Deep Bitter Roots (Book 2 in Deep Lakes Cozy Mystery) by Joy Ann Ribar

The promise of Spring in Deep Lakes, Wisconsin brings the community out of hibernation to plan the annual Roots Festival. Bubble and Bake owner Frankie Champagne just wants to help the Granite Mansion quarry heiress plan the keynote presentation. So, why does she find herself in the middle of the legendary and deadly Quarry Curse?  (Summary via Amazon)


Deep Bitter Roots is the second book in the Deep Lakes Cozy Mystery series by Joy Ann Ribar and boy is it a page turning, nail biting, breath holding story !!

Do you even read a book then sit back and ask yourself "How did the author think of this ?"  I do...quite a lot actually but with Deep Bitter Roots, I asked that question throughout the story.

In Deep Bitter Roots the reader is hanging around with main character Frankie Champagne and hanging around with her is off the charts fun !!  Just hanging around her on a regular day would be fun because she owns Bubble and Bake, which is a bakery in the morning and a wine bar at night and she also owns Bountiful Fruits, which is a vineyard where she makes wine for the wine bar and she is dating the local medical examiner.  To say Frankie has her hands full is just plain stating the facts but add a murder investigation to her list and LOOK OUT !!  Okay no she is not with the police but she does write for the newspaper and when there is a murder in her town, she takes it personally and has to try to solve it.

And in Deep Bitter Roots the murder hits a nerve with Frankie as the person murdered is Emily Spurgeon.  Frankie is asked by the mayor to work with Emily on a speech for the park re-dedication ceremony.  The town is rebuilding Spurgeon Park and adding some buildings and a gazebo and they thought it would be great to have Emily say some words seeing as the park is named after her family.  Her family owned the Deep Lakes Granite Works which employed a lot of people when it was open and she still resides in the Granite Mansion.  Frankie gets to know Emily while working on the speech and is shocked when she shows up to a scheduled meeting to learn that Emily had passed away in her sleep.  Luckily Frankie and Sheriff Alonzo Goodman are childhood friends and he lets her look over the scene and come to some conclusions for herself.  Frankie doesn't believe that Emily died innocently and when it is determined that Emily was murder, Frankie jumps head first into the case.

I have to warn the reader to read carefully....there are some key points throughout the book that will aid you in solving the case....I for one, overlooked them until they were brought up towards the end....and then the light bulb went on.  Ribar knows how to keep the reader thinking and enjoying the story.  I love how she takes things from the past and brings them front and center in this story.  And the way Frankie works through the case will have the reader in awe.  You cannot help but LOVE everything there is about Frankie, her jobs, her family, her friends and her community.  I would love to visit Deep Lakes and will do so every time Ribar writes a book.


Review by Missi M.