Chocoholic Mysteries by JoAnna Carl

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All the Chocoholic Mysteries feature Lee McKinney, a Texas beauty queen transplanted to a Michigan resort, where she is business manager for TenHuis Chocolade, a business owned by her aunt, Nettie TenHuis. Nearly six feet tall and a half-Dutch natural blonde, Lee is often under-estimated because she tends to get her “tang toungled” when she’s nervous. She’s a direct descendant of Mrs. Malaprop. In addition to a mystery, the books feature a behind-the-scenes look at the business and art of making fine, European-style bonbons, truffles and molded chocolates.

Other pattern books on Amazon by JoAnna Carl.

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The Chocolate Cat Caper | The Chocolate Bear Burglary | The Chocolate Frog Frame-Up | The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle | The Chocolate Mouse Trap | The Chocolate Bridal Bash | The Chocolate Jewel Case | The Chocolate Snowman Murders | Crime de Cocoa


About the Author

JoAnna Carl is the pseudonym of Eve K. Sandstrom, a prolific mystery writer. She spent 25 years in the newspaper business as a reporter, feature writer, editor, and columnist, most recently at The Lawton Constitution.

Novel Synopses

The Chocolate Cat Caper: Texan Lee McKinney comes to Warner Pier, Michigan, to help her aunt, Nettie TenHuis, get her chocolate business back on a firm financial footing. She's barely arrived when Clementine Ripley, a notorious defense attorney who owns a lavish mansion in the resort community, drops dead - with a poisoned TenHuis chocolate clutched in her hand. This might be a liability even Lee's accounting can't turn into an asset. Lee's determined to prove the death had nothing to do with her aunt's business. But just where does Ripley's ex-husband, Joe Woodyard, fit in?

The Chocolate Bear Burglary: When Aunt Nettie and Lee borrow an antique chocolate mold to use in a special promotion, they have no idea it will lead to burglary - and then to murder. The son of Lee's former husband shows up in Warner Pier, and the 18-year-old boy seems determined to get in trouble. And Lee's just as determined to keep him out of it. Family secrets keep peeping out, and Lee winds up running for her life.

The Chocolate Frog Frame-Up: When the town crank, Hershel Perkins, is missing, Lee McKinney's boat-builder boyfriend Joe Woodyard is suspected of doing away with him. Lee is determined to prove that Joe had nothing to do with Hershel's fate. But she doesn't understand why the Old Root Beer Barrel, a local landmark, keeps getting involved.

The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle: When a handsome gray-haired gent who claims to be a movie producer appears in Warner Pier, Lee’s suspicions are immediately aroused. But romance novelist Maia Michaelson is convinced the newcomer is going to make a film of her novel, and Aunt Nettie is being swept off her feet by the suave older man and his charming chocolate Labrador puppy. Soon Lee and boyfriend Joe Woodyard find themselves trying to solve a mysterious disappearance – and a murder.

The Chocolate Mouse Trap: Lee McKinney has joined an e-mail newsgroup of west Michigan foodies – a caterer, a restaurateur, the owners of a bed and breakfast inn, and party planner Julie Singletree. But Julie’s corny jokes and poems are driving everybody on the list crazy. Then Julie’s found dead, and her pet mouse is missing. Can this have anything to do with the virus that hits the newsgroup’s computers? And why does Julie’s wealthy family think Lee has the answers?

The Chocolate Bridal Bash: Lee McKinney and boyfriend Joe Woodyard are planning their wedding, and Lee feels compelled to invite her mother – despite the differences the two of them have had over the years. One of their main points of contention has been her mom’s refusal to come to her home town, Warner Pier, Michigan, and her refusal to tell Lee why she won’t. Then Lee discovers that her mom ran away from home on what should have been her own wedding day and that the young man she had planned to marry committed suicide. When Lee tries to find out more, bad things begin to happen. Can Lee and Joe figure out what happened before a killer strikes – again?

The Chocolate Jewel Case: Lee McKinney and Joe Woodyard have looked forward to the first summer of their married life as a romantic idyll. So they’re not prepared to deal with five house guests – two teen-aged girls, an ex-con, a tough guy who claims to be a bird watcher, and Joe’s much-married aunt. Plus, a major heat wave moves in, a potential disaster for TenHuis Chocolade. Then the neighbors are hit by a jewel theft, and a mysterious dead man is found floating in Lake Michigan. Lee has to act quickly to avoid another murder.

The Chocolate Snowman Murders: Lee McKinney is involved with one of the pillars of small town America – a committee. She’s treasurer of the Warner Pier Winter Arts Festival planning committee. This is a minor inconvenience until the juror for the arts show winds up dead in his motel room, and Lee was the person who dropped him off there. How do a small-town grand dame, a choir director, a sculptor, a shy publicist, and a sinister snowman fit in? Can even Aunt Nettie’s chocolate keep Lee from being a suspect?

Crime de Cocoa: Crime de Cocoa contains the first three Chocoholic Mysteries – Cat Caper, Bear Burglary, and Frog Frame-Up – in one volume.