"In the quaint seaside village of Cape Willington, Maine, Candy Holliday has a mostly idyllic life, tending to the Blueberry Acres farm she runs with her father, and occasionally stepping to to solve a murder or two ... Candy is just as shocked as the rest of the locals when two murders occur back-to-back. First, an aging playboy takes a midnight nosedive off a seaside cliff. Then, gossip columnist--and recently crowned town Blueberry Queen--Sapphire Vine stops the business end of a hammer with her head, right in her own home. When her friend, a local handyman, is accused of the murder, Candy investigates to clear his name. Was the gossip columnist moonlighting as a blackmailer? Was the playboy playing around with the wrong person? But as Candy sorts through the town's juicy secrets, things start to get very sticky indeed ..."--Page 4 of cover.
Reviews with the most likes.
So, I'm giving this 4 because the mystery itself was a pretty intricate puzzle. But personally, I won't be continuing this series.
[slight spoilers] I had a very hard time liking the main character. Her flaws are on full display at the beginning of the book, and of course flaws are totally fine–so I read the whole thing looking for where she would redeem herself–and for me, that point never really came. Even her investigation felt a lot more about helping herself than her friend. Plus, some of her opinions and judgements felt outdated to me . . . which again could be understandable, but when combined with the rest of her personality, I found it very off-putting.
Overall I didn't get the feeling of community and kindness from this book that I usually look for in cozies, but I think perhaps people who like older, darker mysteries might enjoy it.
