Turkey, Pies, and Alibis by Wendy Meadows

Turkey, Pies and Alibis

by Wendy Meadows

Series: Sweetfern Harbor Mystery #5
Series Rating:
Published by Majestic Owl Publishing LLC on November 2, 2017
Genres: Cozy Holiday Mystery
Pages: 148
Format: Kindle
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon
Also in this series: Ghostly Tours , Posies and Poison , Dead in Bed, Captain Dead Man

Sweetfern Harbor Bed and Breakfast Cozy Mysteries can be read in one to two hours. It is perfect for those moments when you are waiting at an appointment or want to enjoy a quick read.Brenda Sheffield wishes her father would respond to her invitations to visit Sheffield Bed and Breakfast. So far only silence answers her calls and letters. Saddened that her once loving father chooses to widen the gap in their relationship is the only thing missing from Brenda’s happiness. Above all, she hopes he will accept the invitation to her wedding that is coming up in less than a month. Tim Sheffield cannot understand why his only daughter wishes to marry someone who has the lowly career as Detective of a small Police Force in a town like Sweetfern Harbor.
When Tim arrives without anyone knowing he is coming, he demands a room in an already booked weekend. It is Thanksgiving and Sweetfern Harbor has many tourists arriving by the hour. Brenda’s bed and breakfast has been booked for months. She knows if she sends her father to the local Hotel he may very well fast return to Michigan rather than stick around with her. There is only one solution and that is to book the tourist couple, Rachel and Nick Bernard into the historic Hotel in town. She assures the upset couple, who opted to stay beyond their two-night booking, that the inn will foot the bill for a luxurious room in the historic hotel.
A day later the Sheffield Bed and Breakfast float is completed and ready for the celebratory parade downtown. Brenda is ready to pitch candy to onlookers but above all, she is determined to win first place in the float contest. Along the route she is out of candy and reaches down into the overflow bin of candy only to grasp the hand of a dead body.
From then on, the estrangement between herself and her father only deepens when fingers point to Tim Sheffield as the murderer of the victim. Brenda decides it is up to her to find the real killer and divert attention from her father. She must sift through aliases and forge ahead. There is no way she can marry Mac Rivers, Detective, until her father is cleared since Mac can’t remove Tim Sheffield from his list of suspects. Brenda wonders if her relationship with her father will recover under the adverse circumstances ahead of her.

Was Brenda supposed to be the victim?

Turkey, Pies, and Alibis by Wendy Meadows is the fifth book in the Sweetfern Harbor Mystery series. I think this story got away from the author.

What’s happening?

We have a few different things going on in Sweetfern Harbor.

• A woman who looks very similar to Brenda is staying at the B&B with her husband.
• Money is missing from the B&B, for the first time since Brenda took over.
• Sweetfern Harbor has a Thanksgiving Day Parade, and everyone is building floats for this parade.
• The Brenda look-alike woman is killed and left in the candy compartment of the Sheffield Bed and Breakfast’s float.
• Brenda’s dad, Tim Sheffield has arrived unannounced for a visit.
• William Pendleton is hosting Thanksgiving dinner at his house on Saturday.

Issues that I have with this storyline

Tim Sheffield – In the previous books Brenda has said that her father and mother are dead. Now, all of a sudden she wants her dad to come to the wedding. Her dad, Uncle Randolph’s brother the one that left Brenda the B&B. And Brenda’s dad doesn’t like that Brenda has chosen to run the B&B. Add to that she is marrying a cop. Supposedly, Tim wants his daughter to marry someone rich to take care of her. Did I mention that he was an over-the-road truck driver?

Then after the body is found. Mac believes that Brenda’s dad is one of the main suspects. Mac thinks that Tim is so upset with Brenda that he is going to kill her. Seriously, Mac should know better by now not to accuse Brenda or her friends. They, of course, have a huge blow-up. Perhaps the two of them should either not get married or not work these murder cases together.

Timelines

OK, so the other thing that wasn’t working for me was the timeline. I need to break this into two points.

The first issue is the timing of the books. The first four books seem to happen right after Brenda inherits the B&B. However, in this installment, Brenda has been there for at least a couple of years. She talks about how she has been writing her dad and when Brenda went to her cousin’s wedding in Michigan over the summer she and her dad had a big blow up.

The timeline for the murder in this book is also off. One time Brenda is still tired from working on the float all night, but the previous chapter has her sleeping late into the day. It goes back and forth like that throughout the story. I had to stop reading twice and go back and re-read a chapter to see if I was mistaken. Finally, I just kept reading.

3 Stars for Turkey, Pies, and Alibis by Wendy Meadows

My rating for Turkey, Pies, and Alibis by Wendy Meadows is three stars. I like the characters, the setting and the fact that these are short mysteries. However, I wish this book had been better edited. I do recommend the series and hope that the next book doesn’t have these issues.

This Guest Review is for Baroness’ Book Trove. Thank you for the opportunity to review this book on your site.

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