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1. Great Mystery
   You just have to love a truly good mystery where the ending will take you by surprise, and the heroin explains with such ease. Good read for sure.

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2. Cunning mystery
   Great mystery and a fast read. I guessed who the killer was but it was still very well done. Will definitely read the next book in the series.

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3. A fun read
   I enjoyed this book. I like the main character. The style of writing was straightforward with good dialogue, so very enjoyable.

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4. WRITER IS OBSESSED WITH SIZE
   The book is okay, the main character is likeable and the murder mystery is good but this author is absolutely obsessed with size and weight. The main character is 6’1 and takes a size 18 but the author seems to take great delight in stressing how a size 18 is fat. Another character tells her if she weighed 40 pounds less he would marry her. The author loves the words junoesque and voluptuous. At one point the main character, Jenny Starling, desires to leave a room quickly and the author says “Jenny needed no second prompting, and was out of the door like a greyhound. Given her full and rounded figures, it was an impressive accomplishment,” Virtually every conversation or descriptive paragraph dwells on Jenny’s size. There are other characters in the book that do not feel full formed because all we know about them is that they are fat. This book would be much better if the author had concentrated on fully forming the characters.

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5. Good read
   A bit shy on of suspenseful nail biting, but a good story.. It could use some beefing up and a bit more character. development. Not enough gritty build up.

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6. Excellent Classic Cozy Mystery
   The Birthday Mystery is everything I want in a classic cozy mystery. Faith Martin proves that she has an ability to write in the tradition of Agatha Christie yet with a modern flair. Her amateur detective, Jenny Starling, is a great character I cared about and can’t to find out more about. She is cook who is hired in wealthy circles, due to her culinary skills and like Miss Marple with her knitting, Jenny sometimes cooks to get her thoughts in order. I love a classic whodunit. I enjoy today’s cozy mysteries, (the kind that the Hallmark Channel loves to make), because the main characters are who I want to read about again and again. However I find many cozy writers don’t create a solid mystery or puzzle for the reader to solve. Sometime the amateur sleuths simple stumble on the killer who just before they can kill our hero a friend or lover saves them and the killer is caught. Or even worse, the killer seems to be chosen at random and there isn’t any solid clues that lead to the solution. Faith Martin creates characters we care about but also plants some fair play clues with a solution that may not be shocking but makes sense. I thought I guessed the killer until my suspect died. Eventually I was able to guess the true culprit however I was still surprised by certain answers in the resolution of the crime. For example, a clue left at the scene of the crime had me believing it was there for one reason yet I was pleasantly surprised to see that it actually proved to be there for a different reason and one that actually pointed to the real killer in a way I didn’t see. (I don’t mean to be so vague but I really don’t want to spoil the puzzle). I think Jenny Starling is a likable sleuths with a keen mind. Her job allows for her to be on hand at some exciting venues (kinda like how being a mystery writer helped Jessica Fletcher be on hand in some exotic places). Yes, this is a typical country-house whodunit, with all the proper mystery cliches. However it is executed in the proper way that all the good classics are. I plan to read the entire series and look forward to more of Faith Martin.

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7. Amazing Mystery…
   And an amazing cook who produces scrumptious food and also solves murder mysteries, well what’s not to like? I also love that she is a big and tall beautiful woman (several prominent female actresses came to mind) with what to me would appear to be Mensa level reasoning skills. I couldn’t help but laugh as she confounded the professionals and skipped ahead of them in solving the murder. Excited to read the next book in this series!

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8. A woman’s mind!!!
   Overall this was a good book. It had an unusual main character in Jenny Starting and she did not disappoint. The mystery was exceptional and I couldn’t guess who the killer was. Fortunately this was a clean mystery which I always appreciate. I recommend this story for all mystery lovers.

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9. Very enjoyable book lovely exciting adventure about cooks hope there more stories for the travelling cook Please more stories about `Jenny

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10. A perfect book for an easy and quite amusing read on a wet evening when there’s nothing of interest on the television.

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11. Another great read by this excellent author. She crafts her mystery by cleverly leading you along clue after clue. And again, the identity of the murderer was a complete surprise. Miss Jenny Starling is a force to be reckoned with, and I am looking forward to more books featuring her.

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12. Interessante ed accattivante con avvenimenti in continua evoluzione che tengono sempre viva l’attenzione di chi legge

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13. This book makes a few hours of pleasant reading, but as a mystery novel it’s not much. Right from the moment of the murder you can easily guess who did it, who had the means, the motive and the opportunity. In that respect the Hilary Green books are much better. But this book won’t bore you.
    Aside from that, there are some blatant mistakes. No one could cook a six course diner for twenty guest, party nibbles for quite a few more and two cakes, one a six layered one, almost single handed in one day with just an Aga, a big oven and a microwave. And nobody in his right mind would open a champagne bottle with a cork screw. At a festive party the waiters might show of by sabering – an idiotic way to open a bottle IMNSHO – or pop the cork. But a cork screw? Looks pretty dangerous to me.

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