Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496711236
Kensington Publishing
272 Pages
$7.99; $5.99 Amazon
July 31, 2018
⭐⭐⭐⭐
June's annual Brown County Bluegrass Festival at the Bill Monroe Music Park in neighboring Beanblossom is always a hit for Robbie's country store and café, Pans 'N Pancakes. This year, Robbie is even more excited, because she's launching a new bed and breakfast above her shop. A few festival musicians will be among Robbie's first guests, along with her father, Roberto, and his wife, Maria. But the celebration is cut short when a performer is found choked to death by a banjo string. Now all the banjo players are featured in a different kind of lineup. To clear their names, Robbie must pair up with an unexpected partner to pick at the clues and find the plucky killer before he can conduct an encore performance...
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This is the fifth book in the series, and I have read all of them. I've enjoyed all of them, too. Robbie seems down-to-earth and really doesn't go looking for trouble; even if she asks questions of people she doesn't go around accusing them of murder. She's just curious and wants as much information as she can gather to eliminate suspects.
She's also built her business, doing her own carpentry and as much work as she can without help, which is a nice change. I do wish she were able to spend more time with her cat, though. Birdy must be terribly lonely, and if she's going to be away as much as she is, then she might want to think about getting Birdy a companion kitty so he's not lonely. (Yes, cats can get lonely, too).
While I was entertained by the story line, I didn't understand why the idiot Detective Henderson would even question Robbie's father and his wife. First, they barely knew the girl, not having seen her for decades; then, where would either one of them have gotten the murder weapon without anyone knowing about it? What reason would they have to even have the murder weapon in their possession? Not to mention, neither of them had the slightest motive. It seemed patently ridiculous that they would be so calculating as to plan to visit Robbie and come upon someone they hadn't seen for years, then decide to kill her. The most that should have been asked of them is what they could tell Detective Henderson about her family. That's it. So there was that - and it didn't leave me in much of an impression that Henderson knew what she was doing.
Aside from that, the rest of the story flowed nicely, and I thought there were plenty of red herrings, giving us enough suspects to sift through the story. I am glad to say that not a lot of attention was paid to the bluegrass music itself, since not everyone who reads mysteries would be interested, but more attention was given to finding the killer, which is just as it should be. We are learning more about mayor Corinne, and I'm finding her more endearing and funnier each time we meet her.
I would have to have liked to know more about the backstory between Don and Roberto (it may have been mentioned in a previous book; but if so, I've forgotten it since I read so many books); it would have helped to understand Don's hesitance to see Roberto.
But when all is said and done, the mystery was decent enough, the ending was a bit of a surprise, and I look forward to reading the next in the series. Recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Over-Country-Store-Mystery/dp/1496711238/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3310238995
More on Maddie Day's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/maddie-day/
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