This is the cutest cozy for fall! I loved the ciderhouse! I really enjoyed Kate and her fresh start at the orchard. This book kept me guessing the entire time!!!

A delightful cozy!

An adorable cat, several hidden secrets, mysterious neighbors, and a whole apple orchard to love.

Minus one star for some of the sillier things (she met the guy yesterday and knows he would never be a killer? And is planning his wake?)

Would absolutely continue this charming series with great heart and just the right amount of romance. I listened to this and enjoyed the narrator a lot too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for my advance copy of this audiobook

This is the first book in a mystery series that focuses on apples and cider. I wanted to read/ listen to it for two reasons: one is because it’s an audiobook and the other being that I always like to check out firsts in a series just to know if I have something I might want to follow.

I must admit that although the narrator had a good style and pacing, she sounded a lot younger than the central protagonist in this book. Our lead protagonist is not old, but she’s not young either.

The book begins with Kate taking over her late uncle’s orchard. We slowly get to know why Kate was kept away from the family orchard ( something that doesn’t have much bearing on the case at hand). Once the death makes its appearance, Kate decides to figure out what happened solely because she feels sorry that no one is mourning the dead man.

The investigation takes a few turns before arriving at its conclusion. The town and its people are on a rotation of suspicion as old information comes to light.

The story was simple and the people friendly. The foundation for a good series was set here, one that I might pick up another book of before making up my mind.

I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own listening experience.

10 stars!!! This book is everything I love about a cozy mystery. I love the mature, self-possessed heroine. I love the female friendships! The small town is perfect. The mystery is SO good. I love the conspiracy and the maps. It’s so good. So good!! I love it.

I received a copy of this audiobook from netGalley for a honest review.

Kate is a wonderfully believable character. She has recently inherited and orchard and is turning it into a cidery but her foremen turns up dead by her cane. (Kate was in an accident where she lost her husband about a year before) Now Kate is meeting people and learning more about her new small town. I didn't guess the killer until the end which is always nice in a new author. I will definitely continue with this series!

A promising start to a new series set in the charming town of Orchardville. 🌳 Kate Mulligan is looking to start fresh after a tragic accident claims her husband’s life and leaves her picking up the pieces. When she inherits her late Uncle’s fruit orchard she leaps at the chance to open the cider house she and her husband dreamed of opening. The cozy atmosphere felt like home, reminiscent of my own orchard-filled town. 🏡 Kate’s plans are disrupted by a shocking murder. Faced with puzzling questions, and a mysterious buyer, Kate must identify the culprit before it’s too late

Although there were moments where the pace slowed, the mystery kept me engaged, and I was left guessing until the very end. The narrator did excellent with the reading. 🔍 I would like to to see how the characters evolve in the next book!

📖 Give it a read if you enjoy:
🍎 Blossoming Orchards and Businesses
🍎 Returning Home theme
🍎 Sleuth smartly working with police and having back up
🍎 Small town charm

Thank you @dreamscape_media and @netgalley for the ALC of this book to enjoy. All thoughts are my own!

I listened to the audiobook for this one, and while the reader wasn't my favorite, I was still able to enjoy the book. I loved that Kate had history in the town of Orchard Springs and was coming back to the place she grew up after years. We were able to learn about the changes alongside her, while also getting that feeling of coming home with it.

Her work at the cidery, and setting about making her first batch, was well done. Kate clearly knew what she was doing, and wasn't going about things with no plan at all.

The mystery, along with the two deaths, was well done, and fit in with Kate finding her place in her new hometown well. We went between trying to figure out what had happened, and Kate spending time with old friends, and making some new ones without a hitch.

As an audiobook, I found the pacing to be off. At times, it came across as quite monotone, and the pitch of the characters dialogue wasn't what I was expecting. It could be a bit hard to listen at times, and more than once I considered not finishing. I'm glad I push through, because I'd gladly return to Orchard Springs again, though this time with a printed copy.

I do love a cozy mystery and I also love hard cider.
This had so many twists and turns. I enjoyed meeting the new characters and Kate was super knowledgeable about making cider and a likable character. I also want to see what happens with her and Daniel.
The only thing that I found discouraging was that it was slightly repetitive, there were a lot of unnecessary details about what they were eating and drinking, and very scientific when it came to making cider. I don't think that I needed all those details to make the story great. I honestly think leaving out some of those details would have made this a solid 4 stars for me.

