Review: Great Curl-Up-On-Your-Couch Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 3, 2012
Brownies and Betrayal by Heather Justesen is a combination of delicious romantic options, baked goods, and a suspenseful mystery.  We're introduced to Tess Crawford, a pastry chef who's moved from Chicago to small town Silver Springs after she's caught her fiance cheating on her.  She's opening her own bakery and  doing refreshments for a wedding when one of the wedding guests gets into a petty argument with her over her brownies.  Tess later finds that guest murdered and she becomes a suspect when the police find out about the argument and her fingerprints are found on the murder weapon.  In trying to clear her name, Tess finds herself in several dangerous situations as she zeroes in on the killer.The thing I like about Heather Justesen's books is that she writes romance really well.  Family by Design had some really great romantic moments that made me sigh, and I was hoping for that with Brownies and Betrayal.  Heather does a good job of balancing the mystery with a "love triangle" of sorts, but there's not a lot of romantic resolution, instead there's more of a romantic set-up for the next book (this is the start of a new series from what I gather).  The mystery was good, although I called the killer early on, but I liked the twists and turns the story took.  The recipes sounded yummy and I'd definitely like to try a few of them.  This is a great curl-up-on-your-couch afternoon read.