Book Review: Pumpkin Roll, by Josi S. Kilpack

Pumpkin Roll, by Josi S. Kilpack

Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Shadow Mountain (September 7, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1609087453
Rating (1 to 5*): *****
 
Pumpkin Roll Book Review


Sadie Hoffmiller is supposed to be on vacation. Well, she's babysitting her boyfriend's grandkids, but she's supposed to be on vacation from her investigation service. Yet, it doesn't take long for weird things to start happening, all starting with Mrs. Wapple, the neighbor across the street the kids insist is a witch. Mrs. Wapple doesn't make her case any less suspicious when she makes signs in the air and the light bulb in the lamp right next to Sadie explodes.

Things only get weirder from there, when Sadie tries to figure out how to help the poor woman across the street. Soon, it seems that ghosts are invading the house to scare them, although Sadie and Pete refuse to believe that could be true--or could it? Sadie is getting nowhere with Mrs. Wapple's sister, the poor woman's only family. To make things even worse, Jane, Sadie's part-time employee in the investigation business and full-time pain in the neck, shows up to help. Sadie doesn't really want her there, but it seems she can't get rid of her and could really use her. If she doesn't solve the mystery of what's going on and get Mrs. Wapple some help, who knows what could happen?

Josi S. Kilpack's books just keep getting better. You kind of want to strangle Sadie sometimes, but she has a good heart and you have to admire her tenacity. Pumpkin Roll was delightfully suspenseful, playing on the Halloween theme to keep me turning the pages over and over--I lost a lot of sleep thanks to this novel. The characters have fun, easy interactions, and the answer to the mystery was jealously guarded right up to the right moment.

Then, of course, there's the food. That darned Sadie is always cooking, which makes this series a hard one to read if you're on a diet! To further rub salt in the wound, Kilpack includes recipes for most of the treats mentioned in the book. I haven't tried them yet, but I've put in a couple of requests to my chef husband!

Tune in to the A Cup of Coffee and a Good Book BlogTalkRadio show at 10:00AM Pacific Time when I talk with Josi about Pumpkin Roll and all kinds of other interesting stuff. The recording will be posted in case you miss it!