Review of The Killer Karma (Julie Cavallo Investigates) by Ana T. Drew

 

Pastry chef Julie Cavallo unmasked a killer.
Life is good once again…
until her sous chef becomes a murder suspect.

Julie is certain Eric didn't kill his ex-con dad.
The question is, can she prove it to the lead investigator?
Alone she can’t.
She needs Beldoc’s best — and, ahem, only — amateur sleuth team to get back in the game.
Luckily, her shrewd sister, their feisty grandma and toe-worshiping dog are up for the challenge.
Besides, Julie hopes to enlist the help of one hot gendarme...

Clueless but committed, the detective trio sets out to expose the real killer.

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**My thoughts**

When I read the first book in this series, I enjoyed the setting of both the bakery and Provence, and had a feeling that it showed potential for a fun new cozy mystery series. This second installment shows definite growth since the first one and I enjoyed reading it. This one dove deeper into the different characters and had more twists and turns that kept me guessing as to who the killer actually was.

There are a lot of references to the first book in the series. I would say that you can read this one as a standalone, but many of those references are not going to make much sense. There isn't a lot of explanation in this one to make up for not reading that first one.

I enjoyed watching Julie embrace her psychic "snapshots" more in this one. I feel like there is a lot more to the story with her twin sister, who only appears for a moment, as does the older sister. I hope we get to know those siblings more in the future so that they aren't just passing mentions.

A bit of a love triangle sort of continues to develop between Julie and two particular men. I would love to see her sort out her feelings some more and be more true to her own heart instead of contemplating settling in the future.

And I still love Rose. Julie's grandmother is a force to be reckoned with. I feel like this book is setting us up for her to play a lot more of a role in the future. 

As with the first book, this story is resolved but then hints at the next book in the series without being a cliffhanger. I'm looking forward to reading that one as well.

I received a requested review copy of this book and was not obligated to review it. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Read my review of The Murderous Macaron