Murder on Devil's Pond is the first book in a new series by author Ayla Rose. This author is new to me and I thought that she did a nice job of creating a solid foundation for future books in the series. The setting, a B&B in Vermont is idyllic for a cozy mystery and a theme that I tend to enjoy because it allows the author to populate books in the series with new characters each time while growing the permanent characters. I thought the story/mystery could have been a bit more complex and that is the reason for my rating. That said, it was a good start to this series and I am interested enough to pick up the next book and see where the author takes her readers.

I really enjoyed this story - I am looking forward to continuing this series.

Hannah Solace comes back to her small Vermont town to run a B & B and befriends the town curmudgeon, Ezra Grayson. Ezra and Hannah bond over their love of plants and when Ezra ends up dead, Hannah is horrified.

Hannah vows to get to the bottom of Ezra's death, but learns some long-standing secrets along the way. Secrets about Ezra and his wife, his former career, and how these secrets intertwine with Hannah's estranged father, her deceased mother's friends, and how Ezra's niece and nephews are circling like vultures (Ezra's nickname for them) to get his historic estate.

All in all, this was a fun read; there were a few parts that were a little slow on the buildup, but I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. Oh, of course, there is a dog named Moose who is big and lovable, plus the beginnings of a love triangle, so a cozy mystery through and through.

4 stars

Murder on Devil's Pond by Ayla Rose is a cozy mystery and the first in Hummingbird Hollow B&B mystery series. It follows Hannah Solace, co-owner of the inn, as she tries to solve the mystery behind the death of her neighbor and friend Ezra Grayson, an 80 year old recluse. It has a typical small town setting and the plot is quite engaging to begin with. It's pretty atmospheric and if you love nature, you are in for a treat. Hannah's property borders a water body and that adds to the quaintness of the setting. I think that the book kind of unravels in the middle and I wish that the side characters were developed better. Still, I had a nice time reading it and it was a fun experience.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a review copy.

This book was interesting enough to keep me reading but lots of profanity and factual inconsistencies with respect to the police investigation that I found unrealistic. It was not quite the cozy thriller I expected & I likely wouldn’t have picked up the book if I had realized that.

Murder on Devil's Pond is the debut book by Ayla Rose. Hannah is divorced and has moved back to Vermont to help out her sister Reggie and niece Peach by running the Hummingbird Bee & Bee. The B&B is losing money and Hannah is trying to keep costs down. She has befriended Ezra who is a cantankerous elderly man who lives nearby with his dog Moose. Ezra ends up dead and his niece and two nephews are staying at the B&B. They become suspects along with several land developers who want Ezra's land. There are a lot of secrets especially regarding Ezra and his deceased wife Molly. Hanah spends as much time figuring out about the secrets as she does sleuthing. The mystery was good. It is mostly a cozy mystery but a second death is pretty gruesome and there is some swearing. The middle was a bit slow and some parts were overly descriptive. Hannah, her sister Reggie, and Noah the police detective are all likable characters. Overall, this was a decent book. #MurderOnDevilsPond #NetGalley #CrookedLaneBooks

Murder on Devil’s Pond is a cozy mystery set in Vermont. Hannah and her sister own a bed and breakfast in their hometown. Their neighbor is found dead on their property.
Hannah is determined to find out who killed him. Ezra was a cantankerous old man who lived in a derelict house. His relatives are staying at the B&B to visit Ezra and talk him into a retirement home.
This is the first book in the Hummingbird Hollow B&B Mystery. I enjoyed it. The writing style is smooth, the characters are well drawn. I would read more of this series.

Hannah has moved back to her home town in Vermont. She is a co-owner of the sweet little Victorian B&B that they renovating. Reggie, Hannah's sister, lets Hannah run the Inn. Hannah has dreams of pollinator gardens with native flowers. Hannah has befriended the local curmudgeon, Ezra. He knows tons about flowers and what plants thrive. One night, he calls Hannah and says he is coming over to talk to her, but he never makes it. Hannah finds his body at the edge of Devil's Pond. She becomes a suspect when she finds out that she inherits all of Ezra's estate. Based on the way he lived, she assumes that is bills. She is surprised to find the estate is worth millions.

This was a fun cozy. I like Hannah and Reggie. The characters are fun. Some are likeable, others are not. The story is easy to follow and is a nice escape.

Hannah is close friends with Ezra, an old grumpy man whom she likes to deliver food to but he seldom eats it or appreciates it. One day Hannah discovers Ezra’s body being guarded by Moose, his old and true companion, who also happens to be a dog. Hannah , with the help of her sister Reggie, the local cop and many people who were envolved with Ezra set out to find the killer. However, some may suspect Hannah herself since it looks like Ezra left his estate and money to her. I thought everyone was a suspect, except the actual killer, I did not see that coming! I really enjoyed this book so much, it was well written, the character were lovely and well developed and even the supporting characters were so fun to read about.

