Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Seeds of Revenge (The Greenhouse Mysteries #3)

Author:  Wendy Tyson
Genre:  Mystery, Suspense

Trade Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635112757; 9781520080529
Henery Press Publishing
$15.95; $29.99; $4.99 Amazon
288 Pages
November 14, 2017

✮✮✮✮✮


It's the holiday season, and the mood in Winsome is anything but jolly...Megan Sawyer is determined to farm year-round.  She's braving a December snowstorm after pitching her greenhouse greens to Philadelphia chefs when she sees a stranger stranded on the side of the road.  It's Merry Chance's niece Becca, who's headed to Winsome to sell her "love potions" at holiday events - or so she thinks.

Merry has an ulterior motive in inviting her niece to Winsome, but Merry's plan to reunite Becca with her estranged father goes awry when Becca's father turns up dead.  Megan soon realizes that Becca was not the only person in Winsome who despised her father.  When Megan's aunt, the famous mystery author, is implicated through her novels, things become personal.  Megan must follow the literary clues while sifting through the victim's sordid past, but can she uncover the truth before someone else in Winsome is murdered?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

It's the Christmas holidays in Winsome, Pennsylvania, and Megan Sawyer is on her way home after a business trip to Philadelphia.  She picks up a stranded motorist on the side of the road during a snowy evening.  The young woman, Becca Fox,  turns out to be the niece of Merry Chance, and she's been invited to town to sell her products during the season. 

But when Megan drops the young woman off at Merry's home, there's another visitor - Becca's father Paul, and while he apparently wants to speak with her the reaction from Becca is completely malevolent.  It's obvious she hates her father, but never more so than when she accuses him of murdering her mother years before.

Little does Megan know that this family's appearance in town will bring attacks on its townspeople instead of the reunion that Merry envisioned.  When Paul is found dead and it's later determined to be homicide, the natural suspect is Becca.  When the young woman shows signs of being mentally unstable, even the police chief is convinced she's guilty.  But Megan isn't so sure, and when the attacks are somehow connected to her great aunt Sarah, Megan stumbles upon secrets from Sarah's past that could be a clue.

While Police Chief Bobby King - young but gaining experience quickly - is convinced he's got the right person for the murder, Megan isn't so sure.  She continues exploring possible suspects to Bobby's chagrin, and the more she digs, the more she learns that Paul Fox was a master manipulator with a horde of enemies left behind.  As her peaceful life starts to become unraveled by the devastation around her, she realizes she's in a race against time to find the person who really killed Paul, but little does she know she's also in a race against time to save herself...

This book is the third in the series and in my opinion is the best yet.  Like a fine wine, Ms. Tyson's Greenhouse Mysteries only gets better with age.  She is not only a talented writer, she is a talented storyteller as well.  Her plots are well written, suspenseful and with enough twists and turns to keep us absorbed in the narrative.

This was a delightful tale of suspense and revenge, with a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure.  The characters are given the full depth treatment:  these are people who are animated and lively, fully dimensional and believable.  Megan and her family and friends make the town of Winsome come alive, and I consider myself lucky to be able to share in their adventures.

When we come to the end and the murderer is revealed, it was put together in a deft manner that made all the pieces fall in place easily.  While not completely unexpected, it didn't matter as the journey itself was an enjoyable read.  Highly recommended and I look forward to the next in the series. 

https://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Revenge-Wendy-Tyson/dp/1635112753/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2150454285

More on Wendy Tyson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/wendy-tyson/

No comments:

Post a Comment

Battered and Buried (An All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery Book 7)

Author:     Lena Gregory Genre:      Mystery Paperback; Digital Book ISBN #:     9781960511584 Beyond the Page Publishing 188 Pages $14.99; ...