Premeditated Peppermint (An Amish Candy Shop Mystery) by Amanda Flower #Review / #Giveaway @KensingtonBooks

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Everything is not Merry this Christmas season in Harvest, Ohio. Eric Sharp, Bailey King’s ex has shown up with a camera crew to catch on film an authentic Amish Christmas for his new television show just in time for annual Harvest Christmas Market.  Seems his producers need the celebrity chef to be more human/friendly and they think this episode will do the trick. The problem is that he wants to showcase Swissmen Sweets and just expects Bailey to go along with his plan, never thinking about her grandmother, an Amish woman that has no desire to been seen on camera. The Amish community itself shuns any type of photographic participation.

Early the next morning as Bailey is on her way to tell the producer that it is unlikely that her grandmother will approve any filming in the sweet shop, she notices something that draws her to the gazebo in the park. As she arrives she finds the producer dead and Eric Sharp standing over the body. Of course, he is the prime suspect but Bailey can’t wrap her head around Eric as a killer. She quickly finds herself involved in several Christmas Market events and she plans to use that as a way to try to clear Eric from the suspect list. She is no longer sweet on him, but she hopes to keep him out of jail for the holidays.

Peppermint, peppermint, and more peppermint. I was craving it throughout this whole book and it is darn hard to find peppermint bark or fudge or canes this time of year. I had to settle for the hard candy and that didn’t really curb my cravings. 🙂 Can’t wait for Christmas candy to hit the stores, probably any day now.

The characters in this series are so much fun. Amish and Englishers do their best to coexist in Harvest. Bailey and her grandmother have hired Charlotte to work with them at Swissmen Sweets. This way Bailey has time to get caught up in her investigations. Her relationship with Deputy Aiden Brody gets just a little bit closer. His mother already has them engaged and headed down the aisle. She and her pet pig, Jethro are involved again in the whole story and that leads to some very humorous moments. She thinks Jethro needs to make his television debut and someday have a show of his own.

The mystery was pretty complex. Who would want Rocky Rivers dead? Are they Amish or Englisch? and what was she hiding? I loved that Bailey’s BFF hopped on a plane and flew to Harvest to be at Bailey’s side when she heard Eric had come to town. Cass thinks on her feet and not only helped with the investigation but played a big part in getting Bailey an offer that may be just too hard to refuse. They work well together and find some huge clues the police had missed.

Well written and plotted, Amanda Flower has given her readers one sweet treat to devour this holiday season. Christmas in Harvest sounds delightful, sans the murder, of course. A perfect escape for when the temps get lower and the snow starts to fly.