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	Title:	Strawberry Rhubarb Pie: A family gathering mystery
	Author:	David Marshall Hunt
	Published:	June 17, 2021, David Marshall Hunt
	No. of Pages:	337
	Cover Price:	$16.95 Paperback, $6.95 Kindle

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Strawberry Rhubarb Pie is the first novel in the Family Gathering Mystery series. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie is essentially a fictional memoir. The main characters are professors, Daniel Jonson and his girlfriend Claire Parsons (double PHD) and they are trying to unlock Daniel’s memory as to his family secrets and guilt that he feels after his mother dies. Most of the beginning chapters present history of Seattle’s Montlake Cut Bridge (The Cut). The characters are into distance running, and much of the history is about rowing. This may mean something to readers from Seattle, but the rest of the country most likely doesn’t care.

Reading this book is reminiscent of watching the old home movies of a family you’re not acquainted with. B-O-R-I-N-G. There isn’t any building suspense, no murder, and the uncovering of family secrets that nobody will really care about. Most of the story is about a deceased uncle and the history of Daniel’s relationship with him in Seattle. While the history of The Cut may interest some, it isn’t relevant to most of us and most readers may find it dry.

On the upside, Hunt’s writing is good, and he develops his characters so that they seem real; real, maybe, but not particularly interesting. There is also a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie that sounds great and is worth trying during rhubarb season using home-grown rhubarb.

When seeing the title, one would figure that this novel is a cute cozy, but that isn’t the case. There is nothing cute about it, and it can certainly be used as a crutch for those with insomnia. Anyone who likes boring fiction with little happening, and virtually no suspense, will enjoy this novel.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.