Hanna agrees, but once in the pie shop she is reluctant to change any of Grannie's ways. Her friend Kate urges Hanna to update the shop, offer new things and be more aggressive in marketing herself and her shop. Hanna's reluctance, though, is a little misplaced as her Grannie has embraced a new, more modern life.

Grannie Louise is fitting in very well at Heavenly Acres, and has joined a bridge league. When Mary Brandt, the bridge partner everyone loves to hate, falls dead after eating a slice of Cranberry Walnut Pie, all eyes turn to Grannie, the consummate baker. Investigating the crime is Hanna's high school boyfriend Sam Genovese, also back in Crystal Cove.

Now Hanna is charged with not only running the Upper Crust but sorting out who among Grannie's new friends wanted Mary dead and who was willing to offer her a deadly piece of pie, and this all couldn't be over misplayed trump, could it?

A Good Day to Pie has potential to be the start of an enjoyable mystery series, but the ingredients don't seem to come together. Hanna is not very well developed, though it feels as if the potential is there; she is wishy-washy when it comes to the shop and has no real plans for it. There also seems to be something from her past holding her back, and she doesn't seem to be able to move on from it.

Kate is a good friend for Hanna and she would do well to take some of Kate's advice. Grannie Louise has embraced the changes in her life and soon appears younger and more energetic. The mystery, while not obvious to figure out, is basic and the plotting leads Hanna, and the reader, to the solution without much effort. As the characters and plot develop through the series, the pleasant setting will provide good atmosphere and backdrop to the future mysteries and Sam will provide a possible love interest for Hanna and a way for her to break away from her most recent past.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry