Cozy Monday

Berried Secrets (Cranberry Cove Mystery #1) by Peg Cochran (Berkley Prime Crime mass market paperback, 4 August 2015).

After her tiny Chicago café went under, Monica Albertson moved to Cranberry Cove, Michigan to help her half-brother Jeff with his cranberry farm.  But the first time she helps with the harvest, she snags a corpse.  The body is that of Sam Culbert, who had looked after the farm while Jeff was deployed overseas. It didn't take long for the police to determine that Sam had been murdered.

Going over the books, the day before, Monica had found some discrepancies, and had mentioned the problem to Jeff.  Jeff had been livid; he was just scraping by, but Sam drove a Lexus and lived in a fancy house.  But Monica is certain that Jeff didn't kill Sam.  She just has to prove who did.

Unfortunately, almost everyone in town had a grudge against Sam or just plain disliked him, so narrowing it down will be a difficult task.  Luckily, Jeff's mother Gina has shown up, and insists on "helping" Monica with her quest.

I really enjoyed this book.  Learning about the methods of growing and harvesting cranberries was fascinating.  Monica is a wonderfully independent, intelligent and resourceful protagonist, and some of the inhabitants of Cranberry Cove are delightful.

Recipes for baked goods containing cranberries are included at the end of the book.

The publisher has generously offered a copy of Berried Secrets to one of my readers.  Please comment below before midnight on August 17, 2015.  Don't forget to include an email address where I can contact you if you win!

FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this book.