I can’t describe all the feelings that came over me that first day back at the old farm and pumpkin patch my grandparents had worked for so many years. Certainly nostalgia, guilt, and grief.
They’d been missing since I was twelve. My mother and I had come to see them one day and they were gone. There was still coffee and cornbread on the stove. It was like they were about to sit down for breakfast – and disappeared.
We looked everywhere for them. My mother alerted the police with no results. She hired private investigators who could never find anything more than the police. I guess we finally gave up. The farm sat idle and empty all those years, slowly falling apart.
Except the pumpkin patch that re-seeded itself and kept producing big, orange pumpkins that were either eaten by wild animals or stolen by teenagers.
I felt nostalgia for the little girl I’d once been spending time there as often as I could when I was growing up. I’d loved my grandparents and felt as though they’d been ripped out of my life that day.
Guilt had haunted me for years. Even though I couldn’t do much with the land or trying to find them when I was a child, I’d grown up finally and still hadn’t tried to look for them again. Coming to Mystic River, Virginia to pay the taxes on the property and sell the old place made it all come flooding back to me. What was I doing?
Grief for my grandparent’s loss made me decide that I had to find them – no matter what it took. There had to be avenues that hadn’t been explored. No one just disappears.
But what really made me decide to stay was the excitement I felt when I pulled into their driveway and saw the old place again. I couldn’t wait to walk the land and smell the richness of the living earth. I looked at the old pumpkin patch and something tugged at my heart.
Stay, it said. Stay and build something here as your grandparents and great-grandparents did.
Now if I can just figure out how to manage Jack. He’s taken care of the land for the last sixteen years, keeping things together for my grandparents. He swears my grandfather asked him to take care of things before he disappeared. But I’m not sure I can trust him and he has this uncanny knack for sneaking up on me.
At least Jack seemed to be my biggest problem, but looking back at it, I realize that he was only the beginning.
You can read more about Sarah in Give ‘em Pumpkin to Talk About, the first book in the NEW “Pumpkin Patch” mystery series, published by J. Lavene.
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 a.m. eastern on August 27 for the chance to win a print copy of Give ‘Em Pumpkin to Talk About. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected.
About the author
Joyce and Jim Lavene write award-winning, bestselling mystery and urban fantasy fiction as themselves, J.J. Cook, and Ellie Grant. Their first mystery novel, Last Dance, won the Master’s Choice Award for 
best first mystery novel in 1999. Their romance, Flowers in the Night, was nominated for the Frankfurt Book Award in 2000. They have written and published more than 70 novels that are sold worldwide for Harlequin, Penguin, Amazon, and Simon and Schuster. They have also published hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They live in Midland, North Carolina with their family and their rescue pets—Rudi, Stan Lee, and Quincy.
Visit them at www.joyceandjimlavene.com, on Amazon, on Twitter and on Facebook
I absolutely love books by these two amazing authors and know this one will be super de duper great…can’t wait to read it!!! Sure would love to win it!!!! Thanks Dru for the chance!!! God bless!!!!
Good Morning, Beverly!
I love everything I’ve read that they’ve written. This book sounds like the start of a good series.
Thanks Kaye!
They are fantastic writers and I am reading all their different series. Thanks for the chance to win.
Thank YOU, Doward! We appreciate readers like you!
This sounds intriguing and a good chance to get acquainted with these authors. Thanks for the chance to win!
Good morning, Gail!
Love these authors, always excellent reads.
Hi Lisa, and thank you!
A new series by favorite authors – Yay! Our weather has been fallish the past few day and pumpkin bread/pie/cookies sure sound good!
Yum! Good food and reading! My favs!
Love the title. Sounds like a great new series for me to try.
Hi Elaine! Thanks for being here today!
Love the authors of this book , so know it will be great
Thank you, Debbie!
Love all of their books and can’t wait to read this one
Glad you could be here, Becky! Thanks!
I enjoy all things pumpkin so this book sounds like a good one.
I LOVE pumpkin too! How can you go wrong with pumpkin?
The real mystery is how Jim and Joyce Lavene continue to turn out wonderful books time after time. I keep thinking one series after another is my favorite, then comes another. This one sounds like the best one yet. But I always think that. One thing for sure, I’m not missing any of this series.
Aww Kathy! Thanks for stopping by! You are such a sweetheart. Hope to see you soon.
sounds great!
Sarah? Is that really you?
I’ve enjoyed other work by these authors. I want to know if the grandparents ever turn up and how this turns out.
Hi Denise! That’s what we wanted to know too! And once you ask the question, you have to write – or read – the story!
Thanks for this lovely feature and great giveaway.
Hi Anne!
I have been curious about this new series ever since I read about it, and today’s blog has made me want to read it. :p Thanks to you, Dru and to the Lavenes for the chance to win a copy!
Thank you, Barbara! I hope you enjoy it.
I absolutely love these authors and their books. I have several of their series that I have read and am still reading. I would love the chance to win this book. It sounds so intriguing I want to read it now.
Hi Brian! Thanks so much for stopping by. Good luck with the giveaway!
Sounds very interesting. Thanks.
Thanks Mary Jane!
I finished this book in two days. I hated to see it end. Looking forward to see the characters develop in the next one. I love anything written by these two authors. Highly recommend this book to anyone.
Awesome review. Thanks Jeannie!
This would be my choice for a good Autumn read.
Thanks!
These are new authors to me. If I were in a bookstore and saw this book, I’d buy it for the cover alone (I’ve found many good books that way!)
Thank you, Martha!
I love the author duo and would love to read this book. Thanks for the opportunity to win..
You are so welcome. Good luck!
How did Sarah manage to get a whole post in w/o Jack popping up and scaring the pumpkin out of her? *lol*
I’m pretty sure she didn’t, aren’t you? It was more like she did it around or through him!
Sounds like a great read–can’t wait
Thanks!
Love the Lavene’s book. Looking forward to reading this one.
thanks.
Thanks Mary Lou!
Joyce and Jim Lavene’s new series is sure to keep readers looking for more. I love the characters and the plot and am looking forward to the next one to come out. robeader53@yahoo.com
We appreciate that, Robin!
I really enjoy these authors and don’t want to pass up a chance to win one of their books.
Hey Gram! Best of luck!
Wow, sounds really different and interesting. would love to win, ty for the chance
Thanks for stopping by, Betty!
Such great authors. They write such fantastic books. Hope I win.
Such a great reader! Thanks, Sharon!
I love your other series and am excited to read this book, also!
Hi Sharon and thanks!
Love anything pumpkin and by these two
Hello Betty Jo! I know what you mean about loving the pumpkin!
I am enjoying reading so much about this book and really want to read it. And I love pumpkins and all the Fall decorations. Thanks fro the giveaway.
Hi Sally! Thanks for stopping by!
Love the sound of the book.
Thank you, Rita!
I have been seeing alot of this book lately on all different blogs. This book looks amazing! Thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
Hi Abby! Glad to see you here today!
Can’t wait to read this book!! It sounds wonderful. Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
Our pleasure, Linda! Thanks for stopping by!
Oh my, this book surely has a very unique concept!! I would appreciate being added to the list of hopefuls for this book please. Having grown up in the country I love to take virtual and emotional trips down memory lane myself, so this would be a perfect series for me I think. Thank you for the chance.
Cynthia B.
Thank you, Cynthia. We are both two kids who grew up in the city but love the country. We love to write about the people and places we see on our back roads travels. Thanks for stopping by!
Go, Dru, you bring us the best writers!
Hello!
Thanks
Met them at Malice. Great writers and wonderful people, now I have another book for my TBR pile!
Sounds like another winning series! Always love their characters! Thanks!
Looking forward to reading this one!
This is another great book that I would love to win and read. Thanks for the opportunity.
I’m a huge reader of cozies. Lately I’ve gotten into reviewing all the books I read. It’s a lot of fun & it helps the authors be able to continue writing the series I love. I’m always game to try a new to me author, which this author is for me. Since this is the first in a new series, it seems like a good place to start. They seem to have a lot of devoted fans which is part of what drew me to their FB page. Good luck with this new series!
Another new cozy series by the Lavenes!!!!
Thank you for the giveaway…..
Oh lovely a good Halloween read…and I have been wanting to try this series…thank you.
Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
I like the Lavenes’ books and pumpkins. Sounds great.
Thanks Joyce for commenting and interacting with my readers.
Contest is closed.