I received a free copy for my honest review.
About the Book:
Snow is piling up in Westbury, Massachusetts, and Cam Flaherty’s organic farm has managed to survive the harsh New England winter. Unfortunately murder seems to be the crop in season…
Cam is finding the New Year just as hectic as the old one. Her sometimes rocky relationship with Chef Jake Ericsson is in a deep freeze, she’s struggling to provide the promised amount of food to the subscribers in her first winter CSA, and her new greenhouse might just collapse from the weight of the snow. Supplying fresh ingredients for a dinner at the local assisted living facility seems like the least of her worries—until one of the elderly residents dies after eating some of her produce.
Cantankerous Bev Montgomery had a lot of enemies, from an unscrupulous real estate developer who coveted her land to an aggrieved care provider fed up with her verbal abuse. But while the motives in this case may be plentiful, the trail of poisoned produce leads straight back to Cam. Not even her budding romance with police detective Pete Pappas will keep him from investigating her.
As the suspects gather, a blizzard buries the scene of the crime under a blanket of snow, leaving Cam stranded in the dark with a killer who gives new meaning to the phrase “dead of winter.”
About the Author:
Edith Maxwell is a former farmer of a certified organic farm, holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics, and is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. An Agatha-nominated and Amazon-bestselling author, she also writes award-winning short crime fiction which has appeared in a number of juried anthologies. She lives with her beau and three cats in Massachusetts, where she’s currently working on her next Local Foods mystery when she isn’t out gardening.
My Opinion:
I am generally not a big reader of murder mysteries but once in a blue moon one will tickle my fancy. When offered Farmed and Dangerous I was intrigued by the setting of this novel – a farm! Of course I would enjoy a tale such as this, right? This is part of a series of cozy mysteries – no blood, no gore – involving Cam Flaherty and the denizens of her small town.
In this volume Cam is again caught up in a murder mystery when someone at the local Assisted Living Facility is found dead after eating a meal made with vegetables and other products from her farm. This woman, Bev Montgomery, was an unpleasant woman and she and Cam had a difficult relationship. To cap things off Cam’s boyfriend is the state police officer investigating and since she is “person of interest” they can’t see each other until the case is solved.
I really enjoyed the farm discussions and the sections about the different vegetables and how to grow things organically. It almost felt like I was in the middle of a conversation with my husband. Books like this are not meant to be deep and thoughtful but rather to be fluffy and entertaining and this one succeeds on that point. It’s never overly suspenseful but I enjoyed the characters and the setting. It was a lovely break from the heavier tomes I had read a couple of weeks ago. I’d happily revisit with the characters again.
Rating:
4
