Death, Lies and Apple Pies (Tori Miracle Mysteries, No. 2) [Hardcover]

Valerie S. Malmont (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 4, 1997

Tori Miracle returns to Lickin Creek to rekindle a romance with the town's handsome police chief, and to judge the town's annual apple recipe contest - an honor not to be taken lightly. Yet upon Tori's arrival, the ordinarily quiet town is awash in madness, mayhem - and murder. The government is proposing to build a nuclear waste dump site in Lickin Creek and it's tearing the little community apart. Though most are adamantly opposed to the idea, some stand to make a handsome profit, and lately the feuding has become increasingly hostile and violent. Though Tori is warned to keep her nose out of trouble, when a rash of "accidental" deaths breaks out, she can't help but snoop around. Before long, Tori uncovers a slew of secrets that if exposed could ruin some of the town's most prominent members. As she gets closer to the truth, the killer closes in, and, like it or not, once again Tori Miracle finds herself running for her life in a town so small no one can be trusted.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Struggling but spunky New York author Tori Miracle returns to Lickin Creek, Pennsylvania (see Death Pays the Rose Rent, LJ 7/94), to visit her long-distance boyfriend, hunky local police chief Garnet. Their plans to vacation together are interrupted when someone kills a man who promised to sell acreage to a controversial proposed nuclear waste facility. Tori investigates but only after agreeing to speak to the literary society, act as "celebrity" judge for recipe entries in the local apple festival, and consider becoming temporary editor of the newspaper. Likable, eccentric characters, frothy hullabaloo, and humorous situations.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Can you imagine? A nuclear waste dump may be the new kid on the block in that apple of God's eye, Lickin Creek, Pennsylvania. Looks like the demonstrators from CANLICK (Citizens Against Nuclear Waste in Lickin Creek) will make it impossible for horror novelist Tori Miracle, visiting from the Big Bad Apple, to keep her mind on her duties as celebrity judge of the Old Fashioned Apple Butter Festival. But then--wouldn't you know it?--rich old Percy Montrose dies suddenly (of aplastic anemia, his benighted physician sniffs) shortly after deciding to sell his land to the dumpers, and it's off to the races for Tori. Well-hated Percy leaves plenty of suspects in his wake--his covetous son Chaz, his wheeler-dealer partners Avory Jenkins and Aldine Schlotterbeck, CANLICK stalwart Greta Gochenauer (the sister of Tori's adorable cop boyfriend), and eccentric herbalist Haggie Aggie Haggard (who tells Tori she knows who killed Percy). In addition to Percy's departure, the canvas is crowded with two subsequent homicides, and with blackmail, incest, drugs, repeated attempts on the heroine's life (and her pets), and of course that horrid nuclear dump. But Malmont (Death Pays the Rose Rent, 1994) continues to make Lickin Creek such a never-never land of Amish heartiness that you know nothing serious will go wrong. Just the thing for readers who need their blood-pressure checked before tackling the rigors of Tamar Myers's comparatively racy Penn Dutch stories. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; F edition (August 4, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684801892
• ISBN-13: 978-0684801896
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,451,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely terrific cozy, June 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Death, Lies and Apple Pies (Tori Miracle Mysteries, No. 2) (Hardcover)

Lickin Creek is a small rural community in Central Pennsylvania where the
English and Plain people peacefully co-exist, while the Hollow people stay to
themselves in the surrounding hills. Horror novelist Tori Miracle had the
honor (or perhaps the misfortune) of visiting the town where her best friend
is a resident. During her stay, she investigated a murder and met the man
she deeply cares about, Sheriff Garnet Gachenauser. She decides to leave New
York to vacation in Lickin Creek to see of she and Garnet have any future
together. Her first night back in the tranquil town, she is involved with a
new murder investigation.
...... The victim dies in Tori's arms, claiming to have been poisoned. Tori
vows to uncover the identity of the killer if it is the last she ever does.
Since the murderer wants to remain anonymous, Tori's days may be numbered.
She barely escapes two attempts on her life, while two people who might have
helped her on her case are found dead. If Tori is not careful, the killer
may find the third attempt to be the charm.
..... DEATH, LIES, AND APPLE PIE is a fast moving, entertaining amateur
detective cum cozy mystery that captures the duality of warmth and darkness
that make up a small town. It is the non-threatening incidents that abound
in this absorbing novel that create an atmosphere that allow the reader to
bond with the heroine. There are the usual plethora of suspects in the well
plotted story line, but most of the audience will not be able to guess who
the killer is because Valeri S. Malmont cleverly hides the perpetrator in
plain sight. Hopefully, there will be more Tori Miracle adventures in the
near future.

.....Harriet Klausner

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific!, October 16, 2002

By 

Reader (Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Death, Lies and Apple Pies (Tori Miracle Mysteries, No. 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

I love Valerie Malmont's Tori Miracle books. The town of Lickin Creek is vividly painted. Its citizens can be a bit eccentric, but not so over-the-top that they become unbelievable, and they constantly remind Tori, the heroine, that she doesn't quite fit in.

This is a well-written series, and I'm eager to read the next Tori book (I think it will be published in early 2003).

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but surely the silliest detective to ever walk the pages of a mystery, March 17, 2008

By 

M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Death, Lies and Apple Pies (Tori Miracle Mysteries, No. 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Tori Miracle, struggling writer, goes to Lickin Creek, PA (in the Appalachians) to visit her guy, who is Chief of Police of a very tiny police force (1 1/2 persons, including him). Early on, the richest man in town dies in her arms, and she is convinced that he was murdered, although there's no evidence for this. She decides to investigate this on her own, and her first step is to visit Haggie Aggie, a traditional healer who lives up a hollow in an area well known to be dangerous to strangers, particularly women (I told you she was a very silly detective). Throughout the book, attempts are made on her life, but this does not deter her at all from her investigation (I found myself thinking "is this woman stupid or what?")

So -- why give it even three stars? I might even go to 3 1/2 stars: the plotting was fairly good, even if it was highly unbelievable. The cozy little community of Lickin Creek is amusing. I was fairly surprised by who the killer turned out to be. But the writing was very average and there was that Tori Miracle, apparently born without a lick of common sense.

All in all, it's not bad as a home-sick-in-bed sort of book, but I wouldn't go out of my way to read more books by this author. Although other readers find Tori Miracle a likeable character, I found her silly beyond words.