Customer Reviews

Buzz Off (A Queen Bee Mystery)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first in a welcome new series "Queen Bee Mysteries" by author Hannah Reed. Story Fischer is learning the craft of beekeeping from her good friend Manny until he is found dead, stung to death. Story is heartbroken but knows immediately that he had to have been killed by yellowjackets rather than his own bees. His journal is missing and a suspicious man is out to take all of Manny's hives.

In addition to learning beekeeping, Story runs a grocery store in an old church. I loved the way local farmers sold their goods at her store, making it seem like a natural hub for activity and gossip.

Many mysteries set in small towns thrive on gossip as one of the main ways of revealing plot elements and motivations. Move over, gossip mongers, Pity-Party Patti has got you in her sights. Generally referred to as P.P. Patti, this telescope wielding snoop sees everything and she makes sure everyone knows her version of what she's got to share.

There is plenty of romance as Story keeps the town buzzing about her relationships with sleazy ex-husband Clay, old flame Hunter, grudge bearing police chief Johnny Jay and rumors that she was more than an apprentice to her mentor Manny.

Toss in a disapproving mother and a rockin' grandma and we're off to a great start!

A Queen Bee Mystery
FIRST IN A NEW SERIES
Release Date September 7, 2010
Berkley Prime Crime

Set in the fictional town of Moraine, Wisconsin, Story Fischer is gearing up for National Honey Month (September). Her messy divorce is final. Her store, The Wild Clover, is very successful and is the only local grocery. It is a truly unique mercantile, as the building was formerly a church, complete with stained glass windows. She also works with her friend and mentor, Manny, who is teaching her all he knows about the honey business. They have harvested their honey and stock various honey products on The Wild Clover's shelves and on shelves in stores throughout the county. Everything seems pretty sunny in Story's life.

But it doesn't take long before things start to get sticky.

Her mentor is found dead, in front of his beehives, totally covered in bees and honey. The police and the entire town believes Manny was killed by his bees. Story tries to explain the difference between honeybee stings and wasp or yellow jacket stings, but no one will listen. The local Realtor, a crazy woman named Lori, wants all the bees killed including Story's bees.

While Story is working hard to save all the bees, another body is found in the Oconomowoc River, and this time the evidence points directly at Story's ex-husband. Yes, he is a jerk, thinks he's God's gift to women, and a "buzzkill," but not a murderer. Story shifts into high gear to save her bees, her business and even her ex. Honey may be sweet, but this mystery is anything but sweet. Story will be busy as a bee to untangle this mess and trying to keep herself from getting stung in the process.

I loved this book for so many reasons:

* The subject matter is truly unique. I have never read a mystery with bees as the theme.
* The characters are a hoot, or should I say a buzz since we are dealing will bees. Their humorous quips can be a sharp as a sting, and P.P. Patty will have you laughing out loud. You will come to love the entire hive.
* The mystery is solidly written, many twists and turns and will keep you guessing until the very end.
* This book is set in Wisconsin, my home territory. If Moraine was a real town, I could be shopping in Story's store or canoeing on the Oconomowoc River in about 45 minutes.
* Included in the book are some wonderful recipes.
* Why is my review written using bullet points, you will have to read the book to find out.

Seriously though Hannah Reed has written a truly extraordinary debut to start this brand new series. It is one guilty pleasure I am honored to have. I love to read what she writes and cannot wait to the next installment to this honey of a series.

Hannah Reed may have surpassed her efforts of a past incarnation with BUZZ OFF, the first of a brand new series from Berkley. With characters you not only can believe in, but want to get to know, she weaves a small town mystery to challenge a current day Miss Marple, who just happens to be a bee keeper. As if an ex moving in next door isn't enough of a problem, half the town thinks she did in her mentor. Wacky relatives and neighbors lighten the load as she works to exonerate herself by seeking out the real culprit.

I can clearly see that this author has major potential. She's a good writer. But I just couldn't get into this book at all. Frankly, I learned way too much about Wisconsin agriculture through this book, and all the bulletpoints are distracting.

