Survival of the Fritters by Ginger Bolton

I was definitely drawn to this book right away because of the cover. Donuts. A cat. What is not to love about this? Once I started reading the book, I found myself charmed by the donut shop owned by our heroine Emily Westhill and her father-in-law, Tom. Even more charming is Emily’s adorable cat named Deputy Donut (also the name of her donut shop). The adorable feline goes by the nickname of Dep. I will admit I am a cat lover, so of course I enjoyed Dep’s personality and the way she’s written. One of Emily’s favorite customer, Georgia, fails to show up to the shop, so Emily and Georgia’s group of friends, called the Knitpickers go to her house and unfortunately find poor Georgia’s body. As we delve into Georgia’s death, we learn about some history that happened five years earlier which will introduce us to various characters. Fallingbrook is the town that this story is set in and I can feel the small town charm as I read. Ginger Bolton has created a strong and amiable heroine with wonderful supporting characters. I like her strong friendships with her two best friends from high school and her budding new friendship with her neighbor. The plot was good overall and it kept me thinking. As we were introduced to characters, I created theories in my mind about whether someone was guilty of the crime. I kept trying to solve the case before the book was finished. Bolton did a good job of setting up various characters to try and mislead the reader. I will definitely continue to read this series.