Wednesday, March 13, 2024

#Review ~ Deadly to the Core (A Cider House Mystery) by Joyce Tremel ~ #CozyMysteryReview @JoyceTremel #CozyMystery



Deadly to the Core (A Cider House Mystery) by Joyce Tremel

Book Details:

Deadly to the Core (A Cider House Mystery)

Cozy Mystery

1st in Series

Setting - Pennsylvania

Crooked Lane Books (January 16, 2024)

Hardcover: ‎ 250 pages

ISBN-10: ‎ 1639105433

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1639105434

Digital ASIN: ‎ B0C2P4QB9T


About Deadly to the Core:

Perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Julie Anne Lindsey, when Kate Mulligan inherits her great uncle’s fruit orchard, she quickly realizes that apples aren’t the only thing that can have rotten cores.

After losing her husband in a terrible car crash, thirty-five-year-old Kate is left to pick up the pieces of her life alone. Although she has physically recovered, she worries her spirit never will. But when she learns that she has inherited a fruit orchard in a small town just outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from her great uncle Stan, she takes this as an opportunity ripe for the picking. Kate knew immediately what to do with it: open a cider house. Her hopeful plans fall far from the tree when she finds the body of the orchard manager, Carl Randolph, leaving her to figure out who is at the core of this murder.

She had been in correspondence with Carl, who had agreed with her brilliant idea of opening a cider house. But not everyone is so quick to buy what she was selling—Uncle Stan’s lawyer, Robert Larabee, paints a less rosy financial outlook of the orchard’s past, present, and future.

Kate discovers that Carl had large, unexplained deposits to his bank account and it becomes clear that either he was blackmailing someone, or someone was paying him to keep quiet. Meanwhile, Kate and her neighbors receive offers to buy their property from a mysterious buyer. And there’s more than meets the eye with the neighboring orchard owner, Daniel Martinez, although Kate can’t quite put her finger on if it’s sweet or sour.

Will she be able to pick out the bad apple among the bunch before it’s too late?


My Review:


Deadly to the Core is the first book in the Cider House Mystery series.

Kate Mulligan is back in Orchardville, PA after inheriting an orchard from her late great uncle Stan. Having lost her husband previously, this change comes at a time when Kate is ready to get out of Dodge and start a new chapter in her life. The pain of loss is still at the surface but a new venture running an orchard and cider house will keep her busy, both mind and body. Things really heat up in the orchard when Kate finds the body of her orchard manager, Carl, dead in his cottage.

I really enjoyed Deadly to the Core. I was able to sympathize and empathize with Kate as she navigated the start of this new life with the pain of past events. She's a strong character and the author created and developed her well. I enjoyed the descriptive content and world building. The book begins a little slowly as the author builds up the story, at first books in a series tend to do, but really takes off after the death of Carl.

I'm excited to see where the author takes Kate next.

I was provided a copy of this book.

My Rating:



Visit the Author:

Website www.joycetremel.com
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13746162.Joyce_Tremel


Purchase Link:


Amazon


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Monday, March 11, 2024

#CozyMystery #Review ~ Pall in the Family (A Family Fortune Mystery, #1) by Dawn Eastman #PallInTheFamily #FamilyFortune


ASIN: ‎ B00A6WV6S2
Publisher: ‎ Berkley
Publication date: ‎ August 6, 2013
Language: ‎ English
Print length: ‎ 240 pages

Goodreads

Amazon

About the Book:

The aptly named Crystal Haven is the destination for tourists seeking psychics, séances, and the promise of contacting the spirit world. In this small western Michigan town, everyone knows the Fortune family. Rose is gifted with tarot card readings. Her sister, Vi, is a self-proclaimed pet psychic. And Rose’s daughter Clyde is…

A cop. A cop on leave from Ann Arbor, more specifically, who’s come home to kooky Crystal Haven to reevaluate her life. Mom and Aunt Vi can’t wait for Clyde to finally embrace her own psychic gifts and join the family business. Clyde would prefer the low-stress lifestyle of a dog walker and the low-key company of her nephew, Seth.

But when a local psychic is killed, leaving behind a traumatized Shih Tzu, it seems to be in the cards for Clyde to get involved. With her old flame Mac leading the investigation, that may prove awkward. Whether she uses her skills as a cop or her long-denied psychic abilities, it’s up to Clyde to divine a killer’s identity before someone else suffers more misfortune.

My Review:

Pall in the Family the first book in A Family Fortune Mysteries. Based in western Michigan, the book focuses on Crystal Haven, a tourist destination catering to those who seek psychics, fortune telling, Tarot readings, and other methods of communicating with the dead. 

Clyde is on leave from her job as a cop in Ann Arbor and finds herself back home in Crystal Haven. The stay is temporary while Clyde tries to figure out what her next steps should be and where they should take her. Back into her family's business is not that place. The death of a local psychic pulls her right back into the job she left and family business she's not interested in joining.

I really liked Clyde. She's a wonderful character with quirky but loveable family connections. She isn't perfect, she makes mistakes, and the author made her completed relatable. Clyde is strong and competent as she makes her way through the clues and suspects in this book. Her parents, nephew, aunt, and the police officers are spectacular and entertaining. I enjoyed the possibility of a second-chance romance that was threaded through the pages.

I read this book in 1 day. I sat down to read a couple chapters and realized that time had passed as quickly as the chapters I'd finished reading. I was absorbed in the Clyde's life - in Ann Arbor and Crystal Haven. I loved reading about her every interaction as she scoured the town for clues. The author did a great job creating characters with depth and emotion. I can't wait for the next book to come in for me at the library.

I borrowed this book from the library.

My Rating:


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