Apple Cider Slaying
Blossom Valley, West Virginia, is home to Smythe Orchards, Winnie, and her Granny’s beloved twenty-five-acre farm and family business. But any way you slice it, it’s struggling. That’s why they’re trying to drum up business with the “First Annual Christmas at the Orchard,” a good old-fashioned holiday festival with enough delicious draw to satisfy apple-picking locals and cider-loving tourists alike. Until the whole endeavor takes a sour turn when the body of Nadine Cooper, Granny’s long-time, grudge-holding nemesis, is found lodged in the apple press. Now, with Granny the number one suspect, Winnie is hard-pressed to prove her innocence before the real killer delivers another murder.
Series: A Cider Shop Mystery – Book #1
Author: Julie Anne Lindsey
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Holiday
Publisher: Kensington Mystery
Page Count: 336
Rating: 
A Wonderful cozy mystery and the debut for a new series from Julie Anne Lindsey‘s Apple Cider Slaying in the “A Cider Shop Mystery” series.
Winnie only wants to make her dreams come true and help Granny get out of debt to save the farm, but every step forward seems to send her back three. Winnie is a loving, kind, and generous character in this new cozy mystery series. Readers will love her attitude, even when she gets beaten down, she keeps going and fights her way through every problem, even murder. Granny is amazing and makes everyone want to protect and take care of her, but she is the one doing most of the protecting and taking care of people, especially Winnie.
This book is highly interesting and filled with colorful and exciting characters that will continue to grow with each new addition to the series. Characters have great personalities, even the characters who are murder suspects. The victim’s character isn’t fleshed out in detail, which isn’t unusual in a cozy mystery of this type. Readers will get a sense of the kind of person she was from the other characters’ descriptions. The killer, for me, was not a surprise, but most readers will keep guessing to the end.
Apple Cider Slaying is a fast-paced, enjoyable read. It has all the elements that make a good cozy mystery and the full potential to be a great series. If readers are looking for a good book to read that will leave them happy, this is the book for them.
Other cozy mystery books and series readers may enjoy are Bree Baker’s https://www.breebaker.com/ fantastic cozy mystery series “Seaside Café Mysteries” https://www.thecozyreview.com/tide-and-punishment/ or Joy Avon’s “A Tea and a Read Mystery” series https://www.thecozyreview.com/in-peppermint-peril/.
About the Author:
Julie Anne Lindsey is an obsessive reader whose bookish heart was once torn between the love of her two favorite genres: toe-curling romance and chew-her-nails suspense. Now, she gets to write both, and she loves every minute. Julie is the author of more than twenty-five novels, written both as herself and under several pen names.
When she’s not creating new worlds and fostering the epic love of fictional characters, Julie can be found carpooling her three kids around Northeastern Ohio and plotting with her shamelessly enabling friends. She is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Romance Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.
Julie is represented by Jill Marsal at the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
Contact Julie: https://www.julieannelindsey.com/contact
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