-They are intrusive.
-And annoying.
-And Oh Em Gee, if someone spoke 'text-speak' out loud, you would hear LETTERS!

The story was okay, but if a second book is physically written like this one, I won't be seeing a third.

Really, it didn't need the gimmicks.

The whole time I was reading this book, my brain kept telling me that the title was Buzz Kill. I am not sure why that was, maybe because the story revolves around beekeeping and a murder was discovered right away and therefore - bees buzz and people die. Really, I have no idea. Sometimes even I wonder what is going on in my brain.

The cozy genre is getting a bit clogged with formulaic books, so when one comes along that stands out from the rest I am impressed. Is this a perfect book - no. But it is a series that I will make the effort to search for in the future. What is my hang-up? Bullet Points. A mystery is not a PowerPoint presentation so including bullet points is a bit off putting for me. I would also complain about Storey's sisters' fascination with text speak (you know that annoying language teenagers speak in on their phone), but after awhile it became endearing.

Newly divorced Story Fisher owns a small market in Morain, Wisconsin and has branched out into beekeeping with her dear friend Manny. This venture is short lived when Manny is discovered dead among his hives and it is believed that the bees have become killers. Story know that this isn't true. How could those gentle creatures kill the man that loved them so much?

As the story unfolds, the reader is introduced to the town of Moraine and its somewhat strange inhabitants. As relationships unfold, the reader starts to pick their favorites and tries to solve this murder mystery with the few tidbits that are placed along the trail. About midway through, the culprit was easy to pick out, but Ms Reed included enough about the side characters and beekeeping to keep me continuing with the tale.

As I said, this is an enjoyable new series and I look forward to Mind Your Own Beeswax, the next in the Queen Been Mystery Series.

I enjoyed the book very much. The heroine, except for her love of bees, was good, as was the hero and his dog. The supporting characters of sister, grandmother, and mother were interesting, and I liked the relationship between the sisters.

The villain was pretty apparent to me, but maybe I think like Hannah. <g>

Two things were irritating, first the foot-fetish business that, thankfully, got dropped after the first few chapters, and the bullet lists. These subtracted from, rather than added to, the storytelling.

I will buy the next book in the series, and hope that seeing the reviews listed that didn't like the bullet lists will make these disappear from what could be a very good series.

This is the first book in this new cozy/mystery series and it's definitely worth reading. The main character isn't a psedo-slueth and doesn't go out looking for dead bodies and mysteries. Story Fischer is an apprentice beekeeper/shop owner in a very small, gossipy town. When her mentor, Manny is found dead, the townspeople immediately point their fingers at Story and her beehives. Story spends a fair amount of time convincing the townspeople that her bees are safe, and stumbles upon answers to Manny's death without actually trying. The plot was well constructed, and flowed at a natural pace. The main character was well-developed but not overly so (we will likely know more about her in subsequent books), and her relationships with her mother, cousin, friends and ex's were explored. the subject matter was unique and kept the book interesting for me. The major downside? Story loves lists and bullet points, and so the author makes it a point of using bullet points throughout the whole book. So, you'll be reading a page and a bullet point list randomly appears; it's almost as though the author couldn't write her way through the scene, so she resorted to bullet points instead. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, but hope the bullet lists are eliminated.

Summary from back of the book:

When beekeeper Story Fischer is on the case, you can run-but you can't hive.
It's September-National Honey Month-in Moraine, Wisconsin, and things are looking up for Story Fischer. Her messy divorce is final; the honey from her beekeeping business has been harvested; and the Wild Clover, the market she owns, is thriving. Life seems pretty sweet until her mentor in the honey business is found stung to death in his apiary.
Story is still trying to explain to the panicked locals that Manny was killed by wasps, not honeybees, when another body is found floating in the Oconomowoc River. This time the evidence points to Story's ex. Sure, Clay's a womanizer and a buzz kill-but a murderer? Desperate to save her bees and her business (and, okay, her ex), it's up to Story to find a way out of a very sticky situation.

