Hope Early, after a less than stellar turn as a competitor on a baking reality show, a divorce, and leaving her publishing career in New York City, has moved back to her little home town of Jefferson, Connecticut, and is making her living as a successful food blogger. With her family, as well as old friends and new, nearby, the future is looking good.

Then she attends the book launch of friend Audrey Bloom. Audrey is a gardener, with a profitable career writing about gardening, and this launch party is also a tour of her own garden. Hope's sister, Claire, a real estate agent, also attends, against Hope's advice. Claire wants Audrey to list her house with Claire; Audrey has no obvious reason to sell. It's potentially contentious.

Someone else unexpected turns up--Claire's biggest rival, Peaches McCoy, another real estate agent, who has been poaching listings from other agents, including Claire.

When Peaches is discovered dead in Audrey's husband's home office, Claire immediately becomes the prime suspect. The police detective in charge of the investigation is, though, strangely and aggressively hostile, starting off by rather smugly telling Hope that her friendship with the police chief, Ethan Cahill, going back to school days, isn't going to stop him investigating his prime suspect. Which, outside the context of the conversation in the book, doesn't sound inappropriate, but he's also, as the story goes on, actively resistant to any evidence that might suggest anyone other than Claire could have a motive.

I really liked Hope, Ethan Cahill, another of Hope's friends, Drew, who is a local reporter, and a few other characters. The hostile police detective, on the other hand, is both unlikeable and a cliché. Claire is also not very likeable, and more than a little short-sighted about what is and isn't in her own best interests.

And with the detective so obviously set on railroading Claire, it's bizarre that everyone keeps haranguing Hope about her decision to do some investigating herself, without suggesting any alternative other than trusting the detective who wants to railroad Claire. Yet at the same time, Hope is a terrible choice as an investigator, because she alienates pretty much every potential witness or possible suspect she speaks to.

Overall, though I like Hope and her friends, the story overall is frustrating and annoying.

I bought this audiobook. ( )

Hope Early has had a rough time lately. Her career as a magazine editor ended. Then she flopped on a reality baking show in NYC and got a divorce. Now she's back home in Jefferson, CT, trying to put her life back together. Her food blog, Hope at Home, is becoming popular and she's starting to feel a bit better about her life. The Jefferson Garden Club is having a spring garden tour at Audrey Bloom's home. Audrey writes books about gardening and has a new 5-book series coming out on the different growing seasons. The spring tour is a big deal for Audrey, and Hope wants to help her friend make it special. Relationships between some of the garden club members is strained after the town lost its listing in the Top 25 Community Gardens in Connecticut. And local real estate agent Peaches McCoy shows up uninvited. Peaches is unpopular because she's been buying up area farmland and properties for development into subdivisions. She and Audrey are at odds over many local issues including the development projects. But, Peaches' drive and personality have caused many people to dislike her. In fact, someone at the garden tour disliked her enough to kill her. Hope discovers the real estate agent dead in the study after the tour. Who hated the woman enough to bash her head in with a rock? Unfortunately, Hope's sister Claire is the number one suspect. When a second killing casts more suspicion on her sister, Hope jumps in to do some amateur sleuthing. She knows her sister didn't kill anyone, and Hope is determined to discover who did.

This book is a great start to a new cozy mystery series! I enjoyed the story from beginning to end. The ending caught me a bit by surprise. I love it when a cozy doesn't end the way I think it will. The mystery is nicely paced, and had some twists and surprises. I like Hope as a main character. Her friendship with the cute Chief of Police has some hints at upcoming romance. The background theme of blogging is interesting and current. Throw in some quirky, fun side characters and a dog and you've got a great cozy mystery! Plus, there are some yummy recipes included at the back of the book.

The Uninvited Corpse is Debra Sennefelder's debut novel. She will have another book, Murder Wears a Little Black Dress, coming out in January 2019. It's the first novel in the Resale Boutique Mystery series.

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**
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Hope Early moved back to her hometown after losing her husband and her job, and losing on a television reality show. Now she's moved into a farmhouse, raises chickens, and makes her living with her home and cooking blog. Things seem to be going well, at least until she goes to a friend's book signing party...

While there, she finds that her sister Claire's nemesis, real estate agent Peaches McCoy, has arrived uninvited and is rude to everyone. When Hope finds Peaches murdered in the study of her friend Audrey's home, that's bad enough. But when Claire is the prime suspect for the murder, that's worse. And when Hope decides to investigate trying to find out who the killer is, things go completely downhill. Now she's in the sights of a killer, and Claire's next home might be a prison cell. If Hope doesn't figure this out soon, both Early girls are going to be losing their lives in one way or another...

This is the first in a new series, and I really would have liked to enjoy it. But there were things unexplained (which I will explain later) and my thoughts on the plot, which I will explain first:

First off, Hope is a horrible investigator. She goes to peoples' homes and just starts looking around, without trying to be subtle, but subtlety isn't her strong point, since she just goes around asking everyone if they killed Peaches - which, of course, makes them dislike her, and honestly I don't blame them. Who would like someone who walks up to them and accuses them of murder? Of course they're going to think she's trying to find someone else to take the rap for her sister, who's the suspect.

Then, she's a blogger who never blogs. As in never. She states as how she's making her money from it, but she never goes on her computer to do so. She spends her time making food for people to get information or ask forgiveness or going to snoop.

