Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!
I am so happy to have Peg Cochran visit today!!
Creating Cranberry Cove
How did I create the town of Cranberry Cove for my Cranberry Cove Series? I took inspiration from a number of charming small towns sprinkled up and down the eastern shore of Lake Michigan—Saugatuck, Holland, South Haven, Grand Haven and more.
Each is unique in its own way. Saugatuck is home to a very lively art scene and is also the locale for the annual Waterfront Film Festival. Movies are shown wherever a spot can be found to set up a movie screen—makeshift theaters with folding chairs for seats. The downtown area is filled with small shops and art galleries.
Holland is known for its Tulip Time Festival complete with dancers in native Dutch costumes and, you guessed it, tulips! Millions of them in every color imaginable. Along Tulip Lanes there are 200,000 tulips, on Windmill Island you’ll find another 100,000 and at the Veldheer Tulip Garden there are five million in bloom! The downtown area boasts many unique shops as well as restaurants.
Grand Haven is the location of the annual Coast Guard Festival when you can tour various Coast Guard vessels, and the children can enjoy the amusement rides.
South Haven has a lively downtown area with shops and restaurants galore. And right outside of town is the DeGrandchamps Farm cranberry bogs. One weekend in early October they open to the public and you can watch a cranberry harvest in process—a spectacular sight!
I’ve tried to take a little bit from each town and sprinkle on charm for my fictional town of Cranberry Cove, located somewhere along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
Berry the Hatchet
~Peg
About The Author
Mystery writing lets Peg indulge her curiosity under the guise of “work” (aka research). As a kid, she read the entire set of children’s encyclopedias her parents gave her and has been known to read the dictionary. She put pen to paper at age seven when she wrote plays and forced her cousins to perform them at Christmas dinner. She switched to mysteries when she discovered the perfect hiding place for a body down the street from her house.
When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading, cooking, spoiling her granddaughter and checking her book’s stats on Amazon.
A former Jersey girl, Peg now resides in Michigan with her husband and Westhighland white terrier, Reg. She is the author of the Sweet Nothings Lingerie series
Written as Meg London
Just Click on Covers to order from Amazon.
Berry the Hatchet (A Cranberry Cove Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Michigan
A Berkley Prime Crime Mystery (May 3, 2016)
An Imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC
Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0425274514
E-Book ASIN: B013Q709RC
Cranberry farm owner Monica Albertson is once again bogged down in murder in the second Cranberry Cove mystery from national bestselling author Peg Cochran.
The entire town of Cranberry Cove is popping with excitement. Monica Albertson is baking cranberry goodies by the dozen and shopkeepers are decking out their storefronts for the first annual Winter Walk—an event dreamed up by the mayor to bring visitors to the town during a normally dead time of year.
But it’s the mayor who turns up dead during the grand opening ceremony, his lifeless body making its entrance in a horse-drawn sleigh. Monica’s mother and stepmother quickly become the prime suspects when it’s discovered that the mayor was dating both of them, and to make things worse, her half brother Jeff uncovers a clue buried near one of the bogs on Sassamanash Farm. Now it’s up to Monica to find out who really put the mayor on ice.
INCLUDES CRANBERRY RECIPES
Dollycas’s Thoughts
I ate this mystery right up!
We are back in Cranberry Cove just in time for the Winter Walk. The mayor had this grand idea to bring tourists to town during the off season. Sadly he didn’t get to see the fruits of his labor. As the parade is ready to start the horse drawn sleigh carrying him takes off. When the horses are reined in the mayor’s body is found. In a unique twist both Monica’s mother and step mother are at the top of the list of suspects. It doesn’t help that a key piece of evidence is found on the family’s cranberry farm. Monica finds herself trying to clear both women of the crime, landing herself right in the killer’s sites.
You wouldn’t think there would be much to be done to a cranberry bog in the winter but there is plenty to keep Monica’s brother Jeff busy. Monica is baking everyday, the farm store is still open and she is selling things at the Winter Walk as well. When her mother makes a surprise visit and there are no rooms available at the motel or B&B’s Monica finds herself with a house guest. She has been getting along with her stepmother but her mother’s visit may mess up that relationship.
