So Hard to Say Goodbye with Guest Olivia Matthews

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Brrrr! The temperature has dropped from the fifties to the thirties in just two days! But it’s perfect for welcoming back Olivia Matthews and her Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries because who doesn’t want something warm and spicy in this weather! Olivia is here to celebrate the release of Coconut Drop Dead on December 26. Yes, we all have to wait a week but it is up for pre-order!

Olivia: I want to thank The Wickeds Blog authors for inviting me back to spend today with your community. It’s always such a pleasure hanging out here.

I talked about my Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries during my last visit. The stories are centered around the Murrays, a multi-generational West Indian American family who opens a bakery in the Little Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The main family members are:

  • Lyndsay, our baker lead amateur sleuth,
  • Her older brother, Devon,
  • Her parents, Cedella and Jacob,
  • Her maternal grandmother, Genevieve Bain.

Aunts, uncles and cousins are regularly added to the mix. We get to know the bakery’s regular customers and all their moods. And there are two homicide detectives who turn up the heat on the investigations: Lyndsay’s high school crush and current love interest, Bryce Jackson, and his partner, Stanley Milner.

Against the Currant is the first book in the trilogy. Hard Dough Homicide is the second. Both are available now. Coconut Drop Dead is the last book in the trilogy. It releases Dec. 26, 2023.

I’ve enjoyed writing this trilogy and sharing some of my West Indian culture—food, music, colloquialisms and folklore—through the stories. Now I’m in what traditional publishing insiders call “limbo.” Will the publisher want additional Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries or will I have to say goodbye to the Murrays?

This is always such a tense, bittersweet time. My previous cozy mystery series—Sister Lou Mysteries and the Peach Coast Library Mysteries—ended before I was ready to say goodbye. In Sister Lou, I’d wanted Chris and Shari to at least get engaged if not married. And in my Peach Coast Library Mysteries, I’d wanted to solve the cold case I’d referenced in the first book, Murder by Page One.

What cozy mystery series do you believe ended too soon? Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts. I look forward to reading them.

About the Author

Olivia Matthews is the mystery pseudonym of best-selling author Patricia Sargeant. She’s written the Sister Lou, Peach Coast Library and Spice Isle Bakery mysteries. National publications such as Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Kirkus Reviews, Suspense Magazine, Mystery Scene Magazine, Library Journal and Book Riot have reviewed Patricia’s work.

Website: https://PatriciaSargeant.com

Twitter: @BooksByPatricia

Facebook: @AuthorPatriciaSargeant

Coconut Drop Dead: A Spice Isle Bakery Mystery, Book 3

By Olivia Matthews

This case is going to be a tough nut to crack.

Brooklyn’s annual Caribbean American Heritage Festival is finally here, and Spice Isle Bakery is thrilled to be one of the event’s food vendors. After all, the Murrays have been attending the festival for years. Co-owner Lyndsay Murray hopes their West Indian pastries and finger foods draw people back to the bakery in Little Caribbean. She’s looking forward to having fun, connecting with customers, and celebrating with her family.

The day’s festivities are cut short when Camille, lead singer of an up-and-coming reggae band, dies. The police think it may be a tragic accident. But Lyndsay’s cousin Manny was close to Camille, and he believes someone cut her life short. Now Manny needs Lyndsay’s help to make sure a killer faces the music.

Buy link: https://bit.ly/48bkOLy

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Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

34 Thoughts

  1. Welcome back, Olivia, and fingers crossed for a contract renewal! I have been in your seat many a time with the last book in the series wondering, “Will they or won’t they?”

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  2. Hi Patricia, I was lucky to get an early read of Coconut Drop Dead and enjoyed it. I hope you get a chance to continue it.

    The “Bookbinding” cozy mystery series by Harper Kincaid ended too soon.

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  4. Olivia, congrats on the new book even if it is tinged with sadness that it will be the final one.

    The White House Chef series by Julie Hyzy definitely ended too soon for my liking.

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  7. Big time congratulations on the new release, Olivia! It’s tough being in your position. I’ve been there. I hope you get to finish the series on your terms. Happy holidays!

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    1. J.C.!!!!!!! How lovely to “see” you here!!!!! Lean in for a hug! Thank you so very much for your cheers and for your well wishes regarding the Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries. You’re so kind. You also raise a good point. I would like to end the series on my terms. If the stories end with the trilogy, I’ll be at peace because Lyndsay completed her arc. I’m just not ready to say goodbye to the family. Ha! Selfish of me perhaps. LOL!

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  8. Olivia: I have enjoyed reading the first two books and am glad you are able to finish this trilogy on your own terms.

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    1. Grace, what a tremendously kind thing to state! Thank you so very, very much! I really appreciate you. And thank you so very much for taking a chance on the first two Spice Isle Bakery mysteries. I’m so thrilled – and relieved! Ha! – that you enjoyed them.

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  10. When we love a series and have become “friends” with the character, any series is hard to say goodbye to. I think it shows how well an author’s written the books, drawing in the reader whose always anxious for the next book, when we are sad at an ending – whether planned or at the decision of the publisher. Here’s hoping that the publishers see fit for this series to continue on for more books to come.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  11. Welcome back Olivia!! I read, loved and reviewed your first book AGAINST THE CURRANT, and must confess that I have HARD DOUGH HOMICIDE on my TBR pile…and looking forward to reading COCONUT DROP DEAD ( I love anything with coconut, so this is a MUST read!). It would be such a shame to not have a fourth in this exciting series!!!! I mourned the end of Vicki Delany’s Christmas Year Round Mysteries, but…some time after there was such a stir online about it, the series was picked up by another publisher, so now we have been able to read one other, and Vicki is writing the next one…oh JOY. If your series is not contin ued by the current publisher, I hope that another publisher will see the light and continue it! Thanks for delighting us with all 3 of your series! Merry Christmas to y’all! Luis at ole dot travel

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    1. Hi, Olletravel! Thank you so very much for taking a chance on my Spice Isle Bakery Mysteries! I really appreciate your encouragement. Thank you! I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas and a happy, safe and healthy New Year!

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  13. Congratulations on Coconut Drop Dead! Fingers crossed for a contract renewal.

    Series that ended too soon? Julie Hyzy’s White House series and Sarah Atwell’s (Sheila Connolly) Glassblower series.

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  15. Congratulations on the new book! I love Lyndsay and her family and friends. I would love to visit the Spice Isle Bakery and taste some of the food you describe so well. Fingers crossed that the series will continue…I will be sad if it doesn’t. Series that ended too soon for me? The Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon series by Sherry Harris (I think I read that the fourth book was the last one), and the Quaker Midwife series by Edith Maxwell.

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  17. Patricia! So wonderful to see you here. Fingers crossed for a renewal. I’ve been in your seat, and am figuring out the next adventure. What I do know is that you’re a wonderful writer, and there are more books in your future. Happy New Year!

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