Becca's Market Murder Mystery

Bruce Von Stiers

My wife is into cozy mysteries. I am into more of the noir genre myself. But I have kind of come around these past few years. Actually I have found myself reading more of the cozy kind than others lately.

One of the books that my wife read some time ago is Farm Fresh Murder. This was the first published cozy mystery by Paige Shelton. It was the first in Shelton's Farmers' Market Mystery series. My wife liked it, and so I thought I'd read it too. I also liked the book.

Even though I read the book, I never wrote a review of it. But recently the book was brought to my attention again. I decided to re-read the book and then write a review of it. So here we are, with my review of Farm Fresh Murder.

The lead character of the book is Becca Robbins. Through some poor choices in life, she now has two ex-husbands. But on the plus side, Becca has a farm where she grows fruit and makes preserves. These things she sells at a local farmer's market. Becca's sister, Allison, manages the farmers' market.

Becca gets a call from Allison, needing her to get to the market immediately. Once Becca gets there, she finds out that one of the vendors at the farmer's market has been murdered. It is only a short time later that one of her friends, Abner Justen, is the main suspect.

Becca is no amateur sleuth, but she can't believe Abner would kill Matt Simonsen, so she begins to look into things. Right away there is some pretty damning evidence against Abner. But that doesn't get Becca to stop poking around.

Sheldon brings the characters forth in such a manner as to introduce them to the reader but adding details subtly throughout the book. The reader is introduced to Ian, a metal sculptor, who may or may be a suspect. Then there is Officer Brion, the cop investigating the murder. There are a few of the vendors at the farmer's market who are introduced. Each one had a possible issue with the murder victim and could be considered a suspect. Then there is the victim's widow and their son.

The author puts several twists and turns into the story. Just when I thought I had it figured out, there was a new wrinkle to peruse. But Sheldon did drop a few breadcrumbs here and there, so I wasn't completely surprised by the revealing of the murderer. But then again, I have read a lot of noir, where nothing is as it seems.

I really enjoyed re-reading Farm Fresh Murder. And I know that a lot of other people have enjoyed the mystery as well, whether reading it for the first time or more than once. The book was such a success that Paige Shelton has written several other books in the series.

Even though Farm Fresh Murder has been out for a few years, you can still grab a copy at selected traditional book retailers and online venues such as amazon.com.

If you are interested in learning more about Paige Shelton, and her Farmers' Market Mystery series, visit Paige's official site at http://www.paigeshelton.com/

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© 2015 Bruce E Von Stiers