I gave Crime and Cherry Pits by Amanda Flower 4 stars

Shiloh Bellamy can hardly believe it—for the first time in her family farm's seventy-year history, she has managed to score a highly-coveted booth at the Cherry Farm Market in Traverse City, Michigan. It's a huge win in her master plan to bring the rundown farm back to life… and the fact that her coup has sent her next-door neighbor and organic farming competitor into fits of jealousy doesn't hurt, either. But the festive atmosphere at the farm market takes a dark turn when a man entered in the famous cherry pit-spitting competition chokes and dies right in front of Shiloh, who is standing near the sidelines as a spectator.

-------- REVIEW --------

I have read and loved all the books in this series, and this was no exception. I always enjoy a cozy mystery that takes place at a festival. This time, Shiloh's cousin who is setting up the theater performance at the festival is accused of the murder. I don't like this character, since she is always so mean to Shiloh – even when Shiloh is helping her with the murder investigation.

But that aside, this is a fun book series that I will keep coming back to. The mysteries are always great and there are some fun characters in it, and I want to see Shiloh succeeding with her organic farm.

Thank you, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5994107030
https://www.instagram.com/p/C32r8t6yxVd/

Such a delightful cover paired with a mystery at a cherry festival sounded so adorable, I just had to request this!

There was a lot of that I really enjoyed about this story. The setting was so sweet and lovely. And I loved Shiloh’s relationships with her animal companions. Her interactions with her wider community were also fun, although it got a little tiring that every other interaction seemed to be with someone who disliked her. I wanted to see Shiloh spend more time with Hazel and Chesney, or Jesse from the diner.

But there was one major drawback for me. Cozy mysteries, in my opinion, should give me the chance to solve the mystery alongside our protagonist. But this one, the final solution was a character who had only been mentioned twice, and didn’t show any evidence of being the murderer until their literally monologued everything in the last 5% of the story. I should be able to follow along with the clues, or at least be able to say that I should have seen that coming. This came out of nowhere. I’ve seen other reviews say that this is unusual for this author, so I’ll probably give Flower another chance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this arc!

Crime and Chery Pits is the fourth book in the Farm to Table Mysteries series by Amanda Flower and can be read as a standalone but since we get to know the characters in the previous books, you might want to read them before you dive into this one for a bigger comprehension.

This is a murder mystery that’s quite entertaining and we have characters to love and to hate throughout the story. The action takes us away from the farm to a big cherry festival and then we are presented with a love triangle in our story. I read it in one sitting, and it was the perfect cozy read on a rainy day. With the murderer happening in a festival, there were so many possible suspects, and it made such an intriguing story.

I felt like the ending was a bit rushed, like I was missing some pages to it, but overall, it was such a great story. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good cozy mystery to cuddle with a blanket and a cup of tea. This series has great characters, and this book has a few twists and turns that will keep you hooked to it until the end.

Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

This was enjoyable, but I wish the author would give Shiloh a backbone. Shiloh does a lot for her family and they walk all over her and don’t appreciate what she does for them.

This was such a wonderful and enjoyable read!!!! I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre. Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Crime and Cherry Pits is book #4 in the Farm to Table Mysteries series by Amanda Flower.

There is a cherry festival and Shiloh was selected to have a booth at it. All was going well until a man dies. Shiloh gets involved to clear her cousin’s name and almost pays a dear price for it. I really enjoy this series. The characters are interesting as are the animals on the farm. This was an interesting mystery with everyone expecting Shiloh would be investigating. I was very surprised at how it wrapped up. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

Thank you to the author, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

I call foul, and not in the cute parakeet or tasty fried chicken kind of way, on Crime and Cherry Pits!

The characters are engaging and the romantic triangle is cute in this new cozy farming mystery. But the mystery! There is an underlying truth to all mysteries. They should have clues or at least foreshadowing leading a careful reader to the murderer’s identity. This book completely misses that mark. Even looking back, and searching my kindle for the murderer’s name, I found no hints at all. There was literally no way for anyone to solve this mystery. Even the amateur sleuth in the book fails to solve the crime. I love this author’s other books so what happened here? 2 surprising and very disappointed stars. It truly was the pits!

