I enjoyed this book. The characters are not well developed, but they are pleasant to read about.

In the 1st book in the Soapmaking Mystery series, we are introduced to Benjamin Perkins, one member of the large Perkins clan who runs a specialty soap shop in North Carolina. All seven siblings work together in the shop, Where There's Soap, and support each other in the different stages of their lives. Ben, like several of his siblings, is single and finding it difficult to find love. But nothing quite compares to the disastrous love life of his sister, Louisa, whose boyfriend is found murdered on the back steps of their soap shop! The police immediately suspect Louisa, as she had recently discovered her boyfriend, Jerry Sanger, was unfaithful to her with several other local women. Led by their mother, the Perkins family beseeches Ben to poke around in the case, and to assist in their investigation. He investigates possible suspects along with his occasional date and police detective friend, Molly Wilkes, and also with his new potential love interest and lawyer, Kelly Sheer. Working with the help of the two women in his life, Ben works hard to discover the killer before his beloved sister is locked up for good.

I have read and really enjoyed the candlemaking mystery series that is also written by this author, and was excited to try this one as well. I was disappointed in the first installment, however, and found that it didn't have the same flow or easy dialogue as I found in that series. I found a lot of the back and forth dialogue between the Perkins siblings to be a bit strange and distracting, and found Ben to be a somewhat effeminate character. I think the series has potential, however, and will read the next installment before deciding whether to continue with future books or not. If you like cozy mysteries, I would definitely try the candlemaking mysteries by this author starting with the book, At Wick's End.

The next book in the Soapmaking Mystery series is called "A Pour Way to Die". Enjoy!

This book has got to be the worst-written mystery ever. The plot itself is so-so (once you get past the idea that a small town has three soap stores in it), but the characters are one-dimensional and their relationships with each other are paint-by-number. Every so often the author gives a perfunctory nod to the fact that it's supposed to be a mystery and mentions the crime or the policewoman (for whom the narrator clearly has zero respect, despite their on-again off-again relationship). I'm not even going to give this book to my mother to read. I couldn't bear for her to waste her time reading it.

Thinking this to be another of the candle-shop books, I picked it up. Oh, well. It was a fun read anyway. To be sure, I did raise an eyebrow at the mention of the candle shop, but since it was an anonymous mention, I didn't think all that much of it.

Ben Perkins, being the oldest son of a warm and loving family is quite a different character from the orphan of the candle-shop, in my opinion, and the details of the shop and the soap-making are fascinating. Who wouldn't want to know all the whys and wherefores involved if, in the course of your daily job, you stumbled over the very dead and somewhat mis-treated corpse of one of the suppliers to your business? Especially if that supplier had been dating your sister? Seems reasonable to me.

All the red herrings were firmly in place, with a lot of interesting new folks yet to meet in this new series by Tim Myers. One thing is absolutely for certain, however. Tim creates the most appealing, clever and sometimes humorous names and concepts (or themes) for stores and businesses that I've come across in some time. He makes Harper's Landing into a very comfy place to live and work.

Ben's widowed Mom is a tad pushy, but after raising seven kids, I guess she's entitled to be just that. But still, I think she's pushed them all in the right direction, even if only two of them are married so far. Let's see, that leaves at least five more books to come - one in which to get each sibling a mate - oh! and then two more, so that Mom and Grandpa (who didn't appear here) can acquire `friends' of their own.

The townsfolk are an interesting bunch, as well. The next book in the series will be along in a couple of months, and I'll be watching for it.

Harrison Black is an orphan; Ben Perkins is part of a large extended family. There's the difference between this series and the candlemaking one. Both guys are single 30-somethings who give artsy-craftsy lessons for a living - in the same town! Ben appears to be slightly huskier, but I cannot get a distinct, separate picture of each. Sorry, but it was really tough for me to buy into this series as more than a weak copy of the other. A strange differentiation occurs here in that Ben's case is covered by the local policewoman, whereas Harrison's are investigated by the Sheriff's Office.
SPOILER ALERT ...
The culprit here turned out to be roughly the same as in Harrison's latest, with an age/gender change: Instead of an older male "minding the shop for absent owner" we get a younger female "minding the shop for absent owners." How close is that!

I put the book down for a moment, shook my head, and mumbled, "The author shouldn't have done that!" when Ben's brother says he wants to get home to read the new "mystery about a candle shop" (p. 192). I wondered whether there was an editor at all after reading the following (p. 211): " ... all the people I'd put through the ringer [sic] over this case."

I will buy the next Harrison Black installment. If there is a sequel to this one, I would read it only as a library book; wouldn't even be worth buying a cheap used copy for something so insultingly derivative. I give it two stars because it could stand on its own without the other series, though not as well.