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Crime and Cherry Pits–pug brings smiles in this cozy
Crime and Cherry Pits
By Amanda Flower
I needed a break from the more “serious” read that my book club had been working on for 6 weeks. It was a worthy read, with depth, but what I needed was the diversion of a cozy mystery, but not just any cozy mystery. I needed a novel with a strong, intelligent protagonist with an interesting background. I wanted a mystery that would keep me guessing with a little romance thrown in. If there could be a kid and animals, so much the better. I was delighted to see that a cozy mystery from Amanda Flower’s Farm to Table Mysteries was next in my queue.
In Crime and Cherry Pits, Shiloh Bellamy is the owner of the organic Bellamy Farm in Cherry Glen, a little western Michigan town. She has had to work hard to get it out of debt and running again, but she has done so well that she has been honored by an invitation to participate in the annual Cherry Festival in nearby Traverse City. While all seems to be going well, there are so many ways for things to go wrong. She has problems with a new organic farm neighbor who doesn’t really know what he has gotten into. Another neighbor has a darling, precocious daughter Hazel who adores Shiloh. Hazel’s father has known Shiloh since childhood and there is an attraction, but their past always looms between them. Hazel’s parents absolutely do not like Shiloh. Shiloh recently found some stocks left to her by her grandmother who died years ago. She wants to do what is right, not just what is legal, which causes problems with her father and her cousin.
Shiloh has a way of getting dangerously mixed up in murder cases partly because of circumstances and partly because she is nosy. Surely that could not be an issue in this story, because how could someone die at a Cherry Festival? Cue the cherry pit spitting competition! A production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest is produced by Shiloh’s cousin and Shiloh’s father accepts a leading role. There are affairs and lying, three police agencies get involved, and there are death threats. On the positive side, the reader gets to enjoy Shiloh’s cat Esmeralda and her pug Huckleberry who accompanies her almost everywhere. Add to that the farms animals: Diva the chicken and all the other chickens she controls and the flock of five Olde English Babydoll Southdown yearlings, less than twenty inches tall. Is someone out to hurt them? As Shiloh rises to the occasion, the reader can be sure that it won’t happen on Shiloh’s watch.
Crime and Cherry Pits is a cozy mystery that will keep you turning pages to see whodunit. You’ll need to read to the finish for a surprise ending.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #4 in the Farm to Table Mysteries, but could be read as a standalone because Flower includes background (without being boring).
2. Includes a basic recipe for homemade soap that sounds doable. Hers, of course, includes cherry essential oil.
Publication: February 27, 2024—Poisoned Pen Press
Memorable Lines:
She looked down at Huckleberry. “Is that a police dog?” “In training,” Milan said. “We aren’t sure he has what it takes.” “He’s a pug,” Susan said. “We thought we’d go for unassuming with this one,” Milan said with a straight face. “No kidding,” Susan replied.
My little pug was in tune with my emotions, and he felt my nervousness. I was grateful for his warm presence.
Inside the general store, Huckleberry was living his best life, lying on a plush dog bed and gnawing on a piece of beef jerky. He didn’t even look up when I entered the store. I didn’t blame him. Snacks in bed were my favorite too.
A Christmas Gift–sacrificing during hard times
A Christmas Gift
by Glendon Swarthout
illustrated by Myles Sprinzen
The story of this novella is told from the viewpoint of James Chubb, a thirteen year old boy who is sent from his home in Pennsylvania to his grandparents’ farm in Michigan. In the Great Depression, James’ father can not find work, any kind of work, to support his family. Like many other children in that generation, James was shipped off to live with relatives he had only visited twice. His grandparents were nice, however, and James worked hard for them.
A Christmas Gift covers several generations with a special focus on James’ great-grandfather who died in the Civil War. The reader sees the effect of war on multiple generations and the impact of the Great Depression on hard-working men who feel the shame of not being able to put food on the table. Many of those people would not accept government handouts, which even if accepted were still not enough for survival.
It was certainly not a good year for Christmas gifts. Some children received one practical gift like galoshes or a handmade gift such as a scarf. Many, of course, did not get anything for Christmas. In this story we see an abundance of love in a sacrificial gift.
Swarthout describes in detail the melodeon and the OilPull tractor that play key roles in the plot. He writes about the events of this story in such a way that you feel like you are there witnessing the difficult birth of an out of season lamb and the exhaustion of his grandfather during an evening like no other. He inserts some amusement in the participation of a family of daughters and some wonder in a magical Christmas Eve rescue.
