Wedding bells are in the air—along with the aroma of maple syrup—in the latest Pancake House Mystery. But a series of murders threatens to spoil everyone’s appetite. . .
 
Between tourist season, planning her beach wedding, and running her pancake house, the Flip Side, Marley McKinney is busier than ever. On top of that, one of her regulars is competing in Wildwood Cove’s Golden Oldies Games—a sporting event for athletes 50 and over—and Marley wants to cheer her on. Everything’s running as smooth as batter—until sports reporter Yvonne Pritchard stirs up a triple batch of trouble . . .
 
Yvonne has one admirer in town—Ed Herman—but she has many more enemies, from a disgruntled coach to an athlete she once shamed on social media. So when a body washes up on shore, and it’s no accident, it’s not a complete surprise Yvonne is the victim. And when Ed asks Marley to use her sleuthing skills to solve the crime, she’ll have to squeeze in time between squeezing into wedding dresses. Then a second victim turns up, and Marley will have to work at high speed to stop a killer from piling up bodies faster than she can whip up a tall stack . . .

In this latest edition to the Pancake House Mystery series, Marley is balancing solving murders and planning for her upcoming nuptials.  The primary plot is centered around the Golden Oldies Games, which is a set of athletic events geared towards older men and women.  I’ve always enjoyed watching the Olympics and in a way, this event reminded me of childhood watching people compete.  Even as a reader, I was curious to see which side characters would place in their events.  I’ve never heard of a Golden Oldies Games, but I’m now curious to see if there are similar events in my area. I would enjoy cheering on people who are still focusing on pushing themselves to remain active.

The thing I love about Marley’s wedding planning is that it’s really laid back.  I am not a frilly kind of girl and I appreciate that the author chose to have Marley be relaxed in her planning as opposed to a bridezilla.  I also am thank the author chose to end the book with Marley’s wedding. I know this is tiny spoiler. But I found myself wondering if the next book would have a murder occurring during the days leading up to the wedding.  Of course, this still leaves Marley open to discovering a dead body on her honeymoon, but I’ve read enough murders before wedding novels.

Believe it or not, I guess the murderer early on and then changed my mind! My gut was right on the ball, but I was truly trying to let the book take me on the ride and second guessed myself. In truth, the author did a solid job of not making it obvious and there was still a little twist to my original guess.

Overall, this was another wonderful book to read. I’m on summer break and I’ve enjoyed catching up on this series. I can’t wait for the next one!

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