Killer Comfort Food is a great cozy mystery. I recommend it to readers who enjoy this kind of mysteries. I suggest you read these in the order of publication.

This is the fifth book in one of my favorite series it is so wonderful go to the the County Seat and imagine all the amazing food and friendship coming from inside. Angie is an amazing sleuth and solving a murder and keeping the property safe from development kept Angie busy. I highly recommend this book and series.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. this was a great story I love the authors writing style and it kept me guessing until the end.

Angie Turner has made a name for herself and her restaurant with her fresh from the farm food. Unfortunately, a soybean processing plant is trying to buy the land around her small farm. While Angie is struggling with the decision of whether to sell the farm that's been in her family for generations, or not sell and deal with all that comes with being surrounded by the plant, the wife of the lawyer heading up the development goes missing. And unfortunately for Angie, she is drug into the investigation.

If you love small towns, cozy mysteries, and big does, this is the book for you!

Thanks for the arc, Netgalley!

I enjoyed this one, but I didn't really like the mystery. I was more invested in rather or not Angie was going to be able to save her farm. Because her grandma's farm is what allows her to have a back up for her her farm to table restaurant. And as always Angie's pet's steal the book.

Killer Comfort Food

by Lynn Cahoon

There are lots of threads in Lynn Cahoon’s Killer Comfort Food. Angie Turner is a chef who owns the County Seat restaurant in River Vista along with her friend Felicia, a pastry chef who also excels in front end management of the restaurant. Angie’s initial problem is that a developer wants to buy her beloved home for a soybean plant. Complications arise as Barb, owner of the Red Eye bar, needs her help in finding her missing daughter Susan from whom she is also estranged. Susan had every reason to not just disappear, but an argument with her husband causes suspicions to lie heavily on his shoulders.

There are many other threads in this complex plot, but through them all are two shining themes. Frequently in her books, Cahoon stresses the importance of family, especially the kind of family created by people who have bonded together as a work unit or as a community. She also mentions family heritage a lot in this book, including recipes, relationships, the land worked by a family, and the memories forged there. The other theme is generosity as Angie and her friends go out of their way to support each other and extend that same kindness to people they don’t know.

Lynn Cahoon is one of my go-to authors for cozy mysteries You can even start one of her series in progress as she excels at providing background information. I recommend both this book and this series.

I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Mystery

Notes: 1. #5 in the Farm-to-Fork Mystery Series, but great as a standalone.
2. Cahoon reached back through the memories of her childhood and included the recipe for Quick Cookies, a cookie that requires a few minutes on the stovetop, but no baking.

Publication: January 5, 2021—Kensington

Memorable Lines:

“No worrying. Not yet. Save your worry for tomorrow.”

“Hate’s a strong word. I just want Todd sent to live on the surface of the sun so I don’t have to think about him ever again.”

…she was surrounded by people who cooked when they were nervous and who also knew that food made everything just a little more bearable.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Lynn Cahoon has done it again. Her writing style is phenomenal and entertaining. The pacing of this book is great and quick. The characters are enjoyable. I highly, highly recommend this series to anyone and everyone. This ebook is in stores for $5.99 (USD). This series was a absolute delight to read.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Angie Turner’s main focus should be her farm-to-table restaurant, The County Seat, but the impending chance of losing her home has grasped almost all of her attention. A company is trying to bring a soybean processing plant to the area and they are buying up all the land around her farm but she is holding out. It was her Nona’s farm and she is determined to keep what she has inherited. Adding to her full plate is the death of a young woman and a missing woman who may be connected to the soybean development through her lawyer husband. She knows there is some shady business going on and finding the missing woman may be the key.

I have to start this review by saying I love the book cover. Nothing better than a St. Bernard getting into a bit of mischief.

Ms. Cahoon has her main character juggling a lot of balls in the air in this 5th Farm to Fork Mystery. Thankfully she receives some help from the supporting cast. What I love about these characters is that they are so true to life. People you would meet in any small town. Most with generous hearts and a willingness to help anyone they possibly can. Of course, you have a few bad apples out to line their own pockets and at least one that has resorted to murder but you need those dastardly characters to round out a killer cozy mystery. I really enjoyed how more of that supporting cast played larger roles in this story. It really adds to the development of the series as a whole. Nancy was one of those people and the way the people rallied to help her especially warmed my heart.

