This is a reread, and I started in the middle of the series, as I can't find the first 7 books packed away. Anyway... Jane Jeffers and her best friend, Shelly Nowack, volunteer at the local museum. The Sneeden Museum is dedicated to peas among other things, so it sponsors the local Pea Festival. This year, a Civil War enactment needed volunteer extras, and among them are Shelly and Jane. Unfortunately, during the reenactment, someone used live ammunition causing a death. The death put the museum into chaos as the death made no sense. Shelly and Jane set about finding the reason, as they didn't want to be volunteering in a place which might have a murderer lurking about. This was a fun fast read. Plenty of tiny clues were given to help the reader solve the mystery. ( )

Nice cozy mystery.Jane can't help but get involved. She has volunteered to help at the museum and is spending a lot of time with the victem's co-workers and friends. It is Jane's intuition that breaks the case. ( )

It is the annual Pea Festival in Jane Jeffrey's hometown and Jane and her friend Shelley Nowack are participating in a number of activities including sorting through items at the Snellin Museum and taking part in a Civil War reenactment. Jane thought the reenactment would be interesting, but she wasn't expecting museum director Regina Price Palmer to be murdered during the battle. Jane's boyfriend, police detective Mel Van Dyne, is investigating the case, but Jane's work inside the museum gives her a good way of also investigating the murder since most of the suspects are involved in the museum. When there is a second murder, Jane is even more eager to solve the case before there is yet another victim.

"War and Peas" is an enjoyable, yet somewhat light cozy mystery. The book gets off to an interesting start with the Civil War reenactment and having the murder take place during the battle is a great touch since it provides plenty of suspects. Having the novel set around a pea festival and a pea museum is a very funny touch and not meant to be taken seriously by readers although the characters in the book are serious about it. There is a nice gentle sense of humor throughout the book with a few laugh out loud moments - one involving notes Jane's children leave her and when Jane cleans out her car. At this point in the series (this is the eighth book in the series) Jane is a fully developed and rich character as are the supporting characters in the book. The mystery is well written and well plotted and readers will have fun trying to figure out who the murderer is.

"War and Peas" is another nice cozy mystery by Jill Churchill. ( )

Cozy mystery series usually have a general theme. Jane's a stay at home mom who participates in the PTA and has preformed volunteer work numerous times during the series. Therefore, this specific series doesn't have much that holds it together and the theme varies as to what Jane is involved with in each specific book. Because of this, it's difficult to go into the books knowing what to expect. One book may have everything you love in a mystery and the next could easily bore you.

In War and Peas, Jane volunteers to participate in a war reenactment and at a pea museum. Neither of these things hold any interest for me. While Jane herself could have carried the story, the focus was less on Jane and Shelley's investigation and more on the museum. No matter how much I love a character, watching that character participate in something I consider boring can ruin a book for me.

Luckily, I had no idea who the killer was in War and Peas. It was another case where I suspected everyone and no one. The book offers up a rather unexpected ending which is what saved the book in my mind. Not the best in the series by far and most won't miss it if skipped. ( )

Another interesting Jane Jeffrey mystery. Good reading on a rainy day. ( )