Cooking the Books by Bonnie S. Calhoun

About the Book: After her mother dies from a heart attack, Sloane Templeton goes from Cyber Crimes Unit to bookstore owner before she can blink. She also "inherits" a half-batty store manager; a strange bunch of little old people from the neighborhood who meet at the store once a week, but never read books, called the Granny Oakleys Book Club; and Aunt Verline, who fancies herself an Iron Chef when in reality you need a cast iron stomach to partake of her culinary disasters. And with a group like this you should never ask, “What else can go wrong?”

A lot! Sloane begins to receive cyber threats. While Sloane uses her computer forensic skills to uncover the source of the threats, it is discovered someone is out to kill her. Can her life get more crazy?

My Thoughts:
Sloan Templeton was working in a cyber crime unit, and she was ill-prepared to enter the world of book sales and antique manuscripts. I think she would've eventually got the hang of the book store, but the characters she inherited with it...oh my goodness!! Between her aunt Verlene and her crazy antics and Fifi and her gun-totin' grannys...you better hang on for the ride!! And there are really wicked, deadly people mixed into the bunch and the reader doesn't even figure it out until....well, until things are soooo crazy mixed-up that you're not even sure who's going to survive! And all for a ....well....something I can't say without spoiling the plot...but man!! It's not worth all of the heartache that's for sure!

I know Bonnie Calhoun, and Sloan Templeton might just be her fictional twin!! So smart, stylish and snarky that you can't help but love her!! Truly, Cooking the Books is a stellar debut novel - highly entertaining and with characters so real you kind of miss them when you read the final page .


About the Author: I wear seven hats, juggle a dozen balls, and think slept is sorely over-rated. What else is there to life? And a note to men who think a woman's place is in the kitchen...Need I remind you, that's where the knives are kept bucko!