A Pinch of Assault (Sunny Side Up Mysteries Book # 3) by Misty Simon

Welcome to the Sunny Side Up Diner, where the jukeboxes jive and the secrets thrive...With things at her Sunny Side Up Diner sailing along smoothly for once, Jax Tapman has turned her attention to her personal life. It’s time to meet the boyfriend’s mother in person. And while Jax isn't totally certain she’s up to the challenge, she agrees to show Eliot’s mom around a local retirement home. It sounds innocent enough, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to sell the woman on the idea of moving to be closer to her son. But instead of making her case, when Jax enters the model apartment, she and her potential in-law find one dead body and a whole lot of secrets!

Suddenly it’s up to Jax to discover who the retirement home killer is—a task that only gets harder when someone from Eliot's past shows up and might know far more about the crime than she’s letting on.

The Sunny Side Up Diner is jumping with gossip, Jax and her best friend Dani are running interference, and Eliot’s mom is calling all the shots. But sorting out chaos and minimizing damage is something Jax has grown accustomed to, if she can only get a clue.


"This new series is off to a great start. Misty does an excellent job showing readers all the details of the small town, the diner, and a cast of entertaining characters."
~ Kings River Life Magazine

"Readers cannot help but fall in love with this first book!!! Simon has you laughing out loud... I, for one, look forward to more books in the series!!!!"
~ Cozy Mystery Book Reviews  (Summary via Goodreads)

Readers cannot help falling in love with the Sunny Side Up Mystery series by Misty Simon.  So, when the third book in the series, A Pinch of Assault, came out I know I was excited to catch up with Jax, Dani, Eliot and crew.  

In The Sunny Side Up series readers get to know Jax and her best friend Dani as they run the diner they worked at when they are teenagers and were able to buy as adults.  This was their dream and they love it just as much as solving the murders that they come across.  And they are fortunate to have Jax's boyfriend Eliot helping them .... which is good seeing as he was a detective and now is a well-loved chef.

In the third book A Pinch of Assault Jax is excited to be meeting Eliot's mother in person.  Eliot's mother, Dot, is coming into town to tour a local retirement home to be closer to him.  Jax agrees to go with her and Eliot and when their tour guide gets called to an emergency, he decides to just give them the keys to go look at the model home alone.

Unfortunately, before they can get too far into looking around, they find a body in the kitchen and an old friend from Eliot's past in the back of the apartment.

Not only does Jax want to get to know Dot better but now she has a murder to help solve and an old friend of Eliot's, Maureen, to learn about.  Eliot and Maureen were childhood friends as well as partners on the police force until he moved away and became a chef.  With Dot working the desk in the police force and Maureen also on the force, it is only beneficial for them to join the crew as they work together to solve the murder and prove that The Jolly Oaks retirement community is safe for Dot.

Readers will love everything within this series.  I, personally, love the relationships and now that Dot is included, they are better !!  I believe that Dot and Jax are going to be very close in future books and if the way this one ended, I am pretty sure of it !!  I look forward to where Simon takes us next .....