I'm pleased to allow Betty Jacobs to take over the blog today. You can find Betty on the pages of the Cuddle Farm Mystery series by Paty Jager. MERRY MERRY MERRY MURDER is the first book in the series and was released Friday!
Hi, I’m Betty Jacobs. I call Andi Weber Clark one of my best friends. We’ve known each other ever since she took me by the hand and led me to Santa when I was six and she was four.
I’d heard her and her family talking as they were setting up their wool booth at the Christmas Festival that happened every year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I wanted to see Santa. Well, not really see him, because I’ve been blind since I was a small child.
When I said I wanted someone to take me to see Santa, Andi had giggled. Her mother called her by her full name and told her to take me to Santa. That day we became friends. She would tell me what things looked like and I’d tell her what they sounded like. All through school, she stood up for me when the other kids made fun of me.
You see, I was adopted at the age of two, when I became blind, by missionaries who were in Ethiopia. I caught a fever, and my parents took me to the local mission. My adoptive mom told me the doctors did everything they could to get my fever down, but it wouldn’t lessen. When it finally did, I couldn’t see. When my birth parents learned that I would never be able to see, they left me at the mission. When my adopted parents were ready to fly back to Oregon, they adopted me and brought me with them.
So not only was I the only blind child in Auburn Elementary, I was also the only child of color. My adoptive parents taught me all about Ethiopia and taught me the ways of my birth parents, but they also tried hard to help me fit into the small community. They and Andi were the anchors I needed while growing up.
When Andi went off to college, I worried that I’d struggle. But I took online courses to be a software developer for the vision-impaired. I make good money and can work from my home.
My father passed away five years ago and my mom just this past year. In her belongings, I found references to my biological family and made a trip to Ethiopia, hoping to reconnect. The person I’d paid to be my guide turned out to be not as reliable as I’d hoped. All the communication back and forth had gone well, but the minute I opened the hotel room door, the aura the person put off had me worrying we wouldn’t be successful. And we weren’t. All the people she took me to and said were my family only wanted handouts.
I came home depressed, but then I ran into Andi. She is back living in Auburn and wanted to continue our friendship! I was so happy to have her back. Especially since I had started seeing auras around people and animals since my father passed. I have often wondered if it is he helping me to navigate a dark world. I haven’t had the chance to tell Andi how I can now see colors where people are standing. But it has helped her already with the murder of the mother of a little girl that Andi has added to her friend list.
As I would imagine, the aura around Andi is orange with shades of red – thoughtfulness, courage, self-control, and an inner warrior spirit, who can survive any circumstance thrown at her. She is realistic and well-grounded.
That is why she stuck up for a blind, little black girl at the age of four.
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Review
The First Cuddle Farm Mystery
After the untimely death of her husband Andi Clark returns to Oregon to the family farm and her family's business. While she provides bookkeeping for the family's yarn shop, she also has therapy animals who she takes around town to help others in need. Andi and her animals are at the Christmas Craft Bazaar and it seems the entire town has shown up for the annual tree lighting ceremony. But when when the new sheriff flips the switch, nothing happens. That is until a scream has one of Andi's therapy dogs dragging her to the anguished cry. The mayor's wife has found a dead body, strangled with a strand of Christmas lights. The more Andi learns about the victim, the more she, and indeed the rest of the town, is surprised no one killed her sooner! Believing the husband innocent and wanting to protect his daughter Andi thinks she can help solve the crime. No one knows what work she and her husband really did abroad, but she has the necessary skills. Now if only Sheriff Skala will accept her help.
I enjoyed my first visit to Auburn, Oregon and I quite like the idea of the entire family living in their own houses on the same property and working the family business in various forms-caring for the sheep, shearing them, carding, spinning, and dyeing the wool, as well as running a yarn shop! I could do without being so close to a nasty sibling though. Yikes, Nina is practically a villain too. I hope one day we discover the backstory of what changed her. At least their mom realizes Nina is nasty too. The rest of the characters are personable, the rest of Andi's family-though we don't see her dad, Sheriff Skala, his son, and especially Andi's therapy animals. Cocoa is, of course, special, but I really like Athena and Sparky too!
The first Cuddle Farm Mystery features a great victim, a horrible lying, cheating, woman who used sex to manipulate and torment. Of course, this gives us a multitude of suspects. I enjoyed how Andi quietly wormed her way into the investigation and the rapport she and the Sheriff had. While at first I thought her backstory was a bit farfetched I soon embraced the idea. I also like the friendship blossoming between Andi and the Sheriff. Of course, it's just friendship and nothing more. Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.
Carefully constructed characters, sweet animals who help, and a compelling mystery make MERRY MERRY MERRY MURDER a fine start to a new series.
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Merry Merry Merry Murder (Cuddle Farm Mysteries) by Paty Jager
About Merry Merry Merry Murder
Cozy Mystery 1st in Series
Setting - Oregon
Publisher: Windtree Press
Publication Date: October 10, 2025
Print Length: 194 pages
In the close-knit town of Auburn, Oregon, Andi Clark's therapy animals bring comfort to the community, especially during the holiday season. As the annual Christmas Craft Bazaar draws near, Andi agrees to set up a Petting Zoo with her beloved animals, bringing smiles to the faces of children and adults alike.
But when a young girl seeks solace from Athena, Andi's therapy dog, after witnessing an unsettling scene behind the sleigh, it marks the beginning of a much darker holiday. As the town gathers for the Tree Lighting Ceremony, a scream shatters the festive atmosphere. Cocoa, Andi's loyal Border Collie, pulls her toward a chilling sight: a woman standing over the lifeless body of the girl's mother, strangled with Christmas lights.
Determined to help the grieving girl and her town recover from the shock, Andi, her therapy animals, and her niece, a county deputy, take it upon themselves to investigate. As they uncover secrets and untangle clues, they stay one step ahead of the new sheriff and worry that the killer lurking in their midst could be someone they know.
About Paty Jager
Paty Jager is an award-winning author of murder mysteries, western romance, and action-adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes in eastern Oregon, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.
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Website: https://www.patyjager.net
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