WARNING: Partial spoilers

"But the juicy mystery [of who's pranking the Blueberry Festival events] takes a bitter turn when a man—dressed up as a Viking—is found dead in a boat, and it’s no longer mischief but murder . . ."

There are lots of things I like about this book, including the characters, the individual scenes, and the resolution of Lars' death. A Viking boat, a bedazzled goat, and some pranks that are pretty spectacular also add to the fun of the book.

But a couple of things knock it way down on my enjoyability scale. First, it's Chapter 14 before anyone dies. That's 1/3 of the way through the book, and it's too far in, in my opinion. Second, all the way up until the sad solution of this mystery, everyone's wondering if it's murder or not. I realize they wouldn't know for sure until pathology and toxicology are done, etc. But when a dead man is found dressed as a Viking, afloat in a Viking-style boat, and a flaming arrow has been shot into that boat, it seems like the default assumption would be that it IS murder, unless something indicates otherwise. Yet the authorities haven't even been to the dead man's house several days or a week after the death! The constant reminders that "We still don't know that Lars was murdered," and "I think we'd both like to know whether Lars Jorgenson was murdered or if he died of natural causes," etc., almost up to the end of the book, drain most of the tension out of the story for me.

Although the death turns out not to be murder in the stereotypical sense, I think it would be a much stronger book if the assumption all along was that it IS murder. Instead, the story limps along a bit because if it wasn't murder, why am I reading a book I chose because it's a murder mystery.

The solution to the mystery is both clever (explaining some of Lars' strange behavior during the festival pranks) and heartbreaking. It deserves a much better lead-up than a wishy-washy maybe-it-was-murder-but-maybe-not approach.

I enjoyed Ms.Hannah’s Murder at the Blueberry Festival. She gives us likable characters and delightful descriptions of the places in the town of beacon. The festival and parade descriptions are spot on for a small town, as are the one for her characters. She mixes a bit of humor and romance with her intrigue and touches on a subject that many debate. I recommend to all cozy lovers, especially those fond of culinary. The recipes sound delicious and I plan to try a few of them soon.
I requested and received a NetGalley ARC and offer my opinion gratis.

cozy mysteries always make me wish i lived in a lil town (minus all the chaos and investigating going on!) because now i want to be in beacon harbor! a blueberry festival sounds like so much fun! (on a side note, the strawberry festival in oxnard is on my bucket list to go to one day) i loved how the recipes that were included at the end of the book were actually mentioned in the plot. all of them sound delicious and the lemon blueberry bread sounds like a light, yummy summer treat!

this was such a fun read and it kept me on my goes until the final reveal! all of the characters are so much fun and they’re all unique in their own ways that i didn’t feel like i was mixing up names and getting confused. lindsey’s best friend, kennedy, is probably one of my favorite personalities because of how sophisticated she is and how refined her fashion is. to see her jumbled up in the chaos of beacon harbor and get tangled in solving the case with lindsey made me smile. i especially thought the furry friends were adorable and i was really excited that they played a role throughout the entire book! i’m definitely looking forward to being transported back to beacon harbor for lindsey’s next case!

Murder at the Blueberry Festival is a fun, light read, but at the same time, it deals sensitively and honestly with issues surrounding Alzheimer’s and memory loss. The author strikes a good balance between keeping the book entertaining and at times downright laugh-out-loud funny and treating the issues in a kind, caring way.

The Blueberry Festival is being ruined by a series of pranks. Well, maybe not ruined – it is attracting more tourists than ever, curious to see what will happen next. But then Lindsey and her boyfriend, Rory, find a dead body floating in a boat just offshore from the lighthouse. With so much going on, the pranks, the murder, so many tourists, the police are a little overloaded, and of course, Lindsey and her crew can’t turn their backs on the opportunity to solve a mystery.

The small-town atmosphere is done well. Everyone knows everyone, the kids on the floats in the parade are adorable, and gossip gets news around quicker than the media.

Lyndsey and her family and friends are fun to spend time with. Some are quirky, but they are all caring and supportive. And Wellie, her Newfie, is too adorable. And this time around we meet Clara, a goat who may be Wellie’s new best friend, even if she looks a bit like a unicorn at the moment.

