Customer Reviews

Town In a Blueberry Jam (CANDY HOLLIDAY MYSTERY)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was good.I enjoyed the fact that Candy's father was actively involved. I have not read a cozy that involved the heroine's father so that was different for me. Candy was spunky and fun. Her friend Maggie was hilarious and outspoken. I did not guess the killer at all. I was not aware of whom it was until it showed up in the book. Great first book in a seemingly promising series.

I honestly was attracted to this book because of the cover....charming! I bought it, and LOVED IT! I am suffering the "blues" now that I finished it! I cannot wait until her next book comes out! I sent a copy to my sister, and she too loved it! It is a well-wriiten, interesting, quick-read.The characters are ones you can cheer for, straight-away! This is a very good debut cozy.....I hated to put it down at night, and as I said, feel bad to see it end! More Candy....Please!!!!

After her husband lost his job, emptied their savings, and dumped her for another woman; Candy Holliday returns to her hometown, the seaside village of Cape Willington, Maine; where she and her dad "Doc" manage Blueberry Acres. Local hero Olympic Gold medal winning swimmer Jock Larson falls off a cliff with his life flashing by including how he died. The townsfolk are unsure of whether it was an accident, suicide, or homicide. Candy is sad over his death, but happy that the Blueberry Festival will still occur with people coming from across the country to attend.

To the locals, the highlight of the gala is the Blueberry Queen Pageant. Five of the contestants are high school students while the other contender is gossip columnist thirty-seven years old Sapphire Vine, a flaky diva (obvious oxymoron). Everyone expects Haley Pruitt to win because of her poise; performance and responses to questions which are by far superior to that of her rivals. Thus when Sapphire wins, everybody is shocked. Soon after her stunning victory, Sapphire is found dead. The town's handyman Ray is arrested for the murder. Candy knows Ray is innocent and intends to find the real culprit with the help of her BFF Maggie. Their investigation uncovers scandals amongst the pageant judges and other residents, but as they get closer to identifying the perpetrator, the killer watches them in case two more corpses are needed.

This is a charming and amusing Pine Tree State cozy in which Cape Willington is vividly described so that the reader feels they are attending the Blueberry festival. The cast is solid as the residents bring out the ambience of the seaside village. Although the amateur sleuthing is similar in tone to many sub-genre entries, the irony of readers knowing a lot more than the cops or the BFF detectives and the Twitter sight provide a fresh spin to B.B. Haywood's first Candy Holliday whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

I picked up this cozy mystery novel because I'm a blueberry lover, and I always find mystery novels based in Maine (i.e. Karen MacInerny's Gray Whale Inn Series and the Sarah Deane series by J.S. Borthwick) to be fascinating. This first installment in the Candy Holliday series did not disappoint!

After going through a tough time in Boston, Candy, a former marketing executive, starts over on the coast of Maine and joins her father, a retired university professor, in running a blueberry farm. Things may seem quiet and cozy in this little town, but murder soon shatters the idyllic setting, when two high-profile residents are killed, and a good friend of Candy and her father is accused of one of the murders. Candy can't stand by and let an innocent man be punished for this crime, and begins picking up clues as to who the real culprit might be.

B.B. Haywood's description of the town and its residents makes the reader feel as if they are a part of the novel, it's Cabot Cove-esque personality will draw in fans of Murder She Wrote as well.

Candy Holliday, the main character, is just not very likable. Haywood give lots of detail about the setting, but doesn't really develop the characters. Plot really plods along and the ending came out of nowhere.

Ending my Cozy Mystery Challenge for 2011, I decided on Town in a Blueberry Jam by B. B. Haywood since this was a new author for me - I had no idea what I was getting into. Apparently, B. B. stands for the writing team of Beth and Robert (I assume Bob) Haywood - but then again - Haywood is not their real last name either. Ok, maybe that does not matter, but with the ever-ongoing use of pseudonyms in the writing world, I always want to know if a new author is actually new or an old author with a new name.

Hope I have not lost you yet.

