VANISHING INTO THE 100% DARK
By Amber Royer
Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Golden Tip Press
Pages: 288
Publication Date: March 4, 2025
SYNOPSIS
Bean to chocolate maker Felicity Koerber has been invited to be part of a chocolate festival in Tokyo. It’s a big deal for a Texas gal with a chocolate shop on Galveston’s historic Strand, so a whole group of her friends come along to support her. It’s intimidating enough to be giving a class on chocolate making with the help of a translator – she also stumbles across the scene of a murder, where a quirky group of international actors and stunt performers are making a monster movie. Felicity has already solved half a dozen murders back in Texas, so at this point her friends basically expect her to get involved – even before the young media influencer in Felicity’s group becomes the main suspect. Felicity has taken on the role of chaperone for Chloe, so she can’t imagine how she could explain what went wrong to the girl’s mother. Which gives her even more motivation to figure out the real killer.
In the meantime, things get complicated at the chocolate festival when a rival chocolate maker tries to get her disqualified from the awards competition – and claims that her amateur sleuth status is bringing undesirables into the festival. And things are even more complicated as the stress of being in an unfamiliar place brings out secrets about Felicity’s friends – and her fiancé.
Honda the calico cat makes an appearance on the movie set, making Felicity homesick for her pet bunny, left at home. But the cat may know more about what happened than she is letting on. Can Felicity solve the murder in time to keep Chloe from getting arrested, while making things right with the people she cares about, and presenting a good showing at the chocolate festival?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amber Royer writes the Chocoverse space opera series and the Bean to Bar Mysteries. She is also the author of Story Like a Journalist: a Workbook for Novelists and has co-authored a chocolate-related cookbook with her husband. She also teaches creative writing and is an author coach.
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REVIEW
Oh, Amber Royer. Your books are like a box of chocolates, except I always know what I’m going to get – a story with familiar characters I love and new characters that hold my attention, humor, twists and turns, and always, chocolate. You never disappoint!
Vanishing into the 100% Dark is the eighth in Royer’s Bean to Bar Mysteries. You can check out my reviews of other books here.
Greetings and Felicitations is garnering some international attention, and Felicity and friends are off to Japan to take part in a chocolate festival! (I would absolutely travel to Japan for a chocolate festival.) Felicity will have a booth selling chocolates and will also be teaching a class on chocolate making. She’s hoping that this can just be an enjoyable experience. But someone presents her with a murder mystery, and y’all know what happens next! The murder magnet strikes again, and Felicity finds herself smack dab in the middle of an investigation.
This was an exciting read! There were a couple of story lines that Royer wove together nicely. First, the mystery. Felicity gets a little more adventure in her life than she planned on when she tries to catch the thief who stole her phone shortly after their arrival in Tokyo. That same phone thief ends up dead, but the body goes missing while Felicity is waiting on the police to get there. And Chloe, the young YouTuber who’s part of the group, may be the prime suspect for the murder. So we’ve got the whodunnit going on.
Then another exhibitor accuses Felicity of cheating and tries to get her removed from the festival. She’s downright ugly, making claims that Felicity knows can’t be true, and time and effort have to be expended in disproving those claims. Will Felicity make it to the end of the festival, and why is this person saying such terrible things? What’s their story? Read on and find out.
And then there are the connections between characters. Felicity has never felt that Logan’s sister Dawn likes her much, but they get a chance to spend more time together on this trip. I do believe it’s a positive step in their relationship. There are connections between various people associated with the monster movie being filmed, and it takes a little time for Royer to lay down the trail that we follow to sort those out. Some characters make you shake your head, and some may have you wiping away a little tear.
Bless her heart, though, Felicity still finds things to worry about with Logan. I thought I was a world-class worrier. I think she has me beat. The trip brings to light things she didn’t know about him, and she worries that she isn’t a good fiancée because she doesn’t know all these things. I alternated between wanting to talk sense into her and wanting to tell her that I’ve been married double digits of years and still learn things about my husband, that she and Logan will be just fine.
Just like a good chocolate bar, Amber Royer’s books are sweet to read and always satisfying. Vanishing into the 100% Dark continues the tradition and keeps her squarely on my list of must-read authors. I know the story isn’t finished yet, so I’ll eagerly anticipate the next in the series!
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Awww. Thank you for such a kind review. And yes, the story isn’t over. The next book is tentatively titled Death by Bloomed Chocolate (I’m still toying with it, but I need the word bloomed in there somewhere because in it, Fee and Logan will finally get their special day — only something has happened to the florist).
As always, a great review and fabulous final paragraph to sum up the books in this series! Gonna read this on my plane ride home!