Murder at the Blueberry Festival by Darci Hannah

Murder at the Blueberry Festival by Darci Hannah
Series: Beacon Bakeshop #3
Published by Kensington Books on July 26, 2022
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
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After a career on Wall Street, Lindsey is making a different kind of dough in a pretty lakeside village, and the upcoming blueberry festival—including the pie-eating contest her bakery is hosting—is the highlight of the summer. But soon Beacon Harbor runs into a patch of trouble.

A local real estate agent gets pranked. A parade float gets pelted with water balloons. It’s all laughed off until the stunts start escalating—and looking more like sabotage. As the event turns into a debacle complete with rampaging goats, Lindsey’s sweetheart, a former SEAL, starts investigating. But the juicy mystery takes a bitter turn when a man—dressed up as a Viking—is found dead in a boat, and it’s no longer mischief but murder . . .

Murder at the Blueberry Festival is a fun, light read, but at the same time, it deals sensitively and honestly with issues surrounding Alzheimer’s and memory loss. The author strikes a good balance between keeping the book entertaining and at times downright laugh-out-loud funny and treating the issues in a kind, caring way.

The Blueberry Festival is being ruined by a series of pranks. Well, maybe not ruined – it is attracting more tourists than ever, curious to see what will happen next. But then Lindsey and her boyfriend, Rory, find a dead body floating in a boat just offshore from the lighthouse. With so much going on, the pranks, the murder, so many tourists, the police are a little overloaded, and of course, Lindsey and her crew can’t turn their backs on the opportunity to solve a mystery.

The small-town atmosphere is done well. Everyone knows everyone, the kids on the floats in the parade are adorable, and gossip gets news around quicker than the media.

Lyndsey and her family and friends are fun to spend time with. Some are quirky, but they are all caring and supportive. And Wellie, her Newfie, is too adorable. And this time around we meet Clara, a goat who may be Wellie’s new best friend, even if she looks a bit like a unicorn at the moment.

The mystery was well-done. There were plenty of suspects and is questionable whether the pranks and the death were related or not. The pranks are funny and mostly harmless. The man in the boat was murdered. We get several clues, one of which connects to the town’s past. The ending fit the story well but made me sad, which is not typical for cozies.

There are also several blueberry recipes in the back that sound delicious. I’m hoping our blueberry bushes give us a good harvest this year, so I can give them a try. Fresh, backyard blueberries are always better than what I can get in the store. So far, I don’t think the frost has damaged the buds too much.

• Small town, quirky characters
• Adorable pets
• Blueberry recipes
• Alzheimer’s and memory loss