local gossip gets too hot for Pepper to handle-especially after the police arrest one of Pepper's staffers, Tory Finch, for murder.

    Tory seems to know why she's a suspect, but she refuses to do anything to curry favor with the cops. Convinced her reticent employee is innocent, Pepper takes it on herself to sniff out some clues. Only, if she's not careful, Pepper's nosy ways might make her next on the killer's list . . .
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 21, 2016
    ISBN9781515978145
    Assault and Pepper
    Author

    Leslie Budewitz

    Leslie Budewitz blends her passion for food, great mysteries, and the Northwest in two cozy mystery series, the Spice Shop Mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. She also writes moody suspense under the pen name Alicia Beckman. Leslie is the winner of three Agatha Awards—2013 Best First Novel for DEATH AL DENTE, the first Food Lovers' Village mystery; 2011 Best Nonfiction, and 2018 Best Short Story, for “All God’s Sparrows,” her first historical fiction. A past president of Sisters in Crime and a former board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives and cooks in NW Montana.

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    Reviews for Assault and Pepper

    3.5/5

    51 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      When a homeless man dies near the entrance to Pepper Reece’s Seattle Spice Shop, police zero in on one of Pepper’s employees, Tory Finch, as the murderer, and lock her up. Tory isn’t helping herself. She doesn’t particularly want a lawyer, won’t talk to the people who are close to her, and seems to reconcile herself to being found guilty. Pepper is certain Tory didn’t murder anyone, and does a little sleuthing of her own to prove her employee innocent. While Pepper is asking questions, she uncovers the relationship between the dead men and Tory – and it wasn’t a great relationship. The new evidence seems to point at Tory as the killer.Pepper’s life is complicated by an overly attentive ex-husband who’s a Seattle bicycle cop and sometimes boyfriend who’s a chef. The romantic element, however, doesn’t occupy too much of the book – and that’s a plus to me! I liked this first book in a new series, and intend to read others. I found the setting and the characters interesting … and the writing is first-rate.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I do like an occasional cozy mystery. This first in a series has some good indicators. The local Seattle color and the business and milieu of a spice shop both feel authentic. The protagonist is a good solid likable character. But nothing sparkled for me. Moving on.
    • 4/5
      Pepper is a relatively new shop owner in Seattle's Market. She's taken over the Spice Shop where they have spices in jars, cookbooks and craters and their own tea blend. It's that tea, along with an employee that brings murder to her door literally.

      I really enjoyed this book. It started off quiet and then just kept building. The best part of this book (besides some quality writing) is the author's passion for Seattle and food. Her love and need to share all the wonderful attributes of Seattle shine through this story. Makes me want to get in the car for a road trip - or make a pot of spice tea, maybe one of the recipes out of the back of the book (did I forget to mention the really good recipes?) and pick-up another of Ms. Budewitz' books and start reading.
    • 4/5
      Not bad. Pretty good actually. This one takes place in Seattle, at Pike's Market, in a spice shop. An author's note at the beginning specifies what parts of the market she's taken artistic liberties with, but she mostly leaves the market as it really is. I've only been there a handful of times myself, but I had no problem "seeing" the market and she uses RL landmarks to help the reader along too. The author does an excellent job weaving facts and information about spices through the narrative without sounding like a presenter on the Home Shopping Network, and she further ties the narrative to the MC's reading of the Brother Cadfael Mysteries, which was kinda cool. Also included in the author's note at the beginning are the titles of references she used for her spice and herbal information; a step far beyond what cozy writers normally bother with, and it was appreciated (I'll be checking those books out). There were even a couple of recipes in the back I'd try. The mystery was o.k. I guessed the murderer really early, although not the motive (the author didn't telegraph clues, but the story structure - I don't know how else to put it - gave the killer away). I still enjoyed the process though, and the MC gets points for avoiding TSTL moves. I'll definitely read the next book.
    • 4/5
      First in the Spice Shop Mystery series, ASSAULT AND PEPPER was a tasty read and has whet my appetite for more.With a large percentage of cozies being set in fictional towns, I wasn't sure how I would feel about this book being set in Seattle at a famous location like The Pike Place Public Market. Honestly, at first it was a little strange for me, but I was soon lost in the story, and Ms. Budewitz’s wonderful writing and no longer gave it a thought. Her protagonist in ASSAULT AND PEPPER, Pepper Reece was really enjoyable and I liked getting to know her. The same goes for the other characters in the book. Pepper’s staff at the Seattle Spice Shop are as wide ranging in styles and personalities, as the spices they carry are in tastes and smells. The same is to be said of the rest of the cast of characters. The mystery element of this story, who killed the panhandler, Doc, and why they killed him, along with the fact that one of the staff of Pepper’s store, Tory, is a suspect, and Tory seems to know why she is, but isn't doing much to help herself, kept me guessing as I turned page after page, only to be very surprised when the truth came out. A fun bonus: Every chapter starts off with a fact or a quote. A delicious bonus: Lots of yummy recipes!Give ASSAULT AND PEPPER a try and see if it doesn't spice up your life like it did mine!