I had hear quite a bit of "buzz" about this book and was worried that it might not live up to all the hype. I shouldn't have worried. I loved this first book in a new series.

To put in terms Story would appreciate:

* The theme is different from any other series I've read.
* The characters will keep you on your toes. Their quirks and foibles (from P.P. Patty to Story's overbearing mother) will keep the hive buzzing. You'll want to read more just to see how Story handles them all.
* The fact that Story is successfully following her dreams will serve as an inspiration for all women who want to make it on their own.
* Readers will want read more to find out what happens between Story and Hunter.

As I've said before I already follow many cozy series, in addition to reading a great deal of young adult novels. My to read list is longer than I am tall and adding a new series to the list is not something I do lightly. Reed's solid writing and well-developed characters made adding this to my list of series to follow a no brainer. I'm looking forward to Mind Your Own Beeswax due out in May of 2011.

Melissa "Story" Fischer had returned to Moraine, Wisconsin a couple of years ago and unlike her sister Holly, who had an M.R.S. degree, actually had to work for a living and started up a soon to be thriving grocery store, "The Wild Clover." Holly drove a Jag and Story drove a getcha where ya wanna go pickup, but what the heck, she was happy. Southeastern Wisconsin wasn't exactly "the" place to be, it was proving to be a place where Story could leave behind the past and start fresh again. Well, almost because her ex, Clay, whose only redeeming quality just happened to be his "gorgeous feet," lived next door and Pity-Party Patti Dwyre, who owned a telescope, lived on the other side. Nobody ever said it was a perfect world.

Cousin Carrie Ann thought Story should have called up Clay and invited him to join the festivities at The Wild Clover's "one-day sale," but who in their right mind would invite a two-timing twit to guzzle up all her free champagne? The champagne filled flutes and freebies were being scarfed up by everyone from the foodies to the frumps and he was the last thing on her mind. While everyone was getting a buzz, Story's "beekeeping mentor," Manny Chapman, who taught her in his beekeeping course, was lying out by his beehives, apparently dying a horrendous death after having been stung by his honeybees. Just when Story thought things were getting bad, things got soooo bad, her hair could have curled without even so much as walking by the Stone Bank beauty shop.

Faye Tilley, Clay's current paramour, just happened to be found "sprawled faceup" inside a kayak . . . HER kayak. And guess who found the corpse? Story wasn't exactly on the right side of the law. She'd turned down that obnoxious bully Johnny Jay (now Police Chief Jay) when he invited her to the prom in high school, and she'd dumped Hunter Wallace, currently a member of the Critical Incident Team, a.k.a. C.I.T. Missy Fischer had a lot to explain and in a big fat hurry. Was she going to be able to explain away her awkward connections to the victims? Could she prove Manny had been murdered? Would she be able to exonerate Clay? OMG! Grams was on her way in her Cadillac Fleetwood. Looked like Story was in for the ride of her life. It wouldn't be long before her mother would start yapping, "Your personal life is spread over the entire town like a B movie . . . " No kidding.

Everyone is simply going to go Buzz-erk over the marvelously quirky cast of characters in this fabulously funny new series. This series portrays small town America in its not so finest light, the way it really is (minus the corpses of course). You've got everything and everyone from those little rat-at-tat tat romances going on when no one is looking (except for P. P. Patti) to eccentric Grams in her Caddie who would just as soon run over you as look at you. Rather than peek behind your blinds at your real neighbors, you need only to crack open the pages of this book to find them. Hannah Reed has a deliciously spicy, adorable sense of humor that had me howling with unabashed glee. You couldn't get as many colorful characters if you poured them from a box of Fruit loops. "Buzz Off" had just the right blend of mystery, romance, and humor that will charm anyone's socks off. If this fantastic whodunit doesn't buzz to the top of your list, I'm simply gonna have to sic Grams on you . . . and she doesn't mess around!