Fudge Shop Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of Fudge Shop Mystery Books

Like all rivetting stories, this book has a captivating main character and more than that, the character is female making her more relatable as women tend to display raw vulnerability which readers find endearing. Her name is Ava Oosterling and she returns to her hometown of Door County Winsconsin after a series of short stints in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. A lapse in judgment leads to her making a misguided decision that throws her life off course. She views this homecoming as a fresh start and an opportunity to regroup and launch her life on a new path. Her parents graciously accommodate her, even supplying her with the essential ingredients needed to create fudge delicacies for her up and coming fudge shop.

She is an ambitious business woman, running a copper-kettle fudge shop on the docks of Fishers’ harbor and directly facing the Green Bay side of the Pininsular county that forms the ‘thumb’ Winsconsin in Lake Michigan. Like all idealists, Ava envisions a more prestigious life for herself. She wants to spearhead the movement of making fudge highly acclaimed in the tourist haven of Door county. She even goes so far as to fantasize that her fudge will be so renowned that it will be found in the swag bags distributed at the Oscar Awards. Ava’s benevolent grandfather Gil indulges her by complying to share the space with her in his bait shop so that presently the sign reads: ‘Oosterlings’ Bait, Bobbers & Belgian Fudge’.

In the first installation of the book series, Hot Fudge Frame-Up, the First Annual Fudge Festival is eminent in Fishers’ Harbor, Winsconsin. Ava is over the moon with excitement as a celebration of this magnitude has the capability of attaining national recognition for her antiquated fudge shop in Door County, Winsconsin. An anonymous person is sending Ava notes that threaten her life and those of her loved ones if she does not veto all the fun activities. In the mean time most of the eligible bachelors in town are beating down Ava’s door to ask her to the dance on Saturday night.

She is flattered yet flustered at this turn of events as the question resonates in her head, “Whomever will I choose?”. In this book we also get to see that Dillon Rivers’ dog, Lucky, is up to no good. Also apparent is the intrusive nature of the church ladies as their idea of being helpful is to give unsolicited advice on how to operate a fudge shop. Readers are in for an unexpected treat as they learn of a New Fairy Tale Fudge flavor and a recipe for Belgian booyah from a Winsconsin kermis festival. So audacious and confident is Ava that she goes ahead and challenges two celebrity chefs to go neck-and-neck with her in a fudge contest at the Fudge Festival. Everyone at the festival is getting along famously and having a remarkable time.

That is, until of course, a judge for the festival is discovered deceased. To Ava’s complete and utter astonishment and chagrin, she finds out that the good judge had been telling anybody around town that would listen that her Fairy Tale fudge flavors had been lacking in some manner. The sheriff wrestles with the notion of whether Ava fits the bill for a murder suspect. The fudge chef extraordinaire therefore embarks on a mission to clear her name of all the allegations and zero in on the real killer but it’s not going to be easy sailing for her….

In the second installation of the book series, First-Degree Fudge, Ava Oosterling is charismatic and optimistic of the future. With renewed energy, she dives in head first into a world of discovering new recipes and organic, fresh ingredients with the hope of gaining a wider customer base. She soon hits a home run as she uses the local fresh dairy and her out of the box imagination to whip up a signature, distinctive fudge delicacy that eclipses all her previous creations. This also symbolizes a new beginning for her and soon she hatches a plan that will put her on the map. She reckons that if she can entice an oppulent former film star Rainetta Johnson to hazard a taste at her fudge, Cinderella Pink, at the local fundraiser then the path of least resistance for her will neither lead to crooked rivers nor crooked men. It would seem that Miss Ava Oosterling was experiencing a streak of bad luck because no sooner had Rainetta tasted the fudge than she choked to death on a stolen diamond concealed within the fudge’s soft depths.

It would therefore not come as a shock to anyone that Ava Oosterling was branded as the prime suspect and accused of maliciously tampering with the fudge prior to the fundraising event. Questions flood Ava’s mind as she clings on to her innocence by her bare fingertips, for instance, ” Who is trying to frame her for murder?” and, “Who in God’s green earth is attempting to fence diamonds by hiding them in her fudge?”. It would prove to be a trying time for the bright-eyed young woman as once again she finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation all the while fighting to keep her business and her reputation intact. This entails picking apart a horde of townspeople who had a plethora of reasons to detest condescending and miserly Rainetta.

As if these were not enough teething troubles for one person to bear, the plot thickens even more, like a bad pudding. Her best friend and former fling is also a suspect in the murder investigation. If she is to save both their souls, before even more sinister things begin to occur, then she needs to take drastic measures in order to pin down the perpetrator and solve this ominous murder mystery. She needs to get going when the going gets tough or else she will succumb to the dark force hell-bent on taking her down. This book was on the Barnes & Noble mystery best seller list for ten weeks when it debut in Fall 2013. So loose yourself in a Fudge Shop mystery (Series by Christine Desmet) today.