A Killer Crop (An Orchard Mystery)
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 1/6/2016
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 1/6/2016 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
I got this fair-condition paperback at a local Goodwill thrift shop. It's from a series set near a Massachusetts apple orchard. Recipes included.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, which includes many of the features of a typical "cozy" series while avoiding some of the sillier ones, and which presents a rather gritty look at the realities of tending an apple orchard. Heroine Meg Corey is in her first season as the owner of the old family home and the aforementioned orchard, relying on her young manager Bree to keep track of which varieties are ripe and to corral the pickers - including Meg herself when needs must.
But all this takes a back seat when a professor is found dead in a historic cider house, and the clues suggest that his research on the life of poet Emily Dickinson has something to do with the crime. I gather that Meg has taken part in amateur investigations in previous books, though it seems she had to - she was a suspect - and her performance left the local police more or less sympathetic. Meg also prefers not to be dragged in to the case anyway, but when her mother shows up for a surprise visit - without Meg's father, and with some intriguing memories of the late professor - the case becomes personal.
I did get a bit frustrated at the running gag about how Meg won't introduce her boyfriend Seth *as* her boyfriend, to her mother or (when he eventually appears) her father; her past gives her some motive for taking things slow, but it comes up so often that it starts looking really silly. Luckily the other characters all call her out on this, so I didn't mind too much.
The Dickinson plot (suitable for the location, which is near her home in Amherst MA) has lots of interesting points, some real and some created for the story, and I liked the way the plots interwove. I did find the solution to the crime a wee bit of a letdown, but overall I liked the book very much, and might read more in this series.
[Of the recipes, the one for "Kielbasa with Apples and Cabbage" intrigued me most.]
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, which includes many of the features of a typical "cozy" series while avoiding some of the sillier ones, and which presents a rather gritty look at the realities of tending an apple orchard. Heroine Meg Corey is in her first season as the owner of the old family home and the aforementioned orchard, relying on her young manager Bree to keep track of which varieties are ripe and to corral the pickers - including Meg herself when needs must.
But all this takes a back seat when a professor is found dead in a historic cider house, and the clues suggest that his research on the life of poet Emily Dickinson has something to do with the crime. I gather that Meg has taken part in amateur investigations in previous books, though it seems she had to - she was a suspect - and her performance left the local police more or less sympathetic. Meg also prefers not to be dragged in to the case anyway, but when her mother shows up for a surprise visit - without Meg's father, and with some intriguing memories of the late professor - the case becomes personal.
I did get a bit frustrated at the running gag about how Meg won't introduce her boyfriend Seth *as* her boyfriend, to her mother or (when he eventually appears) her father; her past gives her some motive for taking things slow, but it comes up so often that it starts looking really silly. Luckily the other characters all call her out on this, so I didn't mind too much.
The Dickinson plot (suitable for the location, which is near her home in Amherst MA) has lots of interesting points, some real and some created for the story, and I liked the way the plots interwove. I did find the solution to the crime a wee bit of a letdown, but overall I liked the book very much, and might read more in this series.
[Of the recipes, the one for "Kielbasa with Apples and Cabbage" intrigued me most.]
Journal Entry 2 by GoryDetails at Lull Farm, 65 Broad St. in Hollis, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, April 21, 2016
GoryDetails at Lull Farm, 65 Broad St. in Hollis, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, April 21, 2016
Released 8 yrs ago (4/21/2016 UTC) at Lull Farm, 65 Broad St. in Hollis, New Hampshire USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
It's International BookCrossing Day, and in honor of that - and of this year's BookCrossing Convention in Athens, I plan to leave this book at Lull Farm at around 2:30 or so. (Their apple orchard should be blooming soon!) Hope the finder enjoys the book!*** Released as part of the 2016 April Showers/May Flowers release challenge. ***