The author has written a complicated story with several mysteries to solve within these pages. She intertwines all of them together with a measured hand allowing each the time necessary to evolve and solve. A variety of suspects, drama, and suspense all draw the reader deeper into the story. I was entertained by the wonderful twists and surprised by some of the outcomes too.

Killer Comfort Food takes readers on quite a journey. I was kept engaged from the first page to the last. Family is the strong theme that prevailed throughout the book and I love reading books like this. In addition to a great mystery, there is a positive affirmation. I can’t wait to visit these characters again to see what happens next in A Fatal Family Feast.

The author gives us a mystery that is a celebration of friendship, family, and the values they bring into one's life. The author gives us mystery that is well crafted, it has plenty of clues, red herrings that will keep you guessing, plenty of twists and turns. The characters are well written and each have their own quirks, traits, and personalities which make them seem very life like.

I did enjoy how Angie and the County Seat gang would refer to themselves as the Scooby-Doo gang while trying to help Angie save her house from the developers and finding clues to help solve the mystery. I also liked seeing how well Bleak is doing in her new life being fostered by Ian's aunt and uncle. I have always liked that the characters act with intelligence and that they don't make stupid choices that put their life in danger. I did enjoy the big surprise that happens at the end of the story, and I was very happy with the couple that the surprise involves. I didn't really enjoy the small subplot of having Nancy's ex-husband come into town to cause trouble for her and the kids, I also think it was kind of weird to have Nancy bring her kids to the restaurant and assume that her coworkers and her boss would help her keep an eye on them. I look forward to reading the next books in the series, A Pumpkin Spice Killing and A Fatal Family Feast to see what kind of mysteries the characters find themselves involved in.

I received an ARC of this book from Kensington through NetGalley for my honest review.

This is the next book in this series and it is even better then the first. This series has great characters and is set in a wonderful location. I cannot wait for the next book.

The characters are likable, well rounded, and relatable. The mystery is full of red herrings and no shortage of suspects. Every thing is wrapped up nicely at the end.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.

Killer Comfort Food (Farm-to-Fork Mystery #5). By Lynn Cahoon. 2021. Kensington Books (ARC eBook).

Corporate lawyers and the agricultural-industrial complex are looking to change the fabric of restaurateur, Angie Turner’s life and community as they seek land to develop for a soybean plant. On top of the stress in resisting the buyout, Angie is asked to investigate her daughter’s disappearance. There were some twists and turns in guessing whether the two scenarios are connected, but I did find the resolution a bit weak in the explanation. Overall, an average read, but it was enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
I have not read the other books in this cozy mystery series but I don’t think that hindered me in any way. This isn’t my first book by this author though and I do enjoy her writing style. I’d recommend this mystery series for all the foodies out there, there’s definitely enough to wet the appetite in this book for those craving a foody fix (see what I did there!).
This wasn’t a straight forward cozy mystery, there were plenty of twists and turns and I read it through in a few hours in a wet Sunday afternoon and had a marvellous time while I was at it. Definitely recommend 3.5 stars.

Killer Comfort Food by Lynn Cahoon is the fifth book in the Farm to Fork Mystery series. Angie is worried she is going to lose her farm to a big processing plant. There are several intertwined plotlines in this book. Among them are a missing woman tied to a lawyer for the plant, criminal activity, and an employee being stalked by her ex. Even though this book has quite a bit going on, everything ties together nicely and kept me enthralled until the end.

Killer Comfort Food by Lynn Cahoon is the fifth full length novel in the cozy Farm-to-Fork Mystery series. As with most cozy mystery series each book of the Farm-to-Fork Mystery series can be read as a standalone if choosing to do so as each contains it’s own mystery solved by the end of the book. However, there is always a bit of character building within each read that carries over from book to book for those that follow the series from the beginning.

In this series Angie Turner has moved back to her hometown in rural Idaho after her grandmother’s passing and opened up a new restaurant, the County Seat. Angie’s restaurant has really taken off in the small town offering fresh ingredients straight from the surrounding farms. Angie has also gotten pretty good at solving the murders that keep turning up in the area although she keeps hoping to be done with her crime solving.

This time around Angie is dealing with the fact that a soybean processing plant is trying to move into her small town and buying up all the land surrounding her farm that was left to her from her grandmother. Angie is not ready to give up her land with her animals to think of and her grandmother’s memories all around her. As she tries to figure out what to do Angie is contacted by the owner of the local bar who thinks something is going on with the shady lawyer working for the plant and the coaxes Angie into looking into it.