This was a fun, interesting read. I enjoyed getting to know Kate Mulligan, who inherits her great uncle's fruit orchard. She's super knowledgeable about making cider and her spunky personality makes it easy to want to get to know her more while she solves more than one mystery. While dealing with loss herself, she carries on her family's legacy, refusing to sell out. My heart goes out to her as she's grieving the loss of her husband and striving to make a life for herself. The hint at romance to come with nearby orchard owner, Daniel, is promising, and I can't wait to follow Kate's journey. Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.

Yay! Another cozy mystery series that I love! I can never have too many cozies! This was a super cute story and made me happy while reading - well except for the dead body! This was my 1st book by Joyce Tremel but I am adding all of her books to my TBR so it won't be my last. I can't wait to see what Kate gets up to in the next installment!

#DeadlytotheCore
#NetGalley

This was a great start to a new series. There was a bit more depth to it than I typically see in cozy mysteries, but I liked that a lot!

The main character, Kate, is trying to start over after losing her husband in an accident that severely injured her as well. When her great-uncle passed away and left her the family farm, she sees it as an opportunity to start fresh and to pursue her dream of opening a cidery.

The problem is, soon after she gets there, her orchard foreman is killed and she starts receiving aggressive offers to buy her land that become threatening after a while.

Being new in town, despite having spent time there as a kid, she has to sort her way through who she can trust and just what is really going on.

I really enjoyed Kate's sense of determination and her independence. And while there were hints that perhaps a romance might develop in time, no one was in a hurry to get there. So it allowed the mystery and the character development to be the focus of the story.

Well done, Joyce Tremel. I look forward to seeing future books in the series! Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an advance review copy.

Deadly to the Core
by Joyce Tremel narrated by Hilary Huber

First, I need to fan girl about the narrator a little bit!! I absolutely love Hilary Huber. 😍 She narrates some of my favorite series and does a fabulous job. So, when I hit play and heard her voice I was overjoyed! There are three narrators that I will go out of my way to look for books that they do, and Hilary is one of them. I always know that she will do a great job with the characters. Ok, gushing over Hilary over.

Let's get on with the review of the actual book. This is a new to me author and I am glad that I found her.

Kate physically survived a crash that took her beloved husband away from her, but mentally she feels like she died with him. Or at least she wishes that she did. That is until her Uncle Stan passes away and leaves her an orchard.

She uproots her life and moves to the orchard in the hopes of starting fresh and healing from her past. However, the orchard manager and her uncle's trusted friend is murdered. Was he doing something shady that caused him to cross the wrong person?

I absolutely loved all of the characters, especially dreamy Daniel. LOL! I did have an inkling of one of the people behind what was going on (which is why I am only giving it 4 stars), but I didn't know the full details. It really was a fun story and I can't wait for more in this series. I hope that it has a long run.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an open and honest review.

I adore a cozy mystery. I like this one a lot. its the perfect mix of humor and suspense. I can't wait to read the next one.

3.5 ✨It was a cosy mystery which is set up in a small village which I enjoyed. I loved the constant mystery that was maintained throughout the story and the side slight romance that developed between Kate and Daniel but a huge drawback of this novel for me was the amount of characters. With the starting of the novel the characters kept coming and it was so difficult to handle so many characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an audio of this novel.

Unfortunately, there seemed to have been a glitch with my app. The audio has disappeared, despite having downloading it as soon as I was approved. As I was really looking forward to this book, I will likely seek this book out on my own, and I will come and update this review when I do.

Deadly to the Core is a promising first offering, a new cozy series that follows Kate, a recently widowed woman returning to her mother’s childhood home. An apple orchard themed cozy isn’t exactly a new cozy theme, but Tremel puts a twist on it. Kate is going to open a Cider House at the Orchard, setting this series apart from the others. Overall, Kate is a likeable and relatable character, grieving the loss of her husband and starting a new life.

Kate arrives in town and the story takes off quickly from there. The story flows organically and is very enjoyable as a various cast of supporting characters present themselves.

One thing many cozy mysteries add that detracts (to me personally) are arch nemesis character. And in this book, there was none. I read lots of cozies the common annoying archenemy character, sometimes a downright horrible character I am looking at you, Jen, McKinley, and the detestable foil Olivia in your cupcake bakery mysteries. Almost every character who I assume will recur in this book was a regular, down-to-earth person. Their behavior was not outlandish. The plot was not predictable. It was difficult to guess who the killer was.