Great start to a new series. I was originally drawn to this book because the main character is an innkeeper, however not much information is given about the inn itself, hopefully that will change in future installments. Characters aren’t fleshed out very well, but good enough for the first book in a series. I liked the main character, Hannah, but found her sister, Reggie, to be extremely unlikeable. A strong, well-plotted mystery, with a sympathetic victim, and thoroughly unlikeable suspects kept me turning pages to find out who the killer was. Romance is almost non-existent in this story, which is the way I prefer my cozies. I’ll definitely be reading book two.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for a digital advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Murder on Devil’s Pond by Ayla Rose questions if what we do in our past determines our future.

Will Hannah Solace find the truth?

Hannah Solace
Our sleuth is Hannah Solace, who returned to Jasper, Vermont, two, almost three years ago now. Hannah is tasked by her older sister to run and manage the bed and breakfast however she wants. Well, Hannah is making it a pretty awesome bed and breakfast. She is also bringing out a lot of wildlife, and she wants to preserve that type of thinking. Hannah is an amazing character, and I love how she tries to make the bed and breakfast a whole lot different than any other bed and breakfast. She is growing her own produce, has an amazing garden, and has access to the lake. Another thing that I like about Hannah is that as she’s trying to solve her friend’s death, we find out more about her, how she ended up back in Jasper, and why she left in the first place.

Hannah has a kind heart and an old soul that loves animals and nature. I truly enjoyed being with Hannah and seeing how her mind works.

The Mystery
Hannah Solace found her friend’s body, Ezra Grayson, in the last place that she would have thought to see him. Since she is suspected of killing him by the police, he decides to find out who the murderer actually is. As Hannah looks not only in the present but in the past, she finds out more than she was bargaining for and wonders how that relates to Ezra’s death. I had three suspects the entire time but kept writing each off since they all seemed like red herrings. Surprisingly, I was right about one of the suspects but not the motive. That motive was quite the doozy.

Five Stars
Murder on Devil’s Pond by Ayla Rose’s rating is five stars, and I truly recommend it to all the cozy mystery readers out there. You won’t be disappointed as this is a fantastic book. I can’t wait to see what else Ms. Rose brings to Hannah’s doorstep.

The back of this book contains recipes, but since I have an ARC copy, it doesn’t have them.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Murder on Devil’s Pond by Ayla Rose.

Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out Baroness Book Trove.

Feeling agitated, Hannah steps into her kayak for a short trip to relax. It turns out not to be a relaxing trip, when Hannah finds Moose, the dog of her friend Ezra, and soon after the body of Ezra.

Hannah has a good motive for her sleuthing: she wants to find out more about her friend and why someone wanted him dead.

I liked this story for the most part, except the last 8%. The ending was rushed. Is if the author had run out of ideas or time before her deadline.

Hannah, an extremely likable protagonist, has to weave people and motives from the past as well as the present to prove her friend’s death was in fact, a murder. With a healthy roster of people with motives, Hannah has her work cut out for her in this debut title. A promising start to the series.

How well do we ever know other people?

This is a promising start to a brand new series. I'm not quite sure it'd be accurate to say I immediately liked Hannah Solace, the main character, she's pretty intense, but I definitely found her intriguing. She's smart and does think things through....most of the time. What makes her tick? Why, aside from her sister, is she closed off from family? Her B&B seems to be struggling, so how is she able to just leave so often to pursue leads to the murder of 80-year old Ezra, who she considered a friend, even if he was always cranky and lived in an old house that seemed ready to crumple on his head just any time. What secrets was he hiding? This is the focus of the plot but, oh, my, so much more.

The mystery was complex, involving lots of possible culprits with motive. Ayla Rose did an excellent job introducing us to them, but also in weaving a bit of a mystery around who Hannah and sister Reggie were and where they came from. Each has had a rough time of it and are very different while still bonded together. We even learn that Ezra, the victim, had a far more complex, interesting life than "victim", too. I'm not going to detail the plot, see the blurb for that, but family dramas, intrigue, divisions, greed, secrets....oh, you get my drift. Danger? Of course, this is a cozy mystery. Grin. Lots going on, both related to murder and Hannah's Solace family and past. And, hey, you know I love books with dogs and this one has a sweet older dog, Moose, who belonged to the victim and is taken in by Hannah. You'll even learn a bit about plants and flowers as well as sustainable landscaping, so to speak, so have a note pad handy if you're looking for hints.

