Review & Giveway: Town in a Lobster Stew by B.B. Haywood

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Berkley (February 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425240010
ISBN-13: 978-0425240014

It's just before Memorial Day in the little town of Cape Willington, Maine and the residents are getting all excited in anticipation of the town's 29th annual lobster Stew cook-off. Much prestige is associated with winning the coveted trophy so the competition is very cut-throat.

Candy Holliday, part time writer for the Cape Crier and part owner of Blueberry Acres has a bit of a reputation as a detective. When she is asked by the elderly Wilma Mae to help her find her trophy winning lobster stew recipe, Candy  was a little reluctant at first but then events started heating up and Candy is sucked into the intrigue as Wilma Mae insists it was stolen from her secret drawer.

Who knew emotions would run so high over this competition or is there something else at stake? Enough to inspire theft, rigged entries, clandestine meetings,family secrets,skulduggery,collusion, jealousy and backstabbing? Oh, and did I mention a missing person and murder? Ayuh, seems it does!

Despite Chief Durr warning her to mind her own business, Candy and her best friend Maggie just can't seem to leave well enough alone. Candy keeps thinking whoever stole the recipe is the murderer. And so the adventure begins . . . .

In this second in the Candy Holliday series, B.B. Haywood ingeniously incorporates all these elements in a cohesive and well plotted mystery. There are enough red herrings to keep any reader guessing. Just when I thought I knew for sure "whodunnit", I was wrong. Several times, in fact! There are some really good twists in the story to keep cozy/mystery fans very happy.

B. B. Haywood is a pseudonym of writing team Beth Feeman and Robert Feeman. They conceived the idea for the Candy Holliday mysteries while driving around the Maine countryside, stopping at different small towns throughout the state.  They sure have the flavor of New England and the characteristics of it's inhabitants down to perfection. So many wonderfully quirky characters that could populate any small town; some with stronger personalities and less ethics than others! I could picture the fog, and hear the foghorns in my head as Candy tootled around the waterfront back roads in her little jeep looking for clues. Some of the descriptions of the area actually made me homesick!

I really liked the ending to this one too; a little bit of ominous foreshadowing and a preview has me anxiously awaiting the next in the series: Town in a Wild Moose Chase. If you'd like to read the first in the series, read Town in a Blueberry Jam. Lobster and chowder recipes are also included at the end of the book. 4*

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Berkley Signet Mysteries  in exchange for my honest opinion.

To celebrate this month's release of Town in a Lobster Stew, Berkley is allowing me to give away one copy of the book; open to US only. Deadline to enter is Feb 17th at 5 PM (est)

To enter, leave me a comment telling me why you want to win.

If you do not have a blog or google account and would still like to enter ( I don't allow anonymous comments) just send me an e mail with Town in a Lobster Stew entry in the subject line. Include why you want to win and your name and preferred e mail contact. Send to florida982002[at] yahoo.com and I will enter your comment for you.

As always, bonus entries can be earned by:

+ 2 being a follower, Tell me under what name you follow
+3 tweeting or posting about and linking to contest (sidebar is ok) Just be sure to give me the link in a comment.  Please be sure to leave an e mail contact in your comment. Good luck!