Vanilla Vendetta by Rosie A. Point

Charlotte Mission, an ex-spy is hiding from a rogue agent. The rogue agent is none other than her ex-husband Kyle. She is asked to go into hiding in a sleepy little town in Texas – Gossip. Gossip is where Charlotte’s grandmother – another ex-spy lives. Charlotte starts working undercover as a maid at Gossip Inn (owned by her grandmother.) But on her first day at work, a man falls dead – after eating the cupcake that Charlotte just served him. Charlotte cannot afford to have her cover blown. But she’s also one of the suspects in the man’s murder. Also, it’s in her blood to discover her truth; once a spy, always a spy…

Vanilla Vendetta is the first book in Rosie A. Point’s Mission Inn-Possible series. I read this book as a part of Lori’s Alphabet Soup Challenge. I really loved the concept of an ex-spy hiding from a rogue agent – who also happens to be her ex-husband – and solving crimes in the meanwhile.

Charlotte Mission goes undercover as a maid. She’s now called Charlotte Jean Smith and works at her grandmother’s Gossip Inn. Her grandmother is also an ex-spy and is currently hiding from a notorious gang-leader whose network she brought down years ago. Lauren is a cook at the Inn and is known for her specialty vanilla cupcakes.

On her first day at work, Charlotte introduces herself to the guests at the Inn (Charlotte is very bad at socializing) and starts to serve Vanilla cupcakes. One of the guests, Pete, takes a bit of the cupcake and starts to choke. His lips turn blue and he falls dead before anybody could help him. The local police arrive and Charlotte learns Pete was poisoned. Poisoned from the cupcakes that she served minutes ago.

Charlotte is drawn to investigate the case and clear her name. She doesn’t want her cover to be blown. Her ex-husband might be in Prague right now and under surveillance but you never know who he’s currently in contact with. Soon after the murder, two guests complain their jewelry was stolen from their room. They are suspicious of Charlotte as the murder and thefts began soon after her arrival. Meanwhile, the local restaurant owner Grayson is a lecherous man. He flirts with Lauren in a creepy way and Charlotte is losing her patience at the man’s indecent behavior.

There are plenty of red herrings throughout and it was not easy for me to identity the perp before Charlotte did. Also, the side stories of various characters added an extra dash of mystery to the main plot.

I absolutely enjoyed reading Vanilla Vendettta by Rosie A. Point and am looking forward to catch up with the series. It took me some time to get used to the writing style but I ain’t complainin’. If you are looking for a quirky cozy mystery with a dash of ‘spy’, you might want to give Vanilla Vendetta by Rosie A. Point a try. Wow, that rhymed!

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