I think the best aspect was that the character Kate has roots in this town, so while this is a fresh start for you understand why everyone in the community is still so loving and supportive and kind towards her. She set up for success.

On the romance front, you know this character is a grieving widow, but they already introduced the love interest. Instead of going back-and-forth with the will they won’t they trope, Kate has a more honest internal dialogue and I don’t think this is going to be dragged out ala Joanne Fluke.

I love cozies; they are my favorite book genre. However, many of them, even the ones I really enjoy can get tired quickly. They just play into the formula that most cozies follow, and this one just sets itself a part early on by not being overly dramatic or having too much drama. The tone has a delicate balance. You definitely need a little suspension of disbelief to read this book. However, it's such a charming setting with a charming cast of characters that it's very easy to lose hours reading or listening to this book.

This series is excellent and I highly recommend it. I cannot wait for the second book to come out. This is truly what a cozy should be. A likable main character who seems like a real person. Supporting characters who feel like people you would be friends with if you knew them. And overall, just a good feeling when you read the book that you would like to live in this town. I cannot recommend this book enough.

I struggled with having enough time to read and audiobooks happen a real godsend for me. I work long hours and I exercise a lot, so having this audiobook really was wonderful. The narrator was Hillary Huber, and the narration was wonderful. I have no complaints and I actually believe that some books benefit from being listened to as an audiobook rather than read. A good narrator can make an ordinary book extraordinary. It just depends on their performance.

The thing with cozies is that sometimes they will change the narrator and that can detract from the series is so I hope they continue to stay with Huber.

Whatever edition you choose you cannot go wrong with Deadly to the Core.

This was a straightforward, somewhat interesting read with an unfortunately rather predictable ending. I enjoyed the personality of most of the characters, although there were a few that seemed to blend into each other, devoid of any development and just used as place fillers. The main character also had a few moments where it was embarrassingly obvious what the answers to her questions were and yet she still did not realise - which was rather frustrating for the reader. However, it is a unique, quirky tale that I haven't seen been done before which made it relatively enjoyable to read.

This book is what I'd call a 'low-key' cozy mystery. There aren't any overly wacky characters or settings. I like that the main character doesn't seem to insert herself into other people's business overmuch, she just follows the clues as presented to her. The final reveal was satisfying.

Kate is picking up the pieces of her broken life when she inherits her great uncle’s orchard. She decides open a cider house on the orchard and start over there.

This was a good start to a new cozy mystery series. I enjoyed the unique setting, but all the talk about the cider making process was a little much at times. There was also a lot of set up with Kate’s story and the setting, but that is to be expected with the first book in a series.

I enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next one in the series.

First in the new Cider House Mysteries, Deadly to the Core is a classic cozy mystery whodunit. After losing her husband of 10 years in a tragic car accident, Kate is starting a new chapter in her life. She’s moving to Orchardville, PA and taking over her uncle’s orchard, set on opening a cidery and making her uncle’s apples into yummy hard cider. Unfortunately, soon after she arrives in town there is a murder.

The beginning of this cozy mystery was very sweet but slow, it took at least 5 chapters to get to the murder. For me, an impatient ADHD person, the beginning chapters were boring. But as soon as we got to the murder, the plot got going, and I was interested again. The pacing for the rest of the novel was perfect. Kate is sleuthing to find out why someone would kill Carl, the orchard manager who never spoke about his personal life. And also why is someone offering to buy up all the local orchards?

This town is very adorable, there’s a woman named Cherry who owns CertainTEA the local tea shop, there’s a cat named Blossom, a comfort food diner that Kate’s friend owns, and Kate names her new cidery the Red Barn Cider Works. Once the plot gets going, it’s plenty fun and I enjoyed the ride. There’s some small parts about making cider, which I knew nothing about but actually found very interesting. Renee ‘s dad, Mr Freeman was probably my favorite characters, aside from Blossom the cat, and Carl who seemed really nice.
If you like cozy mysteries with beautiful scenery and close knit small towns, this one is for you. I think fans of the Ellie Alexander Bakeshop mystery series would like this one a lot. If there is a sequel to this one, I would definitely read it.