To Fudge or Not to Fudge by Nancy Coco

Somehow Allie ends up in a reality TV show.  Part of it is her mentor teacher from the past and part of it is her staff.  What great free publicity and she gets paid for each episode she's in the show.  What could it hurt?

Kensington Books sent me an ARC of this book for review (thank you).  It's being published this month, so watch for it at your local bookstore.

Allie soon finds that being on the show is scripted.  Most of them aren't chefs and they have to show certain attitudes and the like to make the show more exciting.  This doesn't make her happy but she's a good cook and is well versed in fudge.  She manages to stay in the competition even if they short her on supplies.

I have to say that some of the recipes in this story didn't appeal to me.  I'm a fan of traditional, simple fudge.  These are more complex.  Some even mimic candy bars...

When one of the contestants dies in the bathroom after eating a piece of Allie's fudge, she's back in the cop shop again.  She was the last one out of the bathroom, how did that person get a piece of her fudge, and why did she kill her?  She doesn't know how she got the fudge and all the judges ate it and survived.  She didn't kill Cindy.  So who did?

Her little poodle has been busy finding bones in the mulch around town.  Who's bones are they?  And why was the victim killed that way?

In between murders, Allie is being courted by two men.  She has a cop she likes and she gets a kiss from him.  The rich local boy likes her, too, and she's going to a movie with him.  This is a nice cozy mystery and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.  I have no idea how she's going to choose which man she wants in her life...