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

Dollycas's Thoughts

Shiloh Bellamy has been working so hard on her family farm and now she is being rewarded. Bellamy Farm for the first time in its long seventy-year history has been selected to have a booth at the Cherry Farm Market in Traverse City. She knows this is a big deal and plans to make the most of it. So she decided to spend the money to have a custom booth made. The new booth was shaped like a giant berry basket overflowing with cherries. It is sure to capture people's attention.

In addition to all the booths, there were bands and plays on the stage and fun contests like a cherry pit-spitting competition. Shiloh was able to step away from the booth to watch the people spit those pits, but one man appeared to choke on his. Shiloh rushes to help him but she is too late. It turns out the man wasn't choking on the pit. The death is deemed suspicious and Shiloh is right in the middle of the investigation. Her reputation for butting into cases has reached Traverse City but when she learns her cousin Stacey was dating the man in secret because he was still married she knows she has to do something. So she and her lovable pug Huckleberry are on the case. Can she solve the crime and keep things going at the farm and the festival? Maybe with the help of her friends, she can because she is not ready to have everything she worked so hard for go up in dust.

___

Shiloh truly had her hands full in Crime and Cherry Pits. Her days were filled with taking care of the farm and orchard, baking tasty cherry treats to serve at the festival, working at the festival, trying to get her cousin Stacey on board with the plans for her grandmother's stocks, and now trying to solve a murder.

Shiloh always tries to do what's right for everyone but her relationship with her father is rocky. Her cousin is a whiny brat with high expectations. She is close to single dad Quinn and his daughter Hazel. Hazel spends a lot of time with Shiloh when Quinn is working as an EMT/firefighter. He clearly has feelings for Shiloh but has decided they can only be friends. She is also becoming very good friends with Sheriff Milan Penbrook which drives Quinn a little crazy. Her right-hand woman/farm director, Chesney is all in on helping make Bellamy Farms everything Shiloh dreams it can be and they make a wonderful team. All these characters are well-crafted and grow in different ways in each story. I truly wanted to smack Quinn a few times though. Stacey is a pain as well.

I found the mystery very intriguing and the way the victim died interesting. Happening at a huge festival left the suspect pool wide open. Shiloh was on high alert trying to clear Stacey and find other viable suspects. She is also distracted by some scary things happening at the farm. Things do take a drastic turn for our amateur sleuth but it doesn't keep her from snooping when she appears to be in the right place but quickly sees it's at the wrong time. I enjoyed the way the reveal and takedown happened and then took a moment to pat myself on the back for solving the crime before it was revealed.

The Epilogue left me with a smile on my face. The future looks pretty bright for Shiloh and Belamy Farms. That is until Shiloh finds herself involved in a little murder and mayhem again.

Crime and Cherry Pits was an entertaining lighthearted mystery with appealing characters for the most part. I am keen to see what Ms. Flower has planned for Shiloh next.

Welcome to summer in Michigan and a cherry festival in Traverse City. Shiloh has managed to obtain a spot at this coveted event. She is selling cherries, pastries and soap.
Her cousin Stacey is being problematic and has been having a relationship with a man she didn’t know was married. Said man ends up dead later on the day Stacey confronts him.
Shiloh is far too kind hearted and allows her curiosity to draw her into the investigation of the man’s death. I must admit that as mean as Stacey often is to Shiloh, I kind of wanted her to be guilty. I’m nothing if not loyal to favored characters. Shiloh has grown on me.
The Michigan that Amanda Flower describes is one I would like to visit. I enjoyed the arm chair travel.
There are several good suspects. In the end, it felt like things wrapped up too quickly. I got why the murderer did what they did. It was the other issues that Shiloh wrestled with in the book that I felt didn’t get a good explanation in the wrap up.
I enjoyed reading Crime and Cherry Pits. Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to review the book.

Amanda Flower brings us another great read in her Farm to Table series. This is the 4th book of the series.

In this book, Shiloh is still working to get her organic farm back into the shape it should be. This story takes place in Traverse City over the 4th of July at the big Cherry Farm Market.

On opening day, one of the activities was a cherry pit spitting contest. One of the contestants, who happens to be a man that Shiloh’s cousin is extremely close to dies from chocking on his cherry pit. Sounds unlikely? Everyone else thought so, too. Shiloh tried to help him but it was too late. Lots of mystery in this book with so many suspects. Shiloh seems to unfortunately get involved with her own investigations of various deaths that have occurred in the area. Now both she and her cousin are suspects, as they try to determine why he died and prove they were not involved.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more in the series, hopefully that will bring resolution to relationships as well as more mysteries.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press. The opinions expressed are my own. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy ready cozy mysteries.

