Cozy Wednesday featuring Take the Honey and Run (A Bee Keeping Mystery) by Jennie Marts #Review / #Giveaway – Great Escapes Book Tour @crookedlanebks @JennieMarts @jenniemartswriter

Take the Honey and Run (A Bee Keeping Mystery)
by Jennie Marts

About Take the Honey and Run

Take the Honey and Run (A Bee Keeping Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Colorado
Crooked Lane Books (July 18, 2023)
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1639103074
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1639103072
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BJP8RN6Q

The town is all abuzz when a murder occurs in Jennie Marts’ debut cozy mystery, perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Amanda Flower.

As a successful mystery author, Bailey Briggs writes about murder, but nothing prepares her for actually discovering the dead body of the founder of her hometown of Humble Hills, Colorado. Bailey grew up at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch and was raised by her beekeeping grandmother, Blossom Briggs, aka Granny Bee, and her two eccentric sisters, Aster and Marigold—which is why she drops everything to come home and help Granny Bee after a bad fall.

A broken foot doesn’t stop her grandmother from ruling The Hive, her granny’s book club, or continuing to prepare and package her bee-inspired products. But when Bailey’s grandmother’s infamous “Honey I’m Home” hot spiced honey turns out to “bee” the murder weapon and her granny is now the prime suspect, Bailey has no choice but to use her fictional detective skills to help solve the murder and “smoke out” the real culprit.

With the help of Bailey’s witty bestie, a pair of meddling aunts, the feisty members of The Hive, and her computer-savvy daughter, this amateur sleuth is determined to solve the case. A malicious attack and an ominous threat reveal that someone wants Bailey to butt out of the investigation, but there’s no way she’s backing down. She must use her skills to uncover the truth and catch the clever culprit before her grandmother ends up bee-hind bars.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Bailey Briggs writes murder mysteries so she should be able to solve one, right?

Bailey, her 12-year-old daughter, Daisy, and their golden retriever Cooper have come home to the Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch to help her Granny Bee with the ranch when a fall leaves her with a broken foot. Her grandmother raised her and she has so many great memories of her time there. Her grandmother has her “hive” of friends and her sisters, Aster and Marigold but Bailey is happy to do whatever she can to help her granny never expecting that would entail keeping her out of jail for murder.

Werner Humble, the town’s founder is dead and Bailey was the first on the scene followed quickly by a man she has a lot of history with Sawyer Dunn who now happens to be the sheriff. It is the jar of “Honey I’m Home” hot spiced honey made by Grandma Bee and some threatening words by her at him that land her at the top of the suspect list for Wener’s murder though.

Much to the frustration of Sheriff Dunn, Bailey has decided to solve the murder herself with the help of her BFF, her social media maven daughter Daisy, and the ladies of the Hive. She is going to have to “bee” careful. Can she spread enough honey around to catch a killer or will she get permanently stung?

This story grabbed me from page 1! I love that the author had me giggling right away and it continued throughout the whole story.

Mystery author Bailey Briggs is a wonderful protagonist. She and her best friend Evie had what Sheriff Sawyer Dunn called a Lucy and Ethel moment and that is truly what they felt like, a modern-day Lucy and Ethel. I enjoyed the banter between Sawyer and Bailey and their interesting history. Granny Bee was a hoot and her sisters and friends were hilarious. For being the first book in the series, the characters were fleshed out pretty well but there is plenty of room for growth and an important secret yet to be revealed. I do love that all the women in the Briggs family are named after flowers. Bailey’s is named after one of her mother’s favorite roses, the Bailey Red.

The mystery was very well-plotted. The deceased fancied himself to be quite a lady’s man and had dated or was dating several women from the Humble Hills area which means there was a large suspect pool. Their motives become clear when we learn why he was dating such an assortment of women. I was kept guessing the entire way and a little saddened when all was revealed as were Sawyer, Bailey, and others.

Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch sounds like a delightful place. It is easy to see why Bailey loves it there and now wants to share that life with her daughter.

The recipes at the end of the book, from the kitchens of Blossom Briggs (Granny Bee), her sister Aster and Rosa Delgado are so tempting too. I can’t wait to try them.

With Take the Honey and Run Jennie Marts has set this series off to a fantastic start. With fabulous characters, plenty of humor, and a stirring mystery set in a bee-utiful place, it feeds every cozy craving. With the little bit of a cliffhanger at the end, I feel like this is just the bee-ginning of what I truly hope is a long-running series.

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About Jennie Marts

Jennie Marts is the USA TODAY Best-selling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”

She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet who loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.

Her books range from Western romance to cozy mysteries, but they all have the charm and appeal of quirky small-town life. She loves genre-mashups like adding romance to her Page Turners cozy mysteries and creating the hockey-playing cowboys in the Cowboys of Creedence. The same small-town community comes to life with more animal antics in her latest Creedence Horse Rescue series. And her sassy heroines and hunky heroes carry over in her heartwarming, feel good romances from Hallmark Publishing. Her newest cozy mystery, Take the Honey and Run: A Bee Keeping Mystery, debuts this July.

Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books, Twitter at @JennieMarts, and at jenniemartswriter on Instagram. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.

Purchase Links

Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org – Alibris –

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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.”