Swarthout is an award winning writer, and his expertise shows in A Christmas Gift as he takes the reader on a journey back in time and into a rural farm setting. There are terms that the modern reader will find unfamiliar as James uses slang from the day. One funny touch is the inclusion of the use of a “party line” on their telephone service.
The trip skillfully manipulates emotions so that the reader feels close to this thirteen year old. Although it is not light-hearted,there is joy and also melancholy to be found in the tale. It is a story that in many ways defies typical genre classification. It is a good read, but each reader needs to decide if it achieves the classic status some feel it deserves.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Historical Fiction, Novella
Notes: 1. This book has also been published under the name The Melodeon (Doubleday, 1977) and has been made into a movie with the title A Christmas To Remember (1978).
2. YouTube has some great videos that will help the author’s wonderful descriptions of the melodeon and the Rumely Oil Pull tractor come alive.
Publication: 1992—St. Martin’s Press
Memorable Lines:
Ella kept two hundred chickens. “Good layers,” she called them — a characteristically rural understatement. Those Leghorns of hers were cornucopias, mother-lodes, veritable volcanoes of eggs.
Our ring was three long and one short, and after five minutes I decided some of the garrulous wives in the neighborhood must be on the line, so I lifted the receiver and listened in. Universal sin absolves individuals, and since everyone did it in those days, listening in on a party line was not considered sinful.
“You have to take the vinegar with the honey. That’s marriage for you.”
In Farm’s Way–the heart of the farm
In Farm’s Way
by Amanda Flower
There is a lot going on in Cherry Glen, Michigan, land of cherry orchards, snow, and ice fishing. Shiloh Bellamy left her L.A. producer job to return to Cherry Glen to save the family farm by reinventing it as an organic farm.
In the brief time since she returned to her home town, she has gained a reputation as someone who is nosy and can solve crimes. She helps her aging father as much as he will allow, but their bonds have never been strong as her father could not step up to the plate emotionally after Shiloh’s mother passed away. Along the way, they have both developed a relationship with the exuberant Hazel who loves to help on the farm. Hazel’s father Quinn, an EMT, was Shiloh’s deceased fiancé’s best friend. Complicated, right?
When Shiloh discovers a body under the ice at an ice fishing competition, and her friend Kristi’s husband is a prime suspect, Shiloh is asked to investigate. Woven into her sleuthing are topics like ice fishing, birding, beer brewing, and organic farming. Shiloh continues her search for something her beloved grandmother left for her at the “heart of the farm.” There is also a potential romance or two that mainly produces tension, but also ends the book with a cliff-hanger.
As with most mysteries you will meet some interesting characters along the way. there are two sheriffs who become a little territorial, a widow who doesn’t seem at all sad, and an organic beer brewing association with internal politics. Jesse’s Place is the cafe to go to if you want to pick up the latest local gossip, and Jesse herself is civic minded and kind hearted. Shiloh’s older cousin Stacey is fulfilling a personal dream by reviving the town theater using money she got from the sale of her half of the family farm. I mustn’t forget Shiloh’s animals. Her adorable pug is Huckleberry. He goes almost everywhere with her. She also has a Siamese cat who rules over the barn cats and Diva who rules in the hen house. Shiloh anthropomorphizes her animals and that adds humor to the story.
I have read most of Amanda Flower’s cozy mystery series and have enjoyed all of them. Her characters are interesting, and the plots are well conceived with lots of threads. In Farm’s Way continues her stellar reputation for good cozy mysteries.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #3 in the Farm to Table Mystery Series, but can be read as a standalone. Amanda Flower excels at providing background information as needed for the reader, so don’t be afraid to jump in with In Farm’s Way.
2. Includes tips and a recipe for suet for feeding birds in the winter.
Publication: February 21, 2023—Poisoned Pen Press (Source Books)
Memorable Lines:
I wasn’t one for the crowds, at least not crowds in Cherry Glen. I hadn’t really minded them in LA because they had anonymity. However, in my hometown, everyone knew who I was, what I was a doing. Gossip was a town pastime.
The Siamese looked over her shoulder at me and gave a very slow blink. I had read that a slow blink from a cat meant she was saying, “I love you.” However, when it came to Esmeralda, I was certain it meant, “I am your queen. Sit down, peasant.”
Huckleberry looked at me with wide pug eyes in alarm. To be honest, pugs looked alarmed the majority of the time. When they didn’t, they were asleep.
Put Out to Pasture–a victim’s startling past
Put Out to Pasture
by Amanda Flower
Since I enjoy Amanda Flower’s cozy mysteries, I left the first one in her new series Farm to Table Mysteries scratching my head in wonderment that this book, although satisfactory, was just not up to the standards I expect from this author. Fortunately, the first book was just a rough patch as she got started on the series. The second book, Put Out to Pasture, is everything I want in a cozy.