This was another fun adventure with Shiloh, her quirky family and her good friends but this time most of the action happened in Traverse City for the Cherry Festival where Shiloh had a vendor booth.

Lots happened in Shiloh and others’ lives as this mystery got investigated and somehow I got the feeling this might be the last book in the series. It was a good way to give closure to all. I’ve enjoyed reading this series a lot and can only imagine what Shiloh’s life’s gonna bring her in the future.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

“Crime and Cherry Pits” is the well done fourth book in Amanda Flower’s Farm to Table cozy mystery series. In this book Shiloh Bellamy is thrilled that she has been picked to have a booth at the Cherry Festival in Traverse City, Michigan and she is determined to make the booth a success. Her hopes are soon dashed when a man dies during a cherry pit-spitting competition and her cousin Stacey is one of the suspects in his murder. Stacey wants Shiloh to clear her name and Shiloh, eager to keep peace in the family, agrees but will her sleuthing put her in danger?

For the most part I really enjoyed “Crime and Cherry Pits”. While most of this book takes place at the Cherry Festival, I still enjoyed reading about Shiloh’s farm and all the work she has done on it as well as the various animals in her life including her beloved pug Huckleberry. I also loved reading about the Cherry Festival and all the events going on there including the play her father performs in. The mystery is well done and plotted with plenty of suspects, a nice sense of danger at times, and more than a few twists and turns. The one thing I don’t like about this book (and series) is the way Shiloh’s father and cousin treat her – for someone who is strong enough to rescue the family farm from financial ruin she can be a bit of a wimp at times, letting the two walk all over her. Finally, the ending of the book seemed a bit abrupt to me, almost like a chapter was missing. Still, all in all, I really enjoyed this book.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

Shiloh Bellamy is participating in her first Cherry Farm, market and Traverse City. it’s quite an honor to be included in the festival, considering she is only been back home at the farm or short time turning things around. Before the market opens, Shiloh‘s cousin Stacy has an altercation with a man in front of Shiloh‘s booth and fires him from the leading role in her Shakespeare production.

Later that day, the same man participates in the cherry spitting contest. It appears that he is choking on a pit, Shiloh tries behind maneuver to save him. But it turns out to be murder as his cherry was tainted. Stacey as the prime suspect who asher to find the real culprit, Shiloh finds herself, soothing yet again. Stacy may not be her favorite person, but she is family, and Shiloh doesn’t believe she would kill anyone. But can she prove it?

The third book in this series by the extremely talented author Amanda flower, is the best one in this series yet. I love a strong, female protagonist along with her cute pup and sweet kitty. Seeing her turn around the family farm along with sleuthing, makes for a wonderful cozy mystery series.

Shiloh has a booth at the Cherry Farm Market. The first time that the Bellamy Farm has ever been able to participate in the cherry festival held each year. Of course where Shiloh is it seems that murder soon happens! Meanwhile, Shiloh and her cousin are in the midst of a battle over the treasure that Shiloh found on her side of the Bellamy Farm. But when her cousin is a suspect in the murder Shiloh is determined to clear her name no matter what is going on in the family.

This is book 4 in the Farm to Table series. I really like a cozy mystery. I like Shiloh's character. I also kind of like the fact that two guys are liking her and she is eventually going to have to choose one. I'm not normally for the love triangle, but I'm finding that both interests have their potential! Shiloh steadily whittles away at the clues and solves the murder. There were twists and turns along the way, but the murderer was not obvious and the suspects were many. I'm enjoying this series and thought that this book was a quick and entertaining read. I snuggled under my heated blanket and read it in a day!

3.25

This review contains some slight spoilers, especially if you haven’t read the previous books.

This is the fourth book of the Farm to Table series and takes place primarily away from the farm at the big cherry festival in Traverse City. The story apparently begins on the heels of her big discovery of the treasure left by her grandmother Even though she was the only one, cryptically, told about it by her grandmother and was the one to find it, apparently it belongs to her father as he still owned the property. (Not incidentally, I thought I remember her actually buying it back when he had mortgaged it to the hilt, and she came in and rescued the farm. I thought that she let him keep the house so that his life kept some normalcy, and she took the cabin where her grandmother had spent so much time and for some privacy herself. Not that her father seems at all grateful.)

