It did have a couple of spots in the beginning where clearly something was cut in a revision and not caught--the MC is never actually told "Oh, don't call me Officer when I'm off duty, it's Sam." but she makes an obvious correction to calling him by his first name at one point.


Also, I'm pretty sure that a vendor description/scene was cut as a vendor is mentioned explicitly in a list of her friends/acquaintances, but had never been mentioned before.


Neither of these are actually show stoppers, it just annoyed the pants off of me when I had to scrabble back and forth through the book trying to find the bits I missed (hint: there weren't any.) ( )

The one day Becca Robins is running late, she arrives at the farmer's market to find that one of her fellow vendors has been murdered. Matt Simonson was a long-time vendor at a farmers' market in a neighboring community and hadn't been at Bailey's Farmers' Market long. Apparently he was there long enough to provoke someone to murder. Suspicion soon falls on Becca's good friend, Abner, who had a public quarrel with the dead man shortly before the murder. Becca's fraternal twin, Allison, manages Bailey's market, and Becca wants to do whatever she can to help Allison calm the fears of the remaining vendors. When Abner disappears before the police can arrest him, Becca is even more determined to do some sleuthing of her own to see if she can uncover the real murderer. Her fellow vendors may be more willing to confide in her than in the police.

This is the author's first cozy. It's better than many first-in-series books, but there isn't anything that makes it stand out in the crowd of other cozies with a food, farming, or rural theme. The sense of place isn't strong enough to draw readers, either. The book is set in South Carolina, but the farmer's market sounds like it could be in any rural community in the South or Midwest. By the end of the book, Becca has two potential romantic interests competing for her attention. Hopefully the author won't allow that situation to drag on as long as Joanne Fluke did with Hannah Swensen's two boyfriends in her long-running series. ( )

Becca Robbins lives on her small farm in rural South Carolina where she grows berries and pumpkins for the preserves she makes for the local farmer's market. Twice married and twice divorced, Becca has no intention of romance in her life but finds herself instantly drawn to young and handsome Ian, an artist of whimsical sculptures who also has a stall at the market. Becca's sister, Allison, is the manager of the farmer's market and calls Becca early one morning obviously distraught and begs Becca to come to the market immediately. Once she arrives, Becca sees that a large crowd, including police, have gathered around the body of a man who has obviously died at the hands of a brutal murderer Becca, fancying herself an insightful person, decides to do some investigating on her own especially when the murder suspect is one of her market friends. Delving into the past of the suspect and murderer alike, Becca uncovers a decades old love story that implicates several of the other vendors, once of whom could possibly be Ian.

This is the first in a cozy mystery series "Farmer's Market Mystery". It was a pleasant enough read, the characters were likeable, but I don't think it would be a series I would continue.
( )

Excellent book in the Farmers' Market series. Love the characters and the setting. Read these as fast as she writes them! ( )

While I finished the book and was sufficiently surprised with the killers reveal, I don't think I will read the next in the series. The main character, Becca, was extremely wooden. She was too perfect, I think. I can't really put my finger on why I disliked her so much. She is supposedly very close to Abner, yet you don't get the impression that she is very upset by the possibility of him being the killer. Yes, she seeks out the true killer, but it was more for the farmer's market's reputation. ( )