My Review
Kate Mulligan has recently lost her husband in an accident that also injured her. When she unexpectedly inherits her family homeplace from her uncle, she moves to a small town near Gettysburg to open a fruit orchard and cidery. The move changes her life - she reconnects with her childhood friend, becomes friends with a man who she could become interested in later, and, after there is a murder at her orchard, she becomes involved in solving the mystery.
I wanted to read this book because I love cozy mysteries. I was intrigued by the fruit orchard setting, and the cidery (since that is something I knew nothing about).
This is the first book in a new series and I have to say it is my favorite start to a cozy series in a long time! Kate is a likable, smart, independent protagonist. She has been through a lot but she approaches life with optimism and a resilient attitude. I also liked her friends, her potential love interest, and the little town itself, which was charming, with all the little shops and businesses.
The cidery business was fascinating! The author included details through the book that let the reader learn more about the world of cider production.
This mystery has a strong link to the past and to town history, and I loved that aspect of the book as well. I especially enjoyed when Kate was uncovering local history as part of her sleuthing.
There is even a lovable pet, a sweet cat named Blossom who adopts Kate when they both need companionship.
I enthusiastically recommend Deadly to the Core for fans of cozy mysteries. I know you will enjoy this book as much as I did!
Perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Julie Anne Lindsey, when Kate Mulligan inherits her great uncle’s fruit orchard, she quickly realizes that apples aren’t the only thing that can have rotten cores.
After losing her husband in a terrible car crash, thirty-five-year-old Kate is left to pick up the pieces of her life alone. Although she has physically recovered, she worries her spirit never will. But when she learns that she has inherited a fruit orchard in a small town just outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from her great uncle Stan, she takes this as an opportunity ripe for the picking. Kate knew immediately what to do with it: open a cider house. Her hopeful plans fall far from the tree when she finds the body of the orchard manager, Carl Randolph, leaving her to figure out who is at the core of this murder.
Author Bio
Book Synopsis
Perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Julie Anne Lindsey, when Kate Mulligan inherits her great uncle’s fruit orchard, she quickly realizes that apples aren’t the only thing that can have rotten cores.
She had been in correspondence with Carl, who had agreed with her brilliant idea of opening a cider house. But not everyone is so quick to buy what she was selling—Uncle Stan’s lawyer, Robert Larabee, paints a less rosy financial outlook of the orchard’s past, present, and future.
Kate discovers that Carl had large, unexplained deposits to his bank account and it becomes clear that either he was blackmailing someone, or someone was paying him to keep quiet. Meanwhile, Kate and her neighbors receive offers to buy their property from a mysterious buyer. And there’s more than meets the eye with the neighboring orchard owner, Daniel Martinez, although Kate can’t quite put her finger on if it’s sweet or sour.
Will she be able to pick out the bad apple among the bunch before it’s too late?
Author Bio
Joyce Tremel was a police secretary for ten years and more than once envisioned the demise of certain co-workers, but settled on writing as a way to keep herself out of jail. In addition to the Cider House Mysteries, she wrote the Brewing Trouble Mysteries. As Joyce St. Anthony, she writes the Homefront News historical mysteries. She lives in the beautiful Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania with her husband and two cats named Hops and Lager.
Author Links
Website www.joycetremel.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/JoyceTremel
X/Twitter www.twitter.com/JoyceTremel
GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13746162.Joyce_Tremel
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org – PenguinRandomHouse
Giveaway