The Farm-to-Fork Mystery series is another that I have followed from the very beginning and found that it has just the right amount of that quirkiness and humor that I enjoy a great deal. The main character and secondary characters in this one are quite likable and there are plenty of funny moments, a lot of cute critters and plenty of suspects to keep one guessing with the mysteries. As usual I’ll be back for more as long as this series continues.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Fifth book in this series

Angie Turners is the chef at Country Seat, where she’s known for serving fresh food. But when a soybean plant comes to town Angie could lose more than her farm.

A soybean plants is buying up land around Angie’s farm that her Nona left her. If she doesn’t sell she will be living surrounded by the plant and congestion from it. She is hearing rumors about the lawyer setting up the development that his wife is missing. When Barb the owner of a local bar asks Angie to look in the disappearance of the woman and her connection to her, Angie starts looking into it.

Angie has to uncover a shady plot before she loses her farm and life.

I love reading this series. Angie and her friends are always fun to catch up with, I can’t wait for the next book in this series.

Killer Comfort Food finds Angie fighting to keep her Nona's homestead from being rezoned to make way for the development of a soybean processing plant. Angie's friend Barb, owner of the local bar, asks Angie to find her daughter Susan who has recently disappeared. Angie isn't sure she should get involved until she realizes that Susan is the missing wife of Jon Ansley, the lawyer involved in the soybean processing plant development. Angie and her 'family' at the County Seat, including boyfriend Ian, quickly become involved untangling the case and finding the true culprit.

This book is a welcome addition to the Farm-to-Fork series. The book could be read as a standalone, however I would recommend reading the others in the series first to get the benefit of character development. The author always does a great job describing place, the characters, their interactions and all the food! One is quickly pulled into the daily life and interactions of Angie, Felicia, Ian and the rest of the County Seat crew. This book keeps you engaged until the end and is easily read in one setting. The ending is very much a surprise, although there are some strategically placed clues that give you a hint of the identity of the true culprit.

The characters in this book and series are great - Angie truly cares about her friends, animals and homestead. In this book she helps a struggling 16-year old and her adoptive mother, shows compassion to numerous people regardless of their circumstances, and is just an overall likeable character that we wish we had in our lives! The relationship between Angie and Ian is comfortable and caring, Angie is growing on Ian's uncle Allen, the local sheriff, and it is because of Angie's insight and observational skills that Allen is able to capture several criminals!

This is a great series, as are the author's other series, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has not yet met Angie Turner.

Killer Comfort Food is the fifth book in the tasty culinary cozy series “A Farm-to-Fork Mystery”. It is also one of the best in the series as well. Lynn Cahoon knows her subject matter and brings her characters and settings to life. Readers adore Angie, the farmhouse Nona left her, and the small-town setting.

A killer is running around the countryside, and people are going missing. When a business owner and friend asks Angie to help find a missing woman, she is hesitant to get involved, but when she learns the woman’s identity, she jumps in to help. Her restaurant takes a back seat in this culinary thriller, but the food readers have come to crave is still a part of the overall scheme and gives readers a tasty reminder of good wholesome food and a caring community.

Suspects are plentiful, but not overly so, motives are a bit thin, but it only takes one to get to the meat of a murder. Characters, in general, are caring, loveable, and happy to help find a murderer. It doesn’t take Angie long to find the culprit, but she comes close to getting head served to her on a platter. Killer Comfort Food is a culinary pleasure that readers will enjoy. It also leaves you wanting more of everything, especially a tasty treat from Angie’s restaurant and time spent with characters that will keep you coming back for more.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie
I had the most fun being back with the Scooby-Doo gang! The staff of the County Seat takes pride in all they serve at this popular farm-to-table restaurant. Angie and Felicia, owners and best friends, have made the most wonderful family with their staff. The characters could step out of the pages into real life. It is January, and they are looking forward to spring. Crime never takes a break, even for snow, however, and Angie and Felicia are put to the test this time.

Angie inherited Nona’s farm, in the family for generations, when her beloved grandmother passed. It is now wanted for a soybean plant for Taylor Farms. Treasured memories are in every square foot, and she doesn’t want to give up an acre of it. She still has one of Nona’s hens, Mabel, and added Princess, a goat that adopted her, and Dom, her Saint Bernard.

