Sunday, January 28, 2018

4 stars-- Killer Jam (Dewberry Farm #1) by Karen MacInerney

I've been using audio to try new authors and decided to give Killer Jam a try because I like the narrator. And it was good, yall! I might have even listened to it twice now because I forgot to review it the first go around. Oops! It was just as entertaining the second time, though, which is impressive.
The Gist: During the town festival someone met their maker in the jam tent. And Lucy? Well, she's the main suspect. She and the dead lady had been having a disagreement over Lucy's newly purchased farm and been overheard. Damn timing! With a lazy Sheriff on the case it's up to Lucy to clear her own name and hunt down the real killer.
Lucy was a great heroine. She's in her late 30s and gave up city life to buy her grandmother's old farm. She's doing the whole homesteading thing now-- planting crops, selling milk and eggs, creating jam from berries on her property. She's bitten off a lot but she's dedicated, curious and solid. I enjoyed spending time with her and that she never gave up even when things looked helpless. It was fun seeing her farm, too, as she tried new things.

There's a light love interest with the town's veterinarian which was nice. Just the beginnings of things and has me looking forward to seeing where that goes next. And there were some friendships mixed in a well. It was nice seeing Lucy's life as she settled in to the small town.

The mystery was nicely done, too. Kept me guessing as she slowly pieced together clues and tried to figure out the current murder and if it connected to something in the past.

All in all, Killer Jam was an entertaining cozy. A nicely done mystery with a great heroine.

The Narration: 
I'm really enjoying Teri Clark Linden. I've listened to a few narrations by her now and she just does a great job. She's a little gruff but it works so well for both male and female voices. Great character distinction and just something about her that pulls me in completely. It was hard to turn my audio app off and do other things once I started listening. She really brings the characters and their stories to life. I listened at 1.20x speed.
When Houston reporter Lucy Resnick cashes in her retirement to buy her grandmother’s farm in Buttercup, Texas, she’s looking forward to a simple life as a homesteader. But Lucy has barely finished putting up her first batch of Killer Dewberry Jam when an oil exploration truck rolls up to the farm and announces plans to replace her broccoli patch with an oil derrick. Two days later, Nettie Kocurek, the woman who ordered the drilling, turns up dead at the Founders’ Day Festival with a bratwurst skewer through her heart and one of Lucy’s jam jars beside her…and the sheriff fingers Lucy as the prime suspect.

Horrified, Lucy begins to talk to Nettie’s neighbors, but the more she gets to know the townspeople, the more she realizes she’s not the only one who had a beef with Nettie. Can she clear her name, or will her dream life turn into a nightmare?

Amazon | Goodreads | MacInerney/Linden on HCBS
   
*covers link to Amazon


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