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I am delighted to share my thoughts today about Apple Pies and Poisoned Lies at the Cider Falls Festival (A Cider Falls Orchard Mystery) by Traci Hall!
Apple Pies and Poisoned Lies at the Cider Falls Festival (A Cider Falls Orchard Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Washington State
Publisher : Kensington
Publication date : August 25, 2026
Print length : 321 pages
Paperback
ISBN-10 : 1496759176
ISBN-13 : 978-1496759177
Digital
ISBN-13 : 978-1496759184
ASIN : B0G7PRDYS7
Audiobook
ASIN B0GZ4QXCFJ
For lovers of everything cozy and fall time, USA Today bestselling author Traci Hall brings all the autumn vibes to a brand new series featuring a family of Washington State apple orchard owners who become entangled in a murder investigation…
In the foothills of Washington’s Cascade mountains, the Smith family’s Cider Falls Orchard is at its busiest amid the bustling autumn season—but when murder enters the mix, one bad apple may have spoiled the whole barrel . . .
If you care for the land, the land will care for you.
For generations, that’s been the Smith family’s motto. Between hayrides, apple picking, bonfires, and tasty apple treats, their Cider Falls Orchard provides an autumn bounty that draws locals and tourists alike. And now, Mcintosh “Macki” Smith—named after an apple variety, just like her siblings—is home too, after a bad breakup.
Macki is glad to be on hand when her parents are sidelined by an accident, and she’s even been persuaded to enter the Cider Falls Festival’s prestigious baking competition with her famous double crust apple pie. But someone has taken the contest to deadly serious levels . . .
It seems there are plenty of surprising motives for murder, especially after Macki learns that a crooked developer wants to buy and demolish the orchard—which makes her parents’ accident increasingly suspicious. But serving up the real killer will put her in unexpected danger, because someone in this picture-perfect town finds murder as easy as pie . . .
Dollycas’s Thoughts
If you care for the land, the land will care for you.
You’ll find the Smith family’s Cider Falls Orchard in the foothills of Washington’s Cascade Mountains. It’s the kind of place people go for apple picking, warm apple pies, apple butter, apple cider, hayrides, bonfires, and plenty of family fun. The Smith children are all named for apple varieties, and after spending three years in Seattle with a man she thought she loved, McIntosh “Macki” Smith has joined almost all of her siblings back home, working at the orchard. As for that guy? He turned out to be a real jerk.
Macki has an impressive baking résumé, including several first-place ribbons from the Cider Falls Festival’s baking competition. She really doesn’t want to enter this year, but her sister has other ideas. Then, just as the judging is about to begin, Macki finds one of the other contestants dead, and she quickly becomes the prime suspect.
Macki and her siblings are also reeling from their parents’ horrific kayak accident. Both are in the ICU, and their father is in a coma, so the last thing the family needs is a murder investigation. Macki was already trying to fill her mother’s shoes at the orchard and the festival, and now everyone has more than enough on their plates. Still, Macki needs to find the right recipe to put the true killer behind bars.
Welcome to Cider Falls, where the leaves are starting to show their fall colors, the air has a little bite, and the apples are ready for picking. The whole town of just 1,000 opens its shops, fields, and orchards to the many visitors who travel from far and wide for the Cider Falls Festival, including Smith’s Cider Falls Orchard. Granny Honeybee is the exuberant matriarch of the family. Her son, Harrison, manages the 300-acre property, while his wife, Darla, handles the finances and serves as the main organizer of the annual festival. The Smiths have five children. Macki is the oldest; her sisters are Jazz, a champion horsewoman who manages the orchard’s stable, and Ambrosia, a marketing guru full of positive energy. Her brothers are Cortland, who works with his father at the orchard and makes the family’s hard cider, and Crispin, the youngest, who lives in Los Angeles and works as a screenwriter with no desire to do anything with apples. I truly appreciated that Ms. Hall took the time to introduce these characters and their connections in the community. With all that happens in this book, it is important to see how genuine they are and to get invested in their lives.
Readers are also introduced to many members of the community, including Hunter, who owns the Cosmic Café. Macki also reconnects with Logan Foster, whom she met in Seattle, after her parents’ accident. He is now working as a private investigator, and he offers to help Macki and her family any way he can. The supporting cast evolves nicely throughout the story.
There are two mysteries to solve within these pages. Was the kayak accident really an accident, or was the kayak tampered with? Could it be connected to the festival contestant’s death? Macki searches everywhere for answers while Logan reaches out to the company that made the tandem kayak. Harrison and Darla were no novices; they were training for a huge event. Pie baker Penny Ackerson had her share of issues, but who could have wanted her dead? I really enjoyed how Ms. Hall twisted the mysteries together while showing how hard the Smith family worked to keep the orchard running while their parents recovered. A key piece of evidence sends the kayak investigation in a surprising direction and opens up a whole can of worms. The murder mystery takes a crazy turn, too. I had such a good time following along with each twist and turn.
Apple Pies and Poisoned Lies at the Cider Falls Festival gets this series off to a grand start. It has a loving family, a charming small town, terrific whodunits, and apples, apples, and more apples. I can’t wait to get my hands on book two!
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to Kensington and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
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About the Author
Mary Jane Maffini is the award-winning Canadian author of three mystery series: crochety lawyer Camilla MacPhee sleuths around Ottawa. Failed romance writer, Fiona Silk hides out in West Quebec, and professional organizer Charlotte Adams sorts out people and crimes in upstate New York. Bad things happen. And sometimes funny things happen. It’s a mystery.
