Book Review/Giveaway: Berried Secrets by Peg Cochran

From the publisher: It’s cranberry picking time—in an all-new mystery series from the national bestselling author of the Gourmet De-Lite Mysteries…

When Monica Albertson comes to Cranberry Cove—a charming town on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan—to help her half-brother Jeff on his cranberry farm, the last thing she expects to harvest is a dead body.

It seems that Sam Culbert, who ran the farm while Jeff was deployed overseas, had some juicy secrets that soon prove fatal, and Jeff is ripe for the picking as a prime suspect. Forming an uneasy alliance with her high-maintenance stepmother, Monica has her hands full trying to save the farm while searching for a killer. Culbert made plenty of enemies in the quaint small town…but which one was desperate enough to kill?

I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but there are times you look at a cover and just *know* it's going to be a fantastic book, and this is one of those times.

It's September in Michigan and Monica Albertson has returned home to help her disabled half-brother Jeff during the harvest. Having recently suffered the closure of her business and the death of her fiance, it's the perfect time to make a fresh start. Then Sam Culbert, who managed the cranberry farm while Jeff was deployed, is found floating in the cranberry bog, and Jeff is the prime suspect when it's revealed that Sam has been embezzling funds. He was far from the only one to have a bone to pick with the victim, though.

I loved every single minute of this first book in Peg Cochran's Cranberry Cove mystery series. The characters are all unique and instantly likable: elderly identical twins who own local candy shop Gumdrops (and their kitty Midnight); Monica's love interest, a bookstore owner; Monica's unlikely partner in crime, her step-mother who she has always blamed for her parents' break-up, and the very pregnant lead detective.

I pinpointed the killer early on so the final reveal wasn't surprising (although I hadn't correctly guessed the motive), but that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the mystery one bit. I fell in love with Monica's cozy little world and am counting down the days until I have the opportunity to revisit Sassamanash Farms!

Giveaway: Leave a comment by noon eastern on Monday, August 10th for your chance to win a copy of Berried Secrets. (US entries only, please.)