Author: Nancy Coco
Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496735621 (B&N Edition: 9781496731784)
Kensington Publishing
320 Pages
$8.99; $6.99 Amazon
March 29, 2022
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For the picturesque town of Oceanview on the Oregon coast, May brings blossoming fruit trees and the annual UFO festival in nearby McMinnville. As Aunt Eloise tries out alien costumes on handsome Havana Brown cat Everett, Wren is off to meet with a bee wrangler, her go-to guy for local fruit tree honey.
But when she arrives, Elias Brentwood is lying on the ground amidst destroyed hives and a swarm of angry bees. The bees didn't kill him, a blow to the head did. As blue-eyed Officer Jim Hampton investigates and the area is invaded by its own swarm of conspiracy theorists and crackpots, Wren and Aunt Eloise decide the only way to catch the bee wrangler's killer is to set up a sting.
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Wren Johnson lives in Oceanview, Oregon and owns Let It Bee, a shop dedicated to all things made by bees and bee-oriented. She even has her own hive for customers to see how bees work. Her Aunt Eloise is excited to see the UFO festival in a nearby town, and is trying to convince Wren to go and bring her Havana Brown cat, Everett. Wren has misgivings, but finally agrees. But this day she needs to see her bee wrangler, Elias, who provides her with beeswax and other needed supplies.
When she arrives at Elias's home, no one appears to be there. But she finds him in the backyard, wearing his bee suit, with bees from his hives everywhere. The only way for anyone to get to him is to call another wrangler, and Wren does this, along with calling 911. When Elias is finally removed, it turns out he's been murdered, and the suspect is the wrangler Wren called. Knowing he's innocent, Wren and her employee Porche Allen are out to find a killer -- under the radar of Officer Jim Hampton, who wants her to stay out of it.
Confusing things is finding her old boyfriend Travis is in town, and he wants to buy a Havana Brown of his own, along with taking Wren out to dinner. Will she succumb to Travis's charms again? Will she be able to find a killer? And last but not least, will she be able to figure it all out before a killer finds her?
This is the second book in the series, and I do think I enjoyed it more than the first. The characters are getting some fleshing out, and we see that Wren can hold her own. She does share what information she finds with the police -- although some it might be later than they want -- and she's not running scared, nor breaking into houses or doing other illegal things (things that irritate me in cozies). Wren is a decent person, generous to her employees and her aunt, and smart enough to figure out when she needs to take care of her own. She also has a great love for her cat, which I can empathize with, owning my own and loving it just as much, if not more. I would never put my cats in danger (and they're only indoor cats, so there's that!)
When Wren starts trying to look at who wanted to kill Elias -- by all accounts a nice man who had no enemies and helped others -- she doesn't believe he was killed by another wrangler. She can't believe anyone in the bee community would do such a thing, but who else is a suspect? When it appears that the killer is watching her every move, she wonders if she's putting others in danger. That's when she realizes that drastic measures must be taken, and Wren tries to formulate a plan to catch a murderer.
It's watching her put the clues together, and figure things out that is so interesting. I never saw the killer coming, and the reasons for the murder seemed so insane; but you never can look into the mind nor eyes of a killer and tell what they are thinking. It was all put together nicely, and the motive was indeed unique; and I truly enjoyed reading this book and look forward to the next in the series.
I was given an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Nancy Coco's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/nancy-coco/
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