Death Bee Comes Her - A Review

Review

 

DEATH BEE COMES HER by Nancy Coco

The First Oregon Honeycomb Mystery

While walking her Havana Brown on the beach, Wren Johnson discovers the dead body of her aunt's crafting rival. With a label from one of Wren's lip balms clutched in her hand, the shop owner of Let it Bee quickly becomes a person of interest. As police take most of her stock, Wren, her Aunt Eloise, and shop sale's manager, Porsche, decide to go on the offense and look for the murderer themselves. But will trying to nab a killer make this Wren's last Halloween? 

What I liked best about this book is that it brings awareness to bees and their plight. As humans we truly do rely on bees for our own survival. By having a shop that not only sells products using honey, but houses a bee hive and promotes bee education in a gentle way. The recipes, not only for food, but beauty products, sound delicious and easy to prepare. I see Honey Taffy Candy in my future!

Wren Johnson is a likeable protagonist with an even more likable cat. Everett is a charming creature with a distinct personality who lights up the page. The mystery is well plotted with red herrings creating lots of avenues to explore and the Halloween setting brings a unique touch to the book.

It's good that Wren is knowledgeable in CPR, however, she isn't up to date. The American Red Cross changed its process and you no longer do a blind sweep of the person's mouth. I also think Officer Hampton plays a bit loose with police procedure. While the murder was solved, there were some loose ends, a few of which may be possible leads for future books in the series. Still, these issues, while taking me out of the scene, didn't detract much from my enjoyment of the book.

DEATH BEE COMES HER with its lovely setting filled with interesting characters and a focus on bees and honey products is a pleasant start to a new series.