A Beeline to Murder
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
"A lady cop turned farmer. . .What fun!" --Joanne Fluke
Ex-cop Abigail Mackenzie has started a second career--as a farmer. Raising chickens, keeping bees, and growing heirloom vegetables on her farmette in the Bay Area, Abby has a peaceful life. Yet trouble just seems to make a beeline for her. . .
When Abby attempts to deliver her artisanal honey to local pastry chef Jean-Louis Bonheur and finds him dead in his shop, her investigative instincts kick in. After the chef's handsome brother insists on hiring Abby to find out who killed Jean-Louis, she must sort through a swarm of suspects. But as she closes in on the truth, she'll need more than her beekeeper suit to protect her from a killer's sting. . .
Includes farming tips and delicious recipes!
"Will leave readers buzzing happily." --Leslie Budewitz
"A triple treat: a California wine country setting, a touch of romance with a handsome Frenchman, and country hints and recipes from the writer's own farmette." --Rhys Bowen
"Beekeeping, organic gardening, pastry baking--an engaging debut mystery." --Library Journal
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Farming tips and murder vie for the reader's attention in Lester's appealing, though flawed, debut cozy, set in the California wine country town of Las Flores. When cop-turned-farmer Abigail "Abby" Mackenzie tries to deliver a jar of honey to pastry chef Jean-Louis Bonheur, she finds him dead on his kitchen floor. Abby's friend, police officer Katerina Petrovsky, welcomes her assistance in the ensuing investigation, but when the coroner rules that Jean-Louis killed himself, his distraught brother, Philippe, hires Abby to prove otherwise. Abby finds plenty of potential suspects and motives, but she is caught by surprise when the victim's dog, Sugar, saves her from a brutal attack. Too many characters and Abby's struggles to run a thriving farmette distract, but it's the occasional plot hole, such as a highly questionable method of suicide, that truly makes this first novel less successful than it could have been. Recipes, including one for doggy treats, appear throughout.