The mystery was well-done. There were plenty of suspects and is questionable whether the pranks and the death were related or not. The pranks are funny and mostly harmless. The man in the boat was murdered. We get several clues, one of which connects to the town’s past. The ending fit the story well but made me sad, which is not typical for cozies.

There are also several blueberry recipes in the back that sound delicious. I’m hoping our blueberry bushes give us a good harvest this year, so I can give them a try. Fresh, backyard blueberries are always better than what I can get in the store. So far, I don’t think the frost has damaged the buds too much.

This is such a good series. Baked goods, murder, and blueberries is the trifecta of fabulous in this book. Even with all the action and the number of characters the story never got confused. A great read all the way through.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance read.

Thoroughly enjoying this cozy mystery series! Thanks so much for allowing me to have access to the digital arc!

Brilliant. "Murder at the Blueberry Festival" elevates the cozy mystery genre to a new level.

I went into this book expecting a light, fun read. It was that, true, but so much more. Kudos to author Darci Hannah for her deft, sensitive handling of a serious issue that has touched many families, including my own. That she managed to do so while doling out not just funny, clever dialogue but making me hungry with all the talk of delicious blueberry dishes and recipes is all the more impressive.

Quite frankly, for the longest time, I expected my opening review line to be "a goat afloat on a boat, with a body". On the surface, that oft' repeated line rather nicely summed up the plot. True, it leaves out a few bewildering points, like said body on said boat was dressed as a Viking. The boat resembled a Viking ship. Beside the body were several items, including a sword and charred arrow? Charred? And, let's not forget the hay, slightly charred but being munched on by the goat. This entire sight is discovered by main character Lindsey, who lives in a, no lie, haunted lighthouse, and boyfriend Rory, an ex-SEAL.

All this after a series of pranks had disrupted the annual blueberry festival, not to mention the small-town parade held in its honor. The author does an excellent job of drawing you into the atmosphere. You feel the excitement in the air as children dart about, laughing and grabbing for the candy thrown from the floats. You sense the flavor of the various goodies being sold and consumed as spectators waved and applauded passing floats while chowing down. You see in your mind's eye the young musicians in the parade trying to march in step while struggling to play music. And, hey, is that choir on the float in tune? Doesn't matter. It's all in fun.

Until it isn't. Suddenly water balloon rain down on parade participants and spectators alike. The next day a herd of rustled goats stampedes through a fashion show made up of local models showcasing designs by Lindsey's ex-model mother, who utilized pets in costumes, too. Let's just say, Lindsey's big boy Wellie must have thought he was a herding dog, one with a raucous assist from the rest. Then there were the, yuck, mice in a pie at the pie baking contest. All these are disruptive but deemed harmless....until the goat in a boat with a body turns up.

Who killed Lars and set him afloat in a boat with a goat? Why? Lars was a member of Rory's unofficial veteran group and his death hits Rory hard. This is the third in the Beacon Bakeshop series and Lindsey and her family and friends come together to help solve the mystery. That is when things go from predictable to bewildering. I won't detail the plot more than I have since I'd like to let your approach it as blindly as I did other than to say you'll probably find yourself liking everyone involved, including the suspects and even the guilty party. They are revealed as real people, people we would enjoy knowing, with depth and quirks of their own. I mean, who else but Kennedy would outfit the goat from the boat as a unicorn? Girlie-girl or not, Kennedy, as well as the rest, have Lindsey's back and genuinely care about each other. Friendship is important. Your heart will ache for Lars' family and closest friends as the ending is revealed. There's nothing simply about this cozy mystery otherwise full of witty dialogue and set in a gorgeous place.

Thank you #NetGalley and #KensingtonBooks for allowing me to attend this blueberry festival with Lindsey and the rest. Kudos to the author for her deft hand with the unexpected ending.

Lindsey Bakewell lives in a refurbished lighthouse in Michigan and runs Beacon Bakeshop in Beacon Harbor. It’s the summer when Beacon Harbor holds its largest festival of the year, the Beacon Harbor Blueberry Festival.

Unfortunately this year she’s been excluded from competing because she owns a bakery and is considered a professional, thanks to Betty Vanhoosen, head of the Chamber of Commerce and owner of Harbor Realty.

However, on the final day of the festival, Lindsey’s Bakeshop is set to host the blueberry pie-eating contest.

