Book Review: Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18) by Lee Hollis

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NetGalley ARC Book Review: Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18) by Lee Hollis
Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18) by Lee Hollis opens with Tom Farley and his neighbors in a snit because he's the last holdout to sell his house to a property developer who wants to build a resort. When Tom is shot at a pre-Thanksgiving community gathering and hospitalized, Hayley Powell puts her amateur sleuthing skills to good use.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishers for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this cozy mystery. I received a copy of this book for free in exchange of my honest opinion and review of the story.

I loved the fact that this latest installment of the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery series had a theme around the Thanksgiving holiday and included live turkeys in the plot. It was good to visit some familiar characters. Since this is the eighteenth installment in the series, Lee Hollis didn't go into much detail of the background of those reoccurring characters; however, she did provide some cursory details for those who may not have read any of the previous installments in the series. With that being said, there were more details given about new characters featured in Death of a Tom Turkey. There were lots of red herrings and motives of who would've wanted to harm Tom, but I couldn't figure out who the culprit, or culprits, were.

As much as I enjoy this particular cozy mystery series, I just wasn't feeling this one. It was well written with a few twists and turns and a big courtroom trial. With that being said, it was slower paced than I would have liked with very little clues given along the way. Some of the clues and twists given seemed convenient or appeared abruptly.

Three out of five stars is what I rated Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18) by Lee Hollis. Where this may not have been my favorite installment, it may be one of your favorites, so give it a read. This book was published on September 30, 2025.

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