Bleeding Tarts
By Kirsten Weiss
This is book two in the series. Val is taking a big sale of pies to the ghost town called Bar X where they will be having a big event when someone shots a cherry pie out of her hands. Then she hears another shot. She runs to hide and finds a dead body! That won't be the last one she finds either!
Val and Charlene, her feisty elderly pie shell cook, decides to figure out who is guilty before Charlene's rival figures it out!
Lots of fun ensues! ( )

Valentine Harris is a baker who does a bit of amateur sleuthing on the side. She's a bit stressed lately because she recently expanded her pie shop and it's been a bit difficult juggling finances. To bring in a bit of money, she's providing the pies for an eating contest at an area tourist attraction. Bar X is a fake ghost town and Valentine wants a contract with them. Supplying pies for the tourists would bring in some much needed steady income for Pie Town. As she is delivering the pies for the event, things get a bit dicey. Sharp Shooters are practicing for an event at the ghost town, and a stray bullet slings through one of the pie boxes she's carrying. Valentine is hardly recovered from the explosion of cherry filling and pie crust when she sees a dead man on the ground. The Bar X bartender has been shot dead. Calling the police covered in bright red cherry pie filling makes her a suspect at first, but soon Valentine is on the case, doing whatever she can to identify the killer. Baiting a killer is dangerous though. If she's not careful, it won't be just the pie and the bartender that have a couple extra holes in them.

Bleeding Tarts is the second book in the Pie Town cozy mystery series. It isn't necessary to have read the first book, The Quiche and the Dead, to enjoy this mystery. A bit of the character background is continued from the first book, but there is enough background info included in the second book to make it easy to just jump in and read.

I enjoy this series. It has a nice mix of humor, background theme and mystery. There are recipes included at the end of the mystery as well. Pie recipes of course! Not all are dessert pies though. One is savory and involves cheese...definite yum there. :)

The mystery in this newest addition to the series moves along at a nice pace. The murder happens pretty quickly in chapter one, so there isn't a lot of waiting for the dirty deed to be done. The setting of a fake ghost town with every sort of tourist trap trick is very entertaining and fun. I thought it was hilarious when Valentine gets shot right in the pie....and then the police think she's covered in blood when it's actually cherry pie filling. :) The rest of the book was just as cute and fun. Definitely a great cozy!

A 3rd book in the series, Pie Hard, is coming out in February 2019.

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

This is the second book in the Pie Town Mystery series, but I did not read the first book and had no problem following this story. Val Harris owns Pie Town and is trying to drum up new business after hiring new employees. She had taken on a catering job for the Bar X Ghost Town that is holding a benefit. When Val and Charlene (her pastry baker) arrive at the fake ghost town, Val is shot at along with finding a dead body. As the story continues, Val is the victim of a couple more attempts on her life. Obviously, she is not taking that sitting down and is out to find the murderer as well as whoever is trying to kill her.

Charlene and Val are the Baker Street Bakers, sleuths ready to solve a mystery. Charlene, who says she is 42 but more like 82, is a hoot. She and her old nemesis Marla are trying to outdo each other in solving the murder and their encounters are so funny. She and Val get themselves in some sticky situations while trying to sort out the situation, but her individual investigations almost always end up in hilarity. The murder in this story happens right at the beginning of the story and the plot moves along quickly. The setting of a fake ghost town is pretty interesting and certainly very different from any others I have read about. If you are looking for a fun cozy mystery with a good mystery, pick up this book. I will definitely go back and read the first book in this series to see what I have missed. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.
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Bleeding Tarts by Kirsten Weiss
Book #2: Pie Town Mystery Series
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 4½/5 stars

Since nearly dying while investigating a crime, Val Harris and her crust maker, Charlene have taken to solving much more mundane mysteries. When not solving crimes, Val and Charlene are working hard to build Pie Town, improve customer relations, create new recipes, and bring in wholesale customers to increase revenue.

As it happens, the Bar X “ghost” town is looking for a supplier and if Val’s pies go over well at their pie eating contest, Val will have her first wholesale customer. There’s a lot riding on this deal and Val has high hopes. Just as she and Charlene are delivering their baked goods, everything falls apart. One of Val’s pies is shot right out her hands and as she is running for cover, she finds the shot-up body of the Bar X bartender. Yeah, another dead body and murder to solve is just what Val needed in her life.

As always, Charlene is more than ready to dive headlong into the fray and this time, she’s going up her against her arch nemesis! With three amateur detectives, one worthless police chief, and one real detective on the case, it shouldn’t take any time to ferret out the killer. Unfortunately for all those detecting, the killer has no intention of being caught. In fact, the killer has every intention of taking out one or two more people before the whole mess concludes. Unfortunately for Val, she’s on the killer’s to-do list and her detecting partner has lost her mind and drive to solve the crime. If Val doesn’t figure it all out, she’s going to have no wholesale customer, no way to pay her increasing bills, and no life. Just another day at the office, right?

The Bottom Line: Bleeding Tarts has the kind of evolution I like to see in books/series, slow and steady with real purpose. Weiss has given Val forward movement in both her personal life (the yummy detective!) and in her professional life, while giving us more about crazy Charlene’s past. The two women are such a mismatched pair, yet so perfectly suited for another. Charlene is a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of woman, while Val is far more conservative and thoughtful in her approach to detecting, life, and business. Between the two of them, there is always some sort of madness occurring which makes the read so much more fun. There are hijinks and shenanigans, more than a bit of personal drama, and some very real drama to keep the reader interested and moving forward. The pacing is perfect for the story and I enjoyed this one from cover to cover. ( )

The second Installment from Pietown goes along pretty well with a nice cozy mystery but the main characters seem to me a bit stagnant. Charlene is a bit too loopy - carrying a cat around her neck, always a bit alien/fairy/ghost excessive. Not sure that I can take much more of that. It definitely IMO needs to be toned down. Charlene's antics really detract from the mystery. Maybe a different sidekick? Petronella maybe?
I like the premise and other characters, but Charlene I can do without. ( )