I adored Beard Science so I couldn’t wait to read this next episode of Cletus and Jenn’s adventures. It was fun and hilarious and everything I’d hoped for. Poor Jenn is still learning to be assertive and have a life of her own, but she’s making progress. Her parents have split and her mean old dad is trying to ruin her mother’s life by starting a competing lodge, so Jenn spends a lot of time propping her mom up, at the cost of her own personal life. Cletus is the diabolical evil genius we know and love, but he really shines here as he struggles to support Jenn without interfering.
Her busy schedule and people-pleasing tendencies are taking a serious toll on their alone time, so they’re both pretty frustrated. And just as Jenn finally demands help at the bakery to get some time off, a spate of local crimes turns her world upside down. She buys only the best local ingredients, but someone is working hard to ensure the Donner bakery can’t fulfill their shopping list. It appears the culprit will go to any lengths to hurt the bakery, including murdering a flock of innocent chickens.
The police aren’t taking the crimes seriously and the strain on the bakery results in Jenn’s mom constantly freaking out and mercilessly interrupting the tiny snatches of time Cletus and Jenn find together, so they have various reasons to get involved. Their current exploits are every bit as sweet and funny as their origin story, so it’s definitely worth a read.
Engagement and Espionage on Amazon
Engagement & Espionage
by Penny Reid
Solving For Pie: A Cletus & Jenn Mystery book 1
Published 2020
Jennifer Sylvester made her deal with the devil . . . and now they’re engaged!
But all is not well in Green Valley. A chicken choker is on the loose, 61 dead birds most “fowl” need plucking, and no time remains for Jennifer and her devilish fiancé. Desperate to find a spare moment together, Jenn and Cletus’s attempts to reconnect are thwarted by one seemingly coincidental disaster after another. It’s not long before Cletus and Jenn see a pattern emerge and the truth becomes clear.
Sabotage!
Will an undercover mission unmask the culprit? Or are these love-birds totally plucked?
‘Engagement and Espionage’ is the first book in the Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries series, is a full-length cozy mystery, and is a spin-off of Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series. This novel is best read after ‘Beard Science,’ Winston Brothers #3.
