Death on Windmill Way by Carrie Doyle

Summary from Amazon: 

     The Hamptons are known for beautiful beaches, luxurious living, millionaire mansions, and now...murder!
     Antonia Bingham, a renowned chef and the new owner of East Hampton's Windmill Inn, escaped to the Hamptons to get away from a harrowing past. Yet now she finds herself in more danger than ever when she discovers the inn's previous owners may have been victims of murder. Will her overly inquisitive personality be her downfall as she digs up secrets in her attempt to solve the crime?

     Antonia's investigation weaves through the lives of the celebrities, year-round locals and the wealthy summer residents who all call the Hamptons home in her quest to reveal a dangerous killer. 

My Thoughts: 

      Antonia needed a do over on her life so at the suggestion of her best friend, Genevieve, she uses most of her inheritance to buy an inn and restaurant in East Hamptons, New York.  What she doesn’t know is that the town talks of a curse that claims that all the inn’s owners die under suspicious circumstances.  Unfortunately, Antonia only hears about this curse after she has done a complete renovation and has officially opened for business, what can she do now? Solve the murders, of course!

     There is quite the cast of characters here! Movie stars, tourists, tourist hating locals, etc.  Antonia is spunky and fun but I felt that we never got to know her and since she is the main character that would have been nice.  Some of the townspeople are quirky and fun but it seems like you only get small bits about them as well. 

     The only characters that stood out were the local crime reporter, Larry, and the best friend, Genevieve.  The only reasons are that Larry was such an obnoxious man and Genevieve was immature and didn’t even seem to be liked by Antonia!  I would have like a few more people to like in East Hamptons.

     The setting is idyllic and sounds beautiful and Antonia’s quite the chef and foodie so reading some of the restaurant and kitchen scenes made me hungry.  I could picture the inn and it sounded great but a wonderful setting isn’t all you need in a good mystery.  The idea behind the mystery was a good one but I honestly did not even care who may or may not have murdered these people that we didn’t even get to know. 

   I think that this could have been a great cozy mystery with all the quirky characters and the setting but there was just too much miscellaneous and useless information put in instead of details that added to the story.  Too many incidences of mundane information thrown in (cheese love, 2 pages of changing a light bulb!?) that didn't add to the story or the characters.  At nearly 400 pages, I was expecting a much more enjoyable read and in depth read.

2/5 stars