Hayley Powell, food and drink columnist for a small newspaper in Bar Harbor, Maine, has just found her duties doubled when her co-worker Bruce takes a vacation and she needs to also write his crime beat column as well. Which is fortunate, because she runs into an old schoolmate at the grocery store, and the woman is arguing with the owner. After diffusing the situation, Hayley finds out the argument was because the woman wants to make chocolates, but the owner insists her house is too filthy for him to sell them.

When Hayley offers the woman a ride home, she finds out this is true, but still stays friends with Bessie Winthrop, figuring the obese woman doesn't have any others. And when Bessie insists Hayley act in her promotional YouTube video, Hayley can't say no. Neither does she when Bessie shows up at her office telling Hayley she's naming a line of candy after her and insists on giving her a promotional box.

But when Hayley gets the box of candy, which isn't until after Bessie suddenly dies and the coroner rules it natural causes due to her weight and health problems, that Hayley finds a note stuck inside one of the chocolates reading that someone was trying to kill her. Now Hayley is insistent that Bessie was murdered, and is determined to find out who killed her, even if it ruins any chance she might have of a relationship with the new vet in town...

This is the fourth book in the series, and I was really hoping it would improve by now, but it really needs to have a professional proofreader. In one scene, Bessie's car is kaput, in another, she has it at the bank. In one scene, Hayley is looking at photos that Bessie took on her digital camera, but drops it when Sergio shows up...but then later on has photos she printed out from the camera that she left back in Bessie's house.

And Hayley isn't intrepid at all, as the author(s) would have us believe. She has no problem breaking and entering, and doing other illegal miscellanea if it gets her what she wants. Unfortunately, the worst of the characters is Liddy, who's supposed to be a modern woman very much in charge of herself, but she comes off like an oversexed drunk who has no problem hitting on men her best friend is interested in, and then apologizing later.

At least in this book Hayley didn't hit the bottle every time something went wrong in her life. That's a plus in itself. But this book could have been oh, so much better if Hayley had acted more like an adult female and used her wits instead of randomly accusing people and illegally searching their homes and businesses. It's almost as if she's a teenager sneaking around trying to find out if her boyfriend is cheating on her.

In the end, it didn't seem so climactic as it could have been, and even though the reasons for the murder could have been believable, there were still questions left unanswered (Where is Kerry now?) and I would have liked to have seen some interaction that would have given us a clue to the killer before the last few pages. Just another so-so book in the series; but since I have, unfortunately, purchased a few more of these, I will read them and try to get through to the end. ( )

DNF.

Almost never happens. Less than 6 books have I ever put down and called it a day. But I got a little more than halfway through (197 out of 332 pages) and just could not do it.

I've read the first three and frankly the first and third books were weak. Really weak. But I liked the second book quite a bit, so I thought the author had it in her and I wanted to give the series a chance to improve. It didn't.

I'll admit I'm pretty picking about third person narrative; to me you have to write really well to make it flow and the narrative here wasn't flowing for me. The writing felt elementary, or a bit like stage direction; I just flipped open to a random page and every single paragraph started with "Haley". Jarring.

The other biggie for me, and the main reason I stopped reading: Haley is a mess. I had this problem in the last book too. I want to admire my protagonists; at a minimum, I want to be able to respect them. Nobody respects Haley; by page 197 there were at least 3 different scenes were she did something so stupid, or so clumsily, in a crowd full of people, that everyone was laughing at her. Not with her; at her. If the author is aiming at humour, she's failed. Horribly.

The book is interspersed with Haley's columns, which started out in the first book as witty and entertaining; in this book, they were just more instances of when Haley did or said something stupid and embarrassed herself with her ineptness. Neither witty nor entertaining.

I'm sorry this series didn't improve for me; there were a lot of solid elements that could have been great: Haley has two solid best friends she could have had some great scenes with. I like her brother and his partner, Sergio (chief of police) too; they're entertaining when they make an appearance. But overall, the series just doesn't resonate with me and I've added all four books to my donation bag for Friends of the Library. I hope someone out there will give them a more appreciative home. ( )

I always look forward to my next visit to Bar Harbor and a chance to catch up with Hayley and friends. This trip was one of my favorites by far. From the moment I first saw the cover of DEATH OF A CHOCOHOLIC I knew this was going to be a book to remember. And it was.

Lee Hollis never fails in getting me to laugh out loud over the situations Hayley finds herself in. During the first pages of this story I laughed so loud I honestly startled myself! And I challenge anyone to not laugh at a scene that has Mona in it!

Now, before I have you thinking this is a comedy, let me assure you there is a brilliant mystery to solve. While I thought I had figured it out, I found I was way wrong. I never guessed the “who” in the “done it” until I was right where the author wanted me to be. Brava/Bravo Lee Hollis.

And as always, there are great food and cocktail recipes to enjoy. I suggest having some fun with the book and trying out some of the recipes and enjoy them with the story.

We also get a sneak peek at book #5 in the series, DEATH OF A CHRISTMAS CATERER.

If you haven’t read the Hayley Powell series, please do something awesome for yourself and start reading them ASAP! If you have read the rest of series, you will not be disappointed in the latest installment. ( )