Book Review: Town in a Blueberry Jam

Title:  Town In A Blueberry Jam
Author:  B.B. Haywood
Pages:  320
Publication Date:  2010
Version:  Paperback
Genre:  Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"First in the fabulous new Candy Holliday Murder mystery series. 

In the seaside village of Cape Willington, Maine, Candy Holliday has an idyllic life tending to the Blueberry Acres farm she runs with her father. But, when an aging playboy and the newly crowned Blueberry Queen are killed, Candy investigates to clear the name of a local handyman. And as she sorts through the town's juicy secrets, things start to get sticky indeed... "

My Review:

I got this book some time ago.  I wanted to read it sooner, but it always seemed that life got in the way.  I just love the title of this book, it sounds so cheery and like summer.

All Candy wants to do is try to get her life back in some sort of order after going through an extremely bad time.  Seemed for so long like anything that was bad and could happen, did for her.  She lost a husband to another woman, her mother to illness, a best friend to suicide, and a job to depression all in a very short time.  To cope she decides to move to a tiny town in Maine with her father on his new blueberry farm and help him out.  It's far from the big city she came from, but the people are great and the country life really seems to be for her.  Not much excitement that's unexpected...that is until there are two murders and a sweet man Candy knows is accused of being a murderer.  Candy soon puts on a sleuth hat and goes about trying to solve the murder for her friend's sake.  Can she figure out the tangled web of lies and secrets in time to clear her friend?  To what extent will people go to to keep secrets just that?  How can she make anyone listen to her if she does find the road to the truth?  Is she safe in her small town...really?

This book had a very slow start to it.  I have to admit I even contemplated pulling the plug on reading it.  It started out with lots of mystery, drama, and on the fast track to being an amazing book.  However, after a couple chapters the book seemed to putter out.  It became a slow moving book with, what I felt, was too much details about things we didn't really need need details on.  After that continued on for a few too many chapters I was close to putting it down and never looking back.  What kept me going?  That first couple chapters is what kept me going.  I really was entranced on what happened and the solving of the mystery in the first part of the book.  Then I got rewarded with the book taking off like a jet plane!  All of the sudden it became an edge of my seat read that I couldn't wait to pick up again.  The mystery, drama, adventure, and wonder all came back.  The flow of the book became a raging river of who really did it.

The writing was great overall.  The characters also were a big part of why I kept reading through the lull.  I just loved them and had to see where they went and what they did and who they really were.  Candy and Maggie were,  by far, my favorite characters.  Their friendship reminded me of my own beat friend as I read all the things they did together to try and figure out the big murder mystery.  

I must say I will probably pick up the next Candy Holliday murder mystery.  I want to see the characters develop even more and see what kind of mischief Maggie and Candy get into next.

4/5 Stars