As a member of the Blueberry Festival Committee, she’s in charge of planning the pie-eating contest. Each contestant is to eat a whole, freshly baked blueberry pie as fast as they can. The first to finish their pie 🥧 would be the winner.
Blueberries, Michigan, Cozy Murder Mystery, Blueberries...The Beacon Bakeshop did it again, and they didn't miss a beat. This book had me hooked from the first chapter.

This is such a great series, and this latest book was the best yet. I love these characters, the banter between them, even the furry and the ghostly.
Lindsey, owner of the Beacon Bakeshop, and Rory, her boyfriend, are helping run the town's Blueberry Festival. Things this year go haywire as someone is slowly playing pranks and ruining each event of the festival. But the final "prank" finds Lindsey and Rory discovering a body, and aa goat, floating on a boat by the lighthouse. Naturally, they cannot help but do some sleuthing.
This cozy mystery was a little different from others I have read. There were some fun moments prior to the discovery of the body. The mystery, when finally solved, was unique and endearing. Not your typical ending.
Highly recommend this book and series. It can be read as a stand alone.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Things are going great for Lindsey Bakewell. Living In a lighthouse and running her bakery cafe is everything she thought it would be. Her neighbor and sweetheart, a former Seal team member is an added bonus. When a parade float gets bombarded with balloons, the prank goes from fun to murder! Fast paced fun. Awesome characters. Great story with a good solid plot! Thanks #netgalley and #Keningston for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Lindsey Bakewell runs a bakeshop out of and lives in a lighthouse on Lake Michigan. This summer she, and her family and friends, are participating in the blueberry festival. Unfortunately all the events keep getting spoiled by a mysterious prankster. When a local man is found dead, dressed in a viking costume on a viking ship, Lindsey and company start looking for the prankster and/or murderer before they can strike again.

The book is a fun summer read that warmed up my cold Indiana March.

Keywords: baking, lighthouse, Michigan, cute goat, puppies, festival, family, community, romance, friendship

Lindsay Bakewell lives in an old, refurbished lighthouse in the picture-perfect boutique town of Beacon Harbour, Michigan, with her Newfoundland dog, Wellington,
The town is bustling with tourists in August when the annual blueberry festival is being held, and Lindsay is on the organizing committee.
A series of dangerous pranks begins the day of the festival parade, ending in the strange death of a senior resident. Finding out who killed him will take the united efforts of the quirky and sweet local inhabitants, who spend most of their time cooking, baking, and eating.
This is a very enjoyable sweet cozy mystery set in an idyllic location with a real twist in the end that I did not see coming.

Another great addition to a fantastic series. Living in Northern Michigan myself it's fun to read about familiar towns and streets in these books.
Clara the goat was a fun addition to this quirky bunch and I'm hoping we see the bedazzled little goat in future books.
Won't add any spoilers but the ending of this book had me tearing up. Can't wait til the next book in the series.

Lindsey Bakewell lives in a refurbished lighthouse in Michigan and runs Beacon Bakeshop in Beacon Harbor. It’s the summer when Beacon Harbor holds its largest festival of the year, the Beacon Harbor Blueberry Festival.

Unfortunately this year she’s been excluded from competing because she owns a bakery and is considered a professional, thanks to Betty Vanhoosen, head of the Chamber of Commerce and owner of Harbor Realty.

However, on the final day of the festival, Lindsey’s Bakeshop is set to host the blueberry pie-eating contest.

As a member of the Blueberry Festival Committee, she’s in charge of planning the pie-eating contest. Each contestant is to eat a whole, freshly baked blueberry pie as fast as they can. The first to finish their pie 🥧 would be the winner.

Just before the event is about to kick off, Betty wakes up to discover fifty for sale signs on her lawn. Then at the festival people start water balloon fights during the mayor’s choir’s song.

Four more pranks are played on six different members of the committee. Is someone trying to sabotage the festival? And why?

While Lindsey is trying to make sense of what’s going on, a body dressed as a Viking turns up dead afloat in a boat in front of her lighthouse. Was he murdered and how did he get there?

Included are recipes such as Blueberry Lemon Bread 🍞🫐 , Blueberry Summer Salad, Best Blueberry Muffins, Blueberry Buckle, and so on.

A cozy and hilarious read. I love the characters and I enjoyed how Lindsey and her friends were able to solve the mystery. Her recipes in the book will make you salivate. 🤤Definitely recommend.