This was a fast paced mystery. The story never gets “bogged down”, the pages were turning pretty rapidly as we reached the climatic end.
I really like these characters. They are engaging and believable. I love the relationship Monica has with Detective Stevens. They actually share information. Having both her stepmom and mom in town could really have gone wrong but the author really wrote the story is a wonderful way, even when another visitor came to town.
This is another delightful cozy from Peg Cochran. She even makes winter in Michigan sound like fun, with the wind blowing and the chill in the air. Bundle up and enjoy this trip to Cranberry Cove.
Thanks to the publisher I have 2 copies to give away!
Contest is open to anyone over 18 years old
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Peg I adore this new series. Thank you:)
A story with baked goods is always a great idea!
This sounds like a great series, missed the first one going to check it out now. Thanks for the giveaway.
I read the first book in this series, Berried Secrets. Great book! Looking forward to reading more of this series.
I love the covers on Peg Cochran’s books. They make you want to pick it up and see how the story inside relates to the cover. Also I enjoy the fact the story involves cranberries and cranberry bogs. Thanks for including Peg and her latest book on your blog. robeader53@yahoo.com
I need to check this series out–looks great!
Great blog today, this is a new Author for me this sounds very good, I’m looking forward to reading it
Penney
Thanks for this great feature and giveaway. This cozy would be very enjoyable.
The eastern beaches and shoreline of Lake Michigan are the best. Hope to visit the cranberry bogs of South Haven, MI this fall. Peg Cochran catches the feel of small village life in SW Michigan. From politics, to everybody knowing everybody, and my personal favorite the trailer park estates. Our county has at least 10 trailer parks. Most are called estates. Thanks for highlighting this fun cozy mystery series and the talented Peg Cochran.
Really enjoyed the first book and am looking forward to reading this one.
Looks like a series for me!! Food and plenty of books to cattch up on…. YAY!!!
Oneponychick66@hotmail.com
Lovely cover! Thanks for the review and giveaway. Kuzlin at AOL.com
I frequently get lost in Black’s Law Dictionary … Cranberry Cove sounds like some place I want to visit.
I have lived in Michigan all of my life and I enjoy reading stories that take place all over Michigan. Love to read about places I have visited being part of the story. This new series sounds awesome! Thanks for the chance to win a copy of the second book in the series.I am going to have to find me a copy of the first book.
Great series. Thanks for a chance to win a copy.
I loved the first book and would be thrilled if I won this book to add to my growing home library.
Alway enjoy a good mystery.
Sounds like a great cozy.
I read and loved ALLERGIC TO DEATH and really looking forward to this series and the future one. I think I enjoy the cozies/amateur sleuth series set on the East Coast more than any others. It may be my addiction to Murder She Wrote…maybe….
I would love to visit Cranberry Cove — thanks for the review and the giveaway!
I have the first one of this series on my to-read shelf and I’m really looking forward to it!
I haven’t tried this series yet, I have the first book downloaded, I had better get started. 🙂
I want to continue my reading adventure in Cranberry Cove! It is a fun and quirky place to visit with lots of intriguing characters…and then there’re the cranberries. Thanks, Peg!
We have a cranberry bog in our small town..I’m looking forward to reading this series.
I enjoy food cozies! This one sounds great!
I haven’t read this series yet, but I’m looking forward to reading it soon. Definitely on my TBR list.
Looks like a great story!
Thank you for the giveaway! This is such a great series!
I just got the first book from you the other day. It would be so cool to win this one, too, and read them in succession.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW BOOK AND THANKS FOR THE GIVEAWAY!
I’ve got to get caught up on Peg’s series!
I am looking forward to reading this series! Thank you for the giveaway.
We had a cranberry bog—be it a very small one–on our farm when I was growing up. They were wild cranberries and soooooooo tasty.
Awesome giveaway ????Thank you for a chance to win ??