Friday, November 24, 2023

New Book Review: Rustic Retreat to Die For

Title: Rustic Retreat to Die For 

Author: Fern Cooper

Date: 2023

Publisher: 

ISBN: 

Quote: "She claims she doesn't want to be nosy, yet that's exactly what she's doing." 

Yes, Ingrid (the "older" but vigorously healthy neighbor) is being just a bit nosy about Emily, the new neighbor who left New York state, moved south, and bought a farm to make into a cozy rural retreat (the kind where cozy mysteries happen in series, with all those visitors coming and going just in time for their lives' secrets to spill out). And Emily, in turn, gets nosy, too, when one of her first lot of visitors is found dead in the creek...and the local nuisance, who writes for the local online newspaper, brags that he got fifty thousand hits by suggesting that Emily might have done it. 

It's not clear that the man was murdered at all. He doesn't seem likely to have fallen all by himself, and he was found dead from a forehead wound in shallow water, but even if pushed, he might have died by accident. Maybe one of the employees doing the retreat with him was indignant about the loss of value of their company stock. Maybe the junior employee he was dating was jealous. Or maybe he's been in this little town before. He's more than thirty years old, but his records seem to cut off thirty years ago. Emily guesses he changed his name...

A little nosiness may not be altogether bad. With very little help from the local sheriff, though Emily finds him attractive, Emily and Ingrid will solve the mystery. (You knew that; the universal rule of detective stories is that they will be solved.)  Or will they? You'll have a good time guessing who and why...and then, how...and whether Emily, Ingrid, or Sheriff Paul will be in more danger in the next volume in the series.book, 

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