Thank you to Darci Hannah, NetGalley, and Kensington for the arc of this book

I received a copy of Murder at the Blueberry Festival through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Murder at the Blueberry Festival by Darci Hannah is the third mystery in the Beacon Bakeshop series. In this mystery, the Beacon Harbor Blueberry Festival is struck by pranksters who are pranking each of the main festival events. The pranks escalate and Lindsey, a local baker, stumbles upon a dead body during the Blueberry Festival and finds herself tied up in the murder investigation with her boyfriend, Rory, and best friend, Kennedy.

I truly enjoyed immersing myself in the town of Beacon Harbor and following Lindsey on the ride as she works to weed out the killer. This was the first mystery I’ve read in this series but I am excited to go back and start the series from the beginning. I loved the Blueberry Festival setting and the interesting characters that were so easy to like and relatable. This mystery, full of pranks and twists and turns, kept me intrigued the whole time. I really loved this mystery and would recommend it to cozy mystery fans with a love of blueberries!

This series will be added to my favorites list! I love the characters and the town. If I could live in Beacon Harbor, I would. Lindsey and her friends are lively and likeable. The mystery in this book began with pranks at the Blueberry Festival, which effectively ruined the festival for the planners but added to the entertainment factor for the spectators. However, when a murder occurs in a strange manner (a possible Viking funeral) Lindsey and the police are sure what to the think. Did the prankster take things to far or did someone capitalize on the prankster? I was kept guessing until the end. Great book!

This is a fun cozy mystery with quirky characters…a prankster that turns to murder? Is it the same person? Blueberry Festival wi5 a parade and activities gone awry…love and friendship…families helping each other…baked goods…sharing…mayhem and murder…themes running throughout this book…this is a story that is perfect for an afternoon of enjoyment…cuddle up in a a comfy chair and indulge…read and read…until the end…this book was sent to me electronically for review by Netgalley…I like stories by this author…the characters come alive o. The pages…

The lakeside village of Beacon Harbor is having it's annual blueberry festival. As tourists and locals alike are enjoying themselves things start to go horribly wrong. What starts out as a funny and seemingly harmless prank soon turns into something more sinister. Lindsay and her boyfriend Rory are determined to put a stop to the pranks and find the culprits, when what they find instead is a body in a boat with a goat. This book is filled with a great cast of characters, mixed in with the mystery are some laugh out loud moments as well as heartfelt emotion. If you have not read a Daci Hannah book before I highly recommend you do. You will not be disappointed.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Kensington Books, in return for an honest review. While the third book in this series, it is easily read as a standalone. This is a fun cozy series and one that I recommend. It’s a delight to return to the shores of Lake Michigan and the amazing Beacon Bakeshop. First, this iteration is definitely for all blueberry lovers as the recipes are so sooooo good! I can’t wait to try them. That’s because it’s the annual Blueberry Festival, complete with parade, fashion show, blueberry pie eating contest and other amazing events for both the townfolks and the tourists. Lindsey is excited to take part by hosting the pie eating contest although she’s excluded from submitting her blueberry pie in the best pie contest. Lindsey’s also convinced her boyfriend, Rory, to organize the 5k run. But weird pranks start occurring, like the Mayor’s choir float being pelted with water balloons or mice being added to the pie baking contest, although with other not-so-funny tricks. When one long-time resident seems to consistently be present and enjoying them all, suspicions swirl that he’s the perpetrator. Yet, when Lindsey and Rory are awakened by a bleating goat on a small boat, they discover a dead body, in what appears to be a Viking funeral pyre ship, complete with bleating goat! Could it really be some strange suicide thing or is it foul play? What’s the goat got to do with it? How does Lindsey end up babysitting the goat? And, why does Lindsey’s best friend ‘bedazzle’ the goat as a unicorn (well, minus the horn)? So many questions and so much frustration in the community over the pranks, with lots of finger pointing. I
The author deftly discusses various series mental health issues, like dementia and military service PTSD, while building a solid and enjoyable cozy mystery. I can’t wait for the next in this series!

In Murder at The Blueberry Festival Lindsey is living in a lighthouse along with her dog. Happy to own her own bakery cafe and also be hosting the pie-eating contest at the upcoming blueberry festival the last thing she needs is is all of the pranks that are occurring especially when a body is found.

The story has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. A fun read!