Flower turned around the pervasive and ugly negativity that permeated Shiloh’s return to her home town of Cherry Glen in Michigan from L.A. In this story there continue to be antagonists, but not everyone is pitted against Shi. When a dead body is found on her farm and her best friend Kristy is accused of the murder, Shi is doggedly determined to clear her name. There are a lot of clues that lead Shi and the reader to suspect various people. Having spent years with the Hollywood crowd, Shi knows that many seemingly good people may just be good actors.
Meanwhile, on the personal front, Shi’s best and favorite sidekick, her pug Huckleberry, continues to bring humor through Shi’s descriptions of what he appears to be thinking. She continues to clean out her grandmother’s cabin and finds a note to her with a mysterious riddle. She has a new neighbor who at first appears to be a bright light, but later seems to have greedy intentions. Shi’s deceased boyfriend’s best friend is working through the deaths of his friend and his own wife. Hazel, his daughter continues to be a breath of fresh air as the tween struggles to find a new normal with her firefighter dad’s erratic schedule and her grandmother’s protective strictness. Shi’s father, who was immersed in his Michigan history collection for most of Shi’s life might be coming out of his shell.
In this book, Shi is a likable character and we can see potential for her goals of revitalizing the family farm. The story is fast-paced with a web of threads and interesting characters. The author ends by dangling several hooks, any one of which is sufficient to reel the reader into the next book in the series.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #2 in the Farm to Table Mystery Series, but can certainly be read as a standalone.
Publication: February 22, 2022—Poisoned Pen Press
Memorable Lines:
The one anomaly in the gravel lot was my car, an expensive sports car that would be as practical in a Michigan winter as a snow blower was in LA.
“She seems calm to me.” “That doesn’t mean she’s not mad. Trust me, I know. When she is really, really mad she gets cold. She’s like the iceberg that took out the Titanic.”
“I think the thing I got most out of my parents’ death is cutting people a break. You don’t know what they have been through or are going through. Everyone could use a little kindness.”
A Fatal Yarn–detailed descriptions
A Fatal Yarn
by Peggy Ehrhart
I have read four out of five of the books in the Knit & Nibble Mystery Series by Peggy Ehrhart, so I obviously enjoy the series as a whole. All of the books are more calming than usual for a cozy mystery series, rather like knitting is a tranquil activity for many. In A Fatal Yarn, however, the author’s greatest asset, descriptive writing, becomes a flaw in her writing. At first I was just amazed at passage after passage detailing settings and meals. Then I realized that the food descriptions especially had become redundant. I don’t really need repeated retellings of the main character’s preparations of black coffee and multigrain toast to understand that she only has coffee and toast for breakfast every day.
The story revolves around Pamela, a widow who edits articles for a fiber craft magazine, and her friend and neighbor Bettina, a writer for the local weekly paper. In this case, they are trying to prove that Roland, a member of their knitting group, did not murder the mayor. Before they can accomplish that task, they discover that an elderly woman in town did not die of natural causes. Pamela and Bettina follow clues by trailing suspects, interviewing those with connections to the victims, and occasionally putting themselves in harm’s way. The plot was good, the characters quite likable, and the descriptions well executed. I enjoyed it because I like the series, but I would not recommend this book to introduce someone to the series. I wondered, sadly, if this talented author was trying to fill out a word count. Regardless, I still want to read the next book in the Knit & Nibble series.
I would like to extend my thanks to Netgalley and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #5 in the Knit & Nibble Mystery Series which does not have to be read in order.
2. Includes directions for a knitted cover for a throw pillow and a recipe for “Lemon Yogurt Easter Cake with Cream Cheese Icing.”
Publication: March 31, 2020—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
Bettina was distracted then by the milkshakes. They arrived in tall glasses filmed with condensation and crowned with a froth of bubbles, accented by straws inserted at a jaunty angle. She pulled her milkshake toward her and sampled it with an eager sip.
Such a human impulse, she reflected, to express oneself with whatever art materials were at hand. And women, whose world was so much narrower in some cultures, had found in crafts like needlework or weaving or quilting or knitting vehicles for their artistry.
As they watched, a rooster appeared in the doorway, a magnificent creature with glossy feathers that shaded from fiery orange on his neck and chest to the iridescent blue-black plumes that formed his exuberant tail. He strutted forth, turning his head this way and that as if to display the proud serrations of his bright red comb and his quivering wattles.
education pathways 