There appears to be conflict because her father doesn’t want to share the money with her cousin Stacey, who was another heir of their grandmother through Stacey’s father who had since died. Even though Shiloh is happy to split the funds and her father is not, Stacey assumes Shiloh is the one behind her father’s behavior.

This is a cute story, but you have to overlook many things: Shiloh, who won a prestigious spot at the festival, the first from her town, is constantly leaving the booth, either unmanned or with her part-time employee and tween friend Hazel. She also is constantly making tons of baked goods at night even though she comes in late after all of her sleuthing. Incidentally, that baking takes place in her father‘s home, a blatant food safety violation. She’s also manning an entire farm during the same time. The cherry-spitting contest is questionable, as the contestants seem to be able to present their own cherries instead of taking one at random from the contest.

If you are a cozy mystery fan, chances are you often have to overlook the inconsistencies of the story, so, if you’ve been a fan of this series, this should also be enjoyable. The mystery has so twists and turns and there’s now a love triangle to plague us…in a good way. Not that Shiloh has time for romance.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for providing an unbiased review.

Shiloh is participating in the Cherry Farm Market in Traverse City, the first orchard from Cherry Glen to be allowed into the market in many years. She gets a fancy new booth and makes huge batches of baked goods and soap to sell alongside their cherries. Everything is going great until her cousin Stacey's recent ex-boyfriend drops dead in the middle of the cherry pit spitting contest.

I have enjoyed this series. The Bellamy family farm is fun with its angry chickens and mini-sheep and cherry orchard. I like Shiloh pretty well, though she should stand up for herself more than she does (her cousin certainly does not have that problem). Huckleberry is adorable, though the book never mentions how loud a pug is! But in this book we spend very little time at the farm, most of the story taking place at the Market, which we don't see much of. For that reason, I was a bit disappointed with the setting and look forward to being back on the farm in the next book.

The investigation in this book was really good (though the people left to work her booth while she was out investigating may not agree!) There are a number of suspicious suspects and Shiloh has her work cut out for her trying to whittle down the list, which includes not only Stacey, but also Quinn.

Things head up with Sheriff Milan, and seem to be fizzling out with Quinn (though his parents are certainly not cooling off on their contempt for Shiloh and their attempts to keep Hazel away from her). This is also a major bomb dropped at the very end of the story... no spoilers but know that when you finish this book you'll be anxious to read the next!

Overall, this is a reliably good series that I have enjoyed reading and look forward to continuing. Thank you to the author, publisher, and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I loved this book! In my opinion, this is the best book in the series so far! I can’t wait for the next one!

This fourth installment of the series kept me thoroughly engaged with its captivating mystery. While some characters proved slightly annoying, others were more tolerable. I appreciated the author's choice in selecting the partner for the female main character (FMC); the dynamic felt natural. As for the other guys, I preferred they remain friends rather than pursue a romantic relationship due to the numerous issues present. Overall, the direction of the story and the unfolding mystery left me thoroughly satisfied.

The Cherry Festival in Traverse City has given Bellamy Farms a booth for the festival. Shiloh is busy baking and getting cherries ready for selling. When her cousin and an actor have a huge fight in front of her booth, Shiloh is very uncomfortable. When the actor, Dane, enters the pit spitting contest, he chokes and Shiloh is there to do the Heimlich, but Dane is not choking, he's dead. With her cousin as a prime suspect, Shiloh is again looking for a killer. This is a good addition to this series and a good read. The story flows and the killer is finally defeat as someone not on the radar of anyone. I enjoyed this visit to Michigan and the Cherry Festival.

This series is really wonderful at capturing the essence of seasons, this time being summer & a cherry festival. The descriptions are rich & inviting. Shiloh has her hands full as usual with the farm, only now she has to clear her cousins name. A cousin she’s also fighting with over an inheritance. There’s plenty of suspects & motives to keep readers guessing. Shiloh herself, is a good lead. She finally makes a decision regarding her love life & I think the farm is about to grow, so there’s fodder for the next book. Huckleberry is an absolute delight, ones of the best pets in a cozy series.

Flower always paints a great story, I highly recommend you seek out her other series too!