It was perhaps just me but I will note that I stopped reading at one point fairly early on to double check if I wasn't mistaken about the book being the first of the series. There were so many questions early on, mostly relating to Hannah and her return and relationship to others. That was both good and bad. It made me curious but, as noted, it also slowed me down as I couldn't quite figure out who was who and how they were all connected. I'm sure that will be less of an issue as the series goes along, of course, as first books in any series tend to be either info heavy or leave you scratching your head at times as the characters' actions and words don't quite make sense to you. By the end of the book I felt like I had a good handle on connections but, well, it did take awhile, which kept me at a four star rating rather than the five, which was actually rather tempting given the complex, well-fleshed out characters we got to know, albeit slowly. Also, a caution for cozy fans. This is what I'd dub a rather dark cozy with some rather grisly murder descriptions.

Bottom line, however, an excellent start that I'm looking forward to revisiting when the next book comes out. Thanks #NetGalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for introducing me to Hannah and her life in Vermont. I'm looking forward to delving into the complex lives and backgrounds of these characters, especially her old crush Noah and the still mysterious to me Ash. And, for the record, I didn't quite figure it out until the end even if all the clues were there. Let's just say, I got lost in the red herrings.

family-drama, suspense, Vermont, greed, inheritance, small-town, small-business, not-TTS-enabled, secrets, extortion, family-dynamics, family-business, family-history, first-in-series, new-series, murder, murder-investigation****

Interesting investigation and interpersonal interactions. I probably would have enjoyed it more if it had been TTS enabled. I tried!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.

This was captivating from the beginning, I thought Hannah and Reggie’s interactions with each other were the most engaging parts of this book. Since her sister’s timely intervention in her previous disastrous relationship, Hannah has morphed into a courageous lady with a knack for sleuthing. Now faced with the murder of her dear friend, on her property, Hannah’s sleuthing antennas were activated, and she refused to become another victim of someone else’s frame-up.

The start of a new series always excites me as a reader. Especially when it is written by an author I know and enjoy. MURDER ON DEVIL'S POND is the first book in Ayla Rose's Hummingbird Hollow B&B mystery series. (For those unfamiliar with Ayla Rose, you may know her as Wendy Tyson or Liv Andersson.) This first book lays a solid foundation for more to come at the Hummingbird Hollow Bed & Breakfast.

Protagonist Hannah has recently returned to her small Vermont hometown, lured home by the opportunity to renovate and operate the new B&B. She has dreams of converting large swaths of the land to be rich and colorful habitats for bees and other pollinators, and Hannah relies on the experience and expertise of her neighbor, Ezra, in her efforts. Ezra is cantankerous on the best of days, but he holds a special place in Hannah's heart. Their relationship makes his sudden and violent death all the more devastating for Hannah, and she soon finds herself embroiled in a contentious and acrimonious battle between Ezra's niece and nephews for a surprisingly large inheritance. As much as Hannah wants to stay out of it, she is inextricably linked to the life and death of her friend--and she might be harboring a murderer at the B&B.

Ayla Rosa paints a vivid scene of the Vermont mountains and the idyllic town of Jasper. She has also introduced a cast of characters ready for more complex revelations in future books of this series—one I'm looking forward to following and enjoying.

With an intriguing plot, plenty of town secrets, and greedy players fighting for an inheritance, MURDER ON DEVIL'S POND delivers a mystery that's sure to please and entertain readers.

A series debut! Hannah returns to Vermont with her sister to run a B&B. When a family friend is found dead on the property, Hannah sets out to clear her name. Lots of suspects to choose from. A good start to the series. Thanks #Netgalley and #CrookedLaneBooks for the eARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are mine.

Murder on Devil's Pond was an interesting if slow-paced murder mystery. There were no real twists or turns in the plot as Hannah investigates the murder of her friend and neighbor Ezra. The usual suspects are family members who have been estranged for years and local real estate hounds who have been waiting for this old man to pass and free up a prime piece of land. I did enjoy the story and thought it was well-written overall.

Murder on Devil’s Pond

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Murder On Devil’s Pond is the first instalment in the Hummingbird Hollow B&B mystery series.

After Hannah Solace returns to Jasper, Vermont to run a B&B with her sister, Reggie, Hannah’s neighbour and friend, Ezra Grayson is found murdered on the Inn’s property. Hannah, along with help from her family and friends, must work to clear Hannah’s name and find out who the real killer is.
I am a big fan of small town cozy mysteries and this first instalment of Hummingbird Hollow B&B Mystery series did not disappoint. There is a colourful cast of characters, a potential love triangle and multiple small town secrets to be exposed. With several possible suspects, I was kept guessing until the very end. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in this series.