This is the first book in a brand new series set in the seaside village of Cape Willington, Maine. Candy Holliday has returned home to her father, Doc, and has decided to help run the Blueberry farm until she can decide what it is that she wants s to do with her life. Having given up a demanding career in Boston, Candy has returned home to figure out what her next steps should be. That is until not one, but two unexplained deaths have occurred in this tiny hamlet and wanting to clear the name of a local handyman, Candy finds herself and her good friend in the middle of a jam (ok, I wanted to say pickle, but that wouldn't fit) and with the killer having them trapped on the roof of city hall all seems doomed, that is until an apparent invisible neighbor comes to their aid. OK, that last part was a bit of a stretch, but it does open up an interesting potential for future books.

The book has a couple stutter starts - feeling as if the writing team had put down their laptops and wanted to know "now what direction do we go in". What I did come away with was the hope that this series will take off. The first book spends a great deal of time introducing attention-grabbing characters and with any luck, they will be given their own center stage in the future.

This is fun brain candy and sometimes that is just what an afternoon calls for.

The main characters blithely break the law without a second thought. They contaminate crime scenes and no one is the wiser. The whole ending "fight" scene is simply silly.

On the other hand, I bought the book based on my read of the first chapter. I thought that the author really put thought into how it was written and hoped the rest of the book would be similar. Unfortunately, not. But it does show that she can write and I will look for future works to see if she progresses with this style.

To the author: please give some thought as to ways your sleuth can find out "who dunit" without breaking laws and having no repercussions. When I read this type of work, I want to book down because it has no basis in reality.

Very enjoyable cozy with good plotting and believable characters. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading her next installment

As you've probably guessed, this is a cozy mystery. Something filled with charm and a little violence and an unlikely heroine to save the day. Hey, what can I say, I'm a sucker for these types of books, especially when they involve food.

Candy lives with her dad in Maine running a small blueberry farm. And that's a good thing right now as its the town's annual blueberry festival. But then, before the festival can go off, a local is killed. Admist this mystery the crowning of the blueberry Queen still proceeds but when an unlikely person wins the crown and appears dead a few days later, the town launches into even more of an uproar. And a friend of Candy's is considered the main suspect. She doesn't want to do police work, but can't help but find herself sleuthing around trying to solve the murder case.

Candy is an ok character. She changes her mind very quickly so I don't understand her thought processes sometimes. And I also think its funny that she's not a fan of cooking yet takes a job baking pies, but thats just a small thing in this book. The town does have a lot of characters in it, from the lady who is murdered to Candy's best friend they all have a few quirks. But I think the most misused character in this book is Candy's dad. He seems like he would be fantastic to read about but isn't really used all that much in the story. I would have liked to read more about him.

For a mystery I do have to say that I never guessed who it was. And probably never would have as there weren't that many clues. It didn't quite ruin the story for me, but I always like to have at least a fighting chance at guessing who the killer is. But the setting was done well and the mystery interesting so it was still a decent book. And I really did appreciate the blueberry recipes that were thrown in at the end. I can definitely tell I'll be trying to blueberry whipped cream sometime.

A good cozy mystery. Not stupendous, but a nice read for a cold winter's day.

Town in a Blueberry Jam
Copyright 2010
312 pages

Review by M. Reynard 2011

Candy attends the 41st Berry Festival in her sleepy Maine town where she sells all things blueberry made from the blueberry she owns with her father. She attends the Blueberry pageant with her friend (who's daughter could become Queen this year) only to find it a most entertaining program.

While usually contestants are in high school, this year social gossip Sapphire Vine enters. When she wins the pageant, everyone is surprised - but more so when she turns up murdered in her own home.

When a friend gets accused of murder, Candy knows he couldn't possible have committed the crime. Now she's off to prove what really happened that night.

Breaking and entering, interviewing towns people, and taking over Sapphire Vine's job to search for clues help get Candy started in her investigation. She's just hoping she can prove the police wrong before something happens to her.

My Thoughts: An adorable first book in a new series complete with small town charm