Take the Honey and Run - A Review & Giveaway

Review

 

TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN by Jennie Marts
The First Bee Keeping Mystery

After her grandmother has a bad fall resulting in a broken foot, mystery author Bailey Briggs and her daughter return to Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch to help out. Bailey is in for more than one surprise upon her arrival. She has a minor car accident, finds the boy who broke her heart in high school is back and even more gorgeous than ever, and discovers Granny Bee throwing the mayor out of her house as she threatens to kill him! When said mayor winds up dead, with Granny Bee's honey the probable murder weapon, Bailey finds that solving a real life murder is more challenging writing one!

Jennie Marts absolutely knocks it out of the ballpark with the first Bee Keeping Mystery. I loved just about everything making it one of my favorite reads of the year! The characters jump off the page, each one special with hidden depths and secrets waiting to be revealed. I love the concept of "The Hive", Granny Bee's cadre of friends and family in disguise as a book club. I also love that the older characters have rich, full lives-nothing is going to slow them down, let alone stop them. Bailey and Evie's friendship reminds me a bit of Lucy and Ethel, at least in regards to their schemes while the sparks between Bailey and Sawyer are a good counterpoint to the mystery.

I love the bee and honey theme in TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN. Delicious sounding food and drink had me craving honey laden snacks. Happily, there are recipes at the end of the book, sadly they don't automatically appear as I read about them. There is a lot of humor in the book and I found myself laughing often! The mystery was quite confounding. I enjoyed following Bailey's investigative path. Lots of red herrings led me astray leading me to think several characters were guilty.

Smart capable women, a complex mystery, good friendships, and a hint of romance combine to create a wonderful story that is a fantastic start to a new series.

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 Take the Honey and Run (A Bee Keeping Mystery) by Jennie Marts

About Take the Honey and Run

Take the Honey and Run (A Bee Keeping Mystery)
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Setting - Colorado
Crooked Lane Books (July 18, 2023)
Hardcover: ‎ 336 pages

The town is all abuzz when a murder occurs in Jennie Marts’ debut cozy mystery, perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Amanda Flower.

As a successful mystery author, Bailey Briggs writes about murder, but nothing prepares her for actually discovering the dead body of the founder of her hometown of Humble Hills, Colorado. Bailey grew up at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch and was raised by her beekeeping grandmother, Blossom Briggs, aka Granny Bee, and her two eccentric sisters, Aster and Marigold—which is why she drops everything to come home and help Granny Bee after a bad fall. A broken foot doesn’t stop her grandmother from ruling The Hive, her granny’s book club, or continuing to prepare and package her bee-inspired products. But when Bailey's grandmother’s infamous "Honey I'm Home" hot spiced honey turns out to “bee” the murder weapon and her granny is now the prime suspect, Bailey has no choice but to use her fictional detective skills to help solve the murder and "smoke out" the real culprit. With the help of Bailey’s witty bestie, a pair of meddling aunts, the feisty members of The Hive, and her computer-savvy daughter, this amateur sleuth is determined to solve the case. A malicious attack and an ominous threat reveal that someone wants Bailey to butt out of the investigation, but there’s no way she’s backing down. She must use her skills to uncover the truth and catch the clever culprit before her grandmother ends up bee-hind bars.

About Jennie Marts

Jennie Marts is the USA TODAY Best-selling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”

She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet who loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.

Her books range from Western romance to cozy mysteries, but they all have the charm and appeal of quirky small-town life. She loves genre-mashups like adding romance to her Page Turners cozy mysteries and creating the hockey-playing cowboys in the Cowboys of Creedence. The same small-town community comes to life with more animal antics in her latest Creedence Horse Rescue series. And her sassy heroines and hunky heroes carry over in her heartwarming, feel good romances from Hallmark Publishing. Her newest cozy mystery, Take the Honey and Run: A Bee Keeping Mystery, debuts this July.

Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books, Twitter at @JennieMarts, and at jenniemartswriter on Instagram. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.

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