Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496721327
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$7.99; $5.87 Amazon
September 24, 2019
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Christmas is a time for new beginnings, so after her big breakup, Brynn MacAlister takes the gouda with the bad. With her three Red Devon cows, she settles in bucolic Shenandoah Springs, eager for a new life as an organic micro-dairy farmer and cheese-maker. Then her dear cow Petunia's bellows set the whole town on edge. But it isn't until Brynn's neighbor, Nancy, dies in a mysterious fier that her feelings about small town life begin to curdle...
It seems some folks were not happy with Nancy's plan to renovate the Old Glebe Church. But is fear of change a motivation for murder? As a newcomer, Brynn can't ignore the strange events happening just on the other side of her frosty pasture -- and soon on her very own farm. Suddenly Christmas doesn't feel so festive as everyone demands she muzzle sweet Petunia, and Brynn is wondering if someone wants to silence her -- for good...
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Brynn MacAlister moved to Shenandoah Springs to start an organic cheese farm and a new life. She had planned to also have her boyfriend with her, but they broke up just before she moved. So now she has her three cows and hopefully, soon a thriving business.
Her friend Nancy lives just a short walk away in the Old Glebe Church, which she plans to turn into a marketplace for people to sell their farm goods. Not everyone is happy about it, not wanting change, and they've been vocal. But Nancy's determined, and Brynn is in her corner. But when Brynn is awakened one night by the smell of smoke, she realizes it's coming from the church, and when she arrives she questions if they've found Nancy. When she finally discovers that they've taken her to a local hospital, Brynn follows, and Nancy whispers a last sentence to her.
When Nancy later dies of her injuries, Brynn knows that the church was set on fire purposely, and Nancy tried to give her a clue as to what happened. Brynn isn't sure what she can do, but when her own farm is targeted more than once, she knows she has to do something before she winds up in the local cemetery, and not by choice...
This is the first book in a new series and I really wanted to like it, but I'm a bit on the fence about this one. I started to get bored around the first half of the book, because more information was given us about cheese making and cows than there was about the mystery. It was a struggle to continue, and you never want to struggle when you're reading the book.
We also didn't get a lot of information on Brynn except that she wanted to be a cheese maker and is still obsessed with her ex-boyfriend Dan. She mentions him way too much not to be. However, I hope that she'll figure it out in future books. I didn't much care for the little dig where she was upset because an old man called her "sweetie." What's the big deal? This is the generation they grew up in, and if you can't tolerate or accept other generations, it's your problem, not theirs. So there was that.
When the murderer was revealed, it was pretty much expected by me all along, so I wasn't really surprised; however, I do like the characters of Willow and Schulyer. I would like to see stronger male characters; aside from Wes, they were practically non-existent; and you couldn't tell that the sheriff or Rafferty were even trying to solve a crime, since they were rarely in the book.
Other than this, I don't think it's a bad start to a new book. I've read her other series, and really enjoyed the Cora Crafts mysteries, so I'm willing to give this one a chance. Since this is the first in the series, I'm sure the characters will improve over time, and I will read the next to see if the book is centered more on the mystery and less on the cows.
More on Mollie Cox Bryan's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/mollie-cox-bryan/
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