Barb, owner of the Red Eye, the neighborhood bar, asked Angie for a favor. Angie and her friends have helped the sheriff’s office solve more than one murder since opening the County Seat. Barb’s daughter Sunny, adopted by her sister when the girl was very young, was missing. Barb’s sister has since passed away, and she has acted as aunt for all these years to her brilliant daughter. Barb thinks maybe Sunny’s husband killed her, as he said she had left a note that she was going to Canada to visit her birth mother who is not in Canada! Barb has surgery scheduled for lung cancer. She wants to see Sunny, but she would also like to change her will if something did happen to her, not wanting the son-in-law to inherit.

Who else could Sunny be but Susan Ansley, the wife of attorney Jon Ansley…the attorney working on the deal for Taylor Farms to take Angie’s farm? Felicia knows Susan from the yoga class she attends and may be able to get leads to her disappearance.

The ex-husband of Nancy, one of Angie’s chefs, turned up at County Seat with his new wife. Nancy has been working three jobs to care for herself and their three children without a penny of child support and paying all the debts the loser left her with. When he breaks into her home and makes many prank phone calls, she fears the worst for her family.

A woman is found murdered behind the park across from the restaurant. She had disappeared several months ago when walking home from a yoga class but had not been dead long. Before she was identified, there was concern that it could be Susan, but thankfully, it was not.

Felicia, Angie, Ian, Angie’s boyfriend, and possibly Estebe, Angie’s second-in-command in the kitchen, are seeking leads to try to find Susan/ Sunny. With Nancy’s ex in town, who may also be involved with the soybean plant deal, a missing woman, and a murdered woman, the Scooby-Doo gang have much to do as they handle the restaurant and for Ian, his job with local farmers. To keep things interesting, Bleak, the foster daughter Ian’s uncle and aunt have taken, may be in trouble of some sort. Bleak at 16 is an excellent student and part-time employee of Angie and Felicia.

Family is not forged only by blood, but by the close relationships that characterize Angie, Felicia, Ian, Estebe, and the staff at County Seat. Angie doesn’t have any blood relatives nearby, but she has a huge family in the County Seat employees. Each is defined as well as necessary befitting their roles. I am happy to see Bleak thriving in her new environment, and how the gang works together to help Nancy with her ex-husband. One of my absolute favorite characters is Dom, and yes, I know he is a huge pup! One of the things that makes these characters attractive, I think, is how a reader can see a little of him/ herself in many of them. Another is how each genuinely wants the best for each other.

The challenges in this novel seem overwhelming! It was a first when Angie admitted complete defeat on finding Susan. I love watching this group work – and play – together! They each have expertise and creativity to help with new recipes or leads for mysteries. They roll with the plot twists, and even with tucking Nancy’s children in at the restaurant while she is working. The stakes are high for Angie, Felicia, and their staff, especially when Angie is in the crosshairs of an anonymous killer. All loose ends are tied up in the very satisfying ending, and I highly recommend it!

Killer Comfort Food
Farm-To-Fork Mystery, Book #5
Lynn Cahoon
5 Stars

Synopsis:

Angie Turner's Idaho restaurant, the County Seat, is known and loved for its fresh food. For Angie, it's also meant a fresh start. But when big agriculture comes to town—along with whispers of foul play—Angie could lose more than the farm . . .

A soybean processing plant is trying to buy up the land around the small farm Angie's beloved Nona left her. If Angie doesn't sell, she'll be surrounded by the plant and the congestion that comes with it. On the other hand, it's Nona's farmhouse. What is Angie supposed to do without it? Move into a condo in town with Precious, Mabel, and Dom—respectively, a goat, chicken, and dog. Worse, a troubling rumor is circulating about the lawyer who's heading up the development: His socialite wife seems to be missing. When Barb, owner of the local bar, asks Angie to look into the woman's disappearance, she's hesitant—until Barb reveals her surprising connection. Now it's up to Angie to find the woman, uncover a shady plot, and hang onto her home—before she becomes a criminal's final course …

Review:

The writing style flows smoothly and the book is an easy read. The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and this helped me get into the story from the very beginning. I could picture things very clearly in my mind’s eye and helped me stay engaged throughout the whole book.

The characters were well developed and well defined. Angie and Ian are getting along really well, their relationship is moving along nicely. Angie and Felicia are hard workers and all the people that work at the County Seat are like family to Angie. Which is just how she likes it. There is a mystery to solve, and Angie and Felicia are all over it. Angie also has to try and figure out a way to save her Nona’s farm and the animals that go with it. She has her work cut out for her.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. These books just keep getting better.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher, Kensington Books, and NetGalley, which I greatly appreciate.