Sharon Farrow

I am so happy! I read a cozy where I didn’t know the killer until the end. It doesn’t happen too often any more, so thank you Sharon Farrow, for writing a cozy that kept me guessing.

The way Farrow accomplished this was by having so many horrible people that it could have been any number of them. But she wrote those horrible people so well I kept getting wowed by how diabolical she could make her characters. Besides writing evil characters, Farrow does a wonderful job developing show more characters that I could be friends with and want to know more about. If I lived in this charming Michigan town, I would be constantly visiting Marlee’s shop and bouncing ideas off of her in ways to incorporate herbs with her berries.

And since Michigan is right next to Wisconsin, so many descriptions of not only the townspeople, but the town itself, reminded me of places I’ve lived and visited and people I know and have known. It was as if Farrow was writing about parts of my life… without the murder, of course.

I also enjoyed all of Farrow’s literary references when it came to people’s names, and her pop culture nods when it came to things like the dogs being named Willow, Buffy, and Xander. It just added another layer to Mulberry Mischief that I found fun, and endeared me even more to the book.

Although this is the first book I’ve read in the Berry Basket Mystery series, I can see myself reading future books, and maybe even starting the series from the beginning, which I don’t often do. If you haven’t read any of this series yet, you may want to start with the first book, Dying for Strawberries. show less

Mulberry Mischief by Sharon Farrow is the fourth novel in A Berry Basket Mystery series. It can be read as a standalone since Marlee’s background is provided along with references to the last three cases. Marlee Jacob delivers mulberries to the home of Leticia the Lake Lady and finds a man dead with a mulberry arrow through the heart. Leticia has disappeared and becomes the police’s prime suspect. Marlee knows that Leticia thought someone was out to harm her. She wants to make sure show more Leticia is safe plus find the killer. Mulberry Mischief has a delightful cast of characters from kindhearted Marlee to fashionista Andrew to Old Man Bowman who is fascinated with Big Foot. Leticia is an off-beat character with her unusual ideas and flaming orange hair. Oriole Point is having a Haunted Halloween Harvest Health Fair (try saying that three times fast). Piper Lyall-Pierce, the coordinator, wants to convince people to eat less candy after her husband ate a whole bag of Twizzlers last Halloween (I find licorice is like potato chips, you cannot eat just one plus they are fat free). I did find Mulberry Mischief to be a slow starter, but the pace soon picks up. The mystery was interesting with misdirection, multiple suspects and clever clues. I like that we get a complete wrap up at the end. You have to love a criminal who spills his guts. I was tickled by the names of Aunt Vicki’s Doberman Pinschers. They are Buffy, Willow and Xander. I think it is wonderful that she manages an animal rescue that captures feral cats and spays them. I liked the inclusion of mulberry folklore and the health benefits of mulberries. The ending was humorous. Mulberry Mischief is an upbeat cozy mystery with Halloween hijinks, a frisky feline, mulberry mania, a costumed killer, and a booming bell. show less

Marlee Jacob lives in Oriole Point, Michigan, and owns The Berry Basket, a shop with all things connected to berries of all varieties. It's nearing Christmas, and she's decorated the shop to within an inch of its life -- leaving barely enough room for employees and customers to move through, much to the consternation of her employees.

Marlee is attending a model train show with her boyfriend Kit, a homicide detective, when her employee Gillian runs up to her to tell her that she's found a show more dead man. When Marlee investigates, she discovers that the elderly man is indeed dead, holding a bag of gingerbread men, with crumbs around his mouth. While everyone agrees that he died of old age, Marlee isn't sure about that...especially when she discovers that his relatives might have wanted him out of the way and his attorney thinks so, too.

It seems Everett Hostetter was not a likable man. Unfortunately, he also played Jacob Marley in the local production of A Christmas Carol for years in return for funding the theater. When Marlee is pressed into accepting the role, she suddenly becomes a target. But is it due to the fact that she's asking questions, or the fact that she might actually be getting closer to the answer?...

This is the fifth book in the series and in my estimation the best of the lot. Marlee has a temporary house guest in Natasha, her Russian friend, who sold her home and is awaiting her condo to be finished, and is a hoot in this book. Piper is back to being her usual self, obsessed and crazed, but for some odd reason I still enjoy having her around. But being the holiday, everyone is is busy, and Marlee more so with her added 'appearance' in the play and being nagged by the other actors to learn her lines.

But what's bothering her most is that she knows Everett was murdered, and now she needs to find out why, considering he was ninety-five and probably didn't have many years left anyway. What ensues is a tale of greed and more greed, all perpetrated by several people who may have been the sole heir to his considerable fortune. But finding out the correct person may not be as easy as she thinks, and when she starts looking into their pasts, she discovers they all had a reason to want him gone.

We still have the Christmas season interspersed in the story, so it feels like the holiday along with the mystery itself. I really enjoyed this story and the direction that it's taking everyone's lives, and I do like all Marlee's friends as well. When the murderer is discovered, it comes as a bit of a surprise, but a good one at that (and I won't say why but anyone who's read my reviews will figure it out soon enough). In the end, everything comes together nicely and I look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended. show less

The Summer of 2019 saw me reading a lot of cozy mysteries and they were all starting to feel the same. Still enjoyable, but no real wow factor. I was getting burnt out on the genre.

And then Mulberry Mischief, the fourth book in A Berry Basket Mysteries, found its way into my life and my enjoyment for cozies was reignited. Sharon Farrow introduced me to very well developed characters and a town I knew I would want to visit again. But what really stood out to me was that she actually had some show more nasty characters, and not just someone who died right away and we find out they weren’t very nice. These evil characters were present throughout the story and added even more depth to the book.

So when I saw Hollyberry Homicide was coming out I knew I would be reading it. And I was not disappointed. Farrow continues developing her characters, and even better, something is always happening. In some cozies most of the story is just the sleuth running around tracking down clues and talking to suspects. But in A Berry Basket Mysteries, we are not only engaged in Marlee’s life, but those of her friends and co-workers… even with the people that Marlee can’t stand!

Farrow also incorporates the Christmas theme really well. In some cozies it’s more so for the cover art and mentioned a couple of times in the book, but not so in Hollyberry Homicide. You get Christmas from Marlee’s obsession with decorating her house and store, to the various times she is preparing food for her shop and parties, to the town’s huge Christmas tree falling over numerous times because of the lake effect winds. It seems like every chapter mentions the holidays, but it’s done well.

As for the murder, there are lots of suspects whose secrets slowly come out over the course of the book. I thought for sure I knew who the killer was, but I was wrong. And I am so happy with who the killer turned out to be.
You don’t need to start A Berry Basket Mystery series from the beginning because Farrow knows how to fold the reader into the story without them becoming lost. But if you do decide you want to (and you should because it’s a great series!), then the first book is Dying for Strawberries. And while you’re at it, you may as well buy all the rest of the books in the series too! show less