Her sister Claire is completely dense. She lives and breathes real estate, ignores the fact she's a murder suspect, and rarely mentions that she's married with two kids, one of whom we meet in one sentence only - her husband is out of town on business (we learn he has his own business but don't know what he does) and Claire has dinner at Hope's a couple of nights while her husband's gone, then tells us how much she loves her kids. Loves them so much she eats at Hope's without them? Never spends time with them? Never talks about them? Sure, sure...

Things I would have liked explained were how did Hope lose the top prize? How did she lose her job? We get that her husband cheated, but somehow she lost her job as a magazine editor? How did her husband get everything she owned if she were the one cheated on? Why would a woman hold a grudge since grade school over something so ridiculous? If there's more to it, shouldn't we have been told what that is? None of this is explained, and should have been.

But the kicker - and the thing that may keep me from reading any more in this series which will depend upon the second book - is the ubiquitous 'love triangle'. Never interesting, always frustrating, and as I've said many, many times before, if it were a man stringing along two women, you'd think he was a dog, so why is it okay when a woman does it? It isn't. The way it happens isn't even believable. So if it develops in the next book I can tell you that I won't finish the book and will not read any more in the series. For that alone, this book was a disappointment. I do hope that this isn't going to become one. I also hope that Meg doesn't become the 'evil nemesis'. I really loathe that in books.

When the murderer was discovered, it might have been a surprise, but by the end of the book I really didn't care since there were so many slow parts with things that just weren't relevant to the murder, and the subject kept coming up about her failed career and reality show with no details about how they ended and why. Details count. ( )

As is often the case in Cozy Mystery Series, the MC, Hope Early has had a rough time lately. After losing her job as a Magazine Editor, flopping on a Reality Baking Show and a divorce, she has moved back home to Jefferson Connecticut from New York City. She is trying to make a living with her food blog, lovingly named "Hope at Home". She is attending The Jefferson Garden Club's spring garden tour at the home of her friend Audrey Bloom. Audrey is the author of several gardening books and Hope is helping her out. There are some problems between members of The Garden Club, and Peaches McCoy, a local realtor shows up uninvited causing a rocky start to the event. When Peaches is killed during the Garden Tour, Hope's sister Claire, a rival real estate agent becomes the top suspect. As Hope investigates, trying to prove her sister innocent, many other suspects come to light. Peaches is unpopular because she's been buying up area farmland and properties for development into subdivisions, she and Audrey are at odds over many local issues including the development projects, and Peaches' drive and personality have caused many people to dislike her. Who hated the woman enough to bash her head in with a rock?

I enjoyed the story from beginning to end, with its good pacing, clues scattered throughout, a few twists and a totally unexpected ending. I like Hope as a main character. She is real, with normal emotions, a friendly disposition, loyal, honest and smart. It looks like she may have a romance coming in future books with the Chief of Police, but I hope it is not rushed. I have read a lot of culinary cozies, but this is a bit different with blogging as a lifestyle for the main character. One of the things I really like in a cozy are some quirky characters and some interesting pets and we have both in this book. Overall, this was a good start to a new series and I look forward to seeing what is next for Hope and her friends.
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Hope’s schedule is crazy with recipe testing and shameless plugs for her food blog. Unfortunately, she has to attend the spring garden tour in the charming town of Jefferson, Connecticut. However, it isn’t the perfectly arranged potted plants that grab her attention; it’s the bloody body of loathed real estate agent Peaches McCoy.

Someone on the tour committed murder and for some reason Hope’s older sister, Claire Dixon, who, at best, saw Peaches as a professional rival is the number one suspect. When another murder occurs, suspicion lands squarely on Claire’s shoulders. Now, with two murders and all evidence pointing to Claire, Hope must set aside her burgeoning brand to prove her sister’s innocence. But the closer she gets to unveiling the killer, the closer she gets to someone intent on making sure she doesn’t uncover the truth at any cost.

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Series: Food Blogger Mystery
Author: Debra Sennefelder
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Culinary
Publisher: Kensington

The Uninvited Corpse is a delectable mystery filled with wonderful food, the occasional insufferable character and a killer set on making sure that Hope’s sister pays the ultimate price for a crime she didn’t commit. For the killer’s plan to succeed, Hope must be taken out of the picture.

Hope is a woman set on helping her sister whether she likes it or not. Even when she promises that she will stay out of the investigation, Hope lands smack in the middle of everything. It seems that she keeps finding bodies everywhere she goes. All Hope really wants is to get back to her blog and her recipes, but her love of her sister makes it impossible to leave the investigation in the hands of the local police.

Hope is a very relevant character in today's world of social media and blogging. She is also a great example of what can happen when a person has time on their hands. Even though she is busy, she manages to stick her nose in the wrong places and almost gets it cut off. She is a modern woman with modern insights, and a lovely character the reader will enjoy getting to know.

Other characters in this book are remarkably average or outrageous but highly entertaining. When the killer is revealed, it will shock and surprise many. Readers will not quite believe the solution, but once they look at the subtle hints, they will accept that it is the only logical conclusion.

Although the location of the story is not described in depth, there is enough detail to add to the enjoyment of the plot and give the reader a clear idea of what the town of Jefferson and its resident are like when murder comes to town.

This series is destined to be popular, entertaining, and will give the reader hours of pleasure for a long time to come. The recipes in the back of the book are tantalizing and will make anyone want to try their hand at cooking, baking or just eating every dish. The Uninvited Corpse is highly recommended for anyone who likes their heroines stubborn, bold and persistent under demanding conditions.


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