Please Note:  I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis(from Goodreads):

Pancake house owner Marley McKinney takes a break from the Flip Side for a romantic getaway. But soon, instead of mixing batter, she’s mixed up with murder . . .

Marley and her new husband Brett need some quality couple time before the holiday madness, so they drive up into the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula to charming Holly Lodge. Before long they’re enjoying snowshoe excursions, hot chocolates, and cuddling in front of a roaring fire. Despite some barely concealed marital tension between the owners of the lodge, they’re finally able to unwind . . .

Until one morning when they notice a glove sticking out of a snowbank outside of the lodge. Inside the glove is a hand connected to a frozen corpse buried beneath the snow—lodge owner Kevin Manning has been murdered. Presented with a stack of suspects and eventually stranded at the lodge by a blizzard, Marley has to catch the cold-hearted killer before someone else gets iced . . .

Review:

I really enjoy books set in small towns, and love it when a whole series revolves around one.  That is the charm of the Pancake Mystery series by Sarah Fox.  Unfortunately, A Room With a Roux, takes Marley, and her husband Brett, out of Wildwood Cove and to a mountain retreat instead.    While this was an enjoyable novel, I believe this was a mistake on the author's part.  Thankfully, the characters return home to Wildwood Cove and that saved the book for me. 

What I Liked:

As always, I love the scenes set in the small town of Wildwood Cove.  Having Marley interact with the various townspeople is wonderful.  There's even a subplot where someone is taking Christmas tree ornaments in the midst of a decorating competition.  I enjoyed how that mystery played out.

What I Didn't Like:

Lack of Character Development:

As I said in the introduction, I don't feel having a murder at a hotel worked in the story.   The reader really didn't get a feel for who the other characters were, as Marley's interactions with them were limited.  The author has to paint each character in really broad strokes, like having Ambrose, the poet, be overly emotional to show he's a deep thinker.  Or Zarha, the daughter of one of the hotel's owners, being suspected of the murder because she dresses in goth clothing and has a partially shaved head.  usually, in these books, Marley would dig into these peoples backgrounds and find something that would bring more of the character's motivations to life. This didn't happen much in this book.

Overly Descriptive at the Wrong Time:

Much of the book is filled with minute description of Marley's day.  It drones on and on about what she had for lunch, what she was going to wear, and her going window shopping.  This felt like filler, as these things had nothing to do with the plot.  There was very little actual action, until the finale.  It seemed to me that the author needed to stretch out the book in order to get to the good bits.

Rating: 

Release Date:  January 12th, 2021

Author:  Sarah Fox

Publisher:  Lyrical Press/Kensington Publishing Corporation

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Page Length:  214 Pages

Source:  NetGalley

Format:  E-book

Recommendation:  I think this is a library pick, at best.  This book just doesn't live up to the other books in the series.