Sunday, September 1, 2019

Book Review - Mulberry Mischief




Mulberry Mischief
Author: Sharon Farrow
Publisher:  Kensington Books
Publication Date: August 27, 2019
5 Stars

Piper Lyall-Pierce, the wife of the town’s mayor, has organized a Halloween themed Harvest Health Fair.  Piper has lined up an exciting week’s worth of events including speakers, demonstrations, and collections of health related products and books.  One of the main attractions to the fair is the Sable family and their collection of best selling diet books and skin care products.  Piper even ropes Marlee into giving a presentation on the health benefits of berries.

Before the fair begins, however, the town’s eccentric hermit, who the townsfolk refer to as the Lake Lady, approaches Marlee for the first time.  She asks Marlee to supply her with enough mulberries to cover her whole house.  Marlee asks why she needs so many mulberries, and the Lake Lady replies that someone is trying to kill her, and she is trying to protect herself from danger.  Marlee agrees to order the mulberries and to personally deliver them when they arrive.

When Marlee goes to deliver the berries, the Lake Lady is no where to be seen.  Marlee knows how anxious she is to get the berries, and she becomes concerned by her absence.    She later returns with her boyfriend Kit who happens to be an investigative officer with the sheriff’s department.  There is still no sign of the Lake Lady, but they do find a man who has been shot through the heart with an arrow.

Marlee soon learns that the Lake Lady, is not who she thinks she is.  She has a mysterious and complicated past.  Marlee becomes intent on helping to locate her, and to get to the bottom of this murder, and another murder that happened over 20 years before.

This is the fourth book in the Berry Basket series, and the best one yet.  The author does such a great job with the characters.  You can’t help but cheer on the good guys and boo the bad guys (and maybe even throw some berries at them ).  Then there are those characters that you have to figure out what side of the fence they belong on.

The plot and mystery were excellent.  The story drew me in right away, and I immediately felt at home with the return of familiar characters.  Marlee finds more questions than answers as she begins to look into the mystery.  I found myself pulled deeper and deeper into the mystery as I read.  There are quite a few possible suspects, and I found myself jumping from one to the next, sure that I had finally figured out who had committed the crime(s).  The story is filled with unexpected twists and turns, and it has an exciting ending.

This is a great fall read!  There are also yummy recipes included at the end of the story.

Thanks to Net Galley and Kensington Books for an ARC of this book.  #NetGalley #KensingtonBooks #MulberryMischief




1 comment: