Town In a Blueberry Jam by B.B. Haywood is the first book in the new “Candy Holliday” murder mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin), January 2010
In the quaint seaside village of Cape Willington, Maine, Candy Holliday has a mostly idyllic life, tending to the Blueberry Acres farm she runs with her father, and occasionally stepping in to solve a murder or two.
Candy is just as shocked as the rest of the locals when two murders occur back-to-back. First, an aging playboy takes a midnight nosedive off a seaside cliff. Then, gossip columnist—and recently crowned town Blueberry Queen—Sapphire Vine stops the business end of a hammer with her head, right in her own home.
When her friend, a local handyman, is accused of the murder, Candy investigates to clear his name. Was the gossip columnist moonlighting as a blackmailer? Was the playboy playing around with the wrong person? But as Candy sorts through the town’s juicy secrets, things start to get very sticky indeed.
This was an enjoyable read and I liked that the heroine of the book had a friend who came along to help solve the crimes. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series that shows promise of a new relationship between Candy and the editor. My rating: 4 stars
*new-to-me author
pseudonym for Robert and Beth Ann Feeman