Book Review/Giveaway: If Onions Could Spring Leeks by Paige Shelton

From the publisher: The New York Times bestselling author of If Catfish Had Nine Lives returns to Broken Rope, Missouri, where ghosts of the Old West seek assistance from country cooks and amateur sleuths Betts Winston and her grandmother.

With summer tourists flocking to Broken Rope, locals volunteer to keep chaos to a minimum. Old West skits are running smoothly, actors are behaving, and stagecoach rides are more popular than ever, but when a spectral visitor appears by ghost train, it’s a job only Betts and Gram can handle.

Gram soon starts having nightmares about their ghostly visitor’s demise. And if a ghost and the hot summer weather weren’t making things sticky enough, one of the town’s volunteers—a man notorious for having more than his fair share of ex-wives—is murdered. When Jerome, Bett’s otherworldly friend, makes an unsettling appearance, this simmering double mystery becomes a recipe for disaster.

It's fairly obvious by now that I gravitate towards the more pet-centric cozies on the shelves, but Paige Shelton's Country Cooking School mysteries revolves around another passion of mine: the Old West. The town of Broken Rope with it's Old West reenactments and Bett's ghostly visitors from that time period make me daydream about strolling along it's boardwalk.

As is generally the case with this series, If Onions Could Spring Leeks features two mysteries: a modern-day murder and a mystery that was left unresolved back in the late 1800s. A Broken Rope volunteer with 5 ex-wives and a Norma Bates-esque mother is murdered, and the assailant harms Betts as well. While attempting to solve the crime she also finds herself entangled in the ghostly lives of Grace and Robert, a black woman and white man whose forbidden love took a tragic turn over a century ago. The authenticity of the ghost train angle of this part of the story practically had me smelling the train's smoke and hearing it's ghostly whistle.

A huge part of why I love this series so much is the love that has developed between Betts and sexy cowboy ghost Jerome. In this book (for reasons we don't know yet), he's forced to come to her by entering the bodies of other ghosts and living people as well. Needless to say, it creates some very awkward moments, and part of me feels that a little bit of magic between them was lost because of it. I'm eager to find out the reason behind this and where Betts, Jerome, and Cliff go from here.

This is a series perfect for readers of mystery, romance, paranormal, and history. Pour some coffee into a blue tin mug and settle in for a delightful tale.

Giveaway: Leave a comment by noon eastern on Wednesday, August 19th for your chance to win a copy of If Onions Could Spring Leeks. (US entries only, please.)