Review and Giveaway: Fruit of all Evil by Paige Shelton

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Berkley (March 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425240223
ISBN-13: 978-0425240229

 Becca and Linda are both vendors at Bailey's Farmer's Market in South Carolina. Becca sells her homemade jams and preserves while Linda sells her spectacular fruit pies. Since they both have a fondness for their careers and have many friends who also work at the market, Linda is determined to hold her upcoming nuptials to Navy Seal, Drew Forsythe, at the market. When Becca agrees to be matron-of-honor at the wedding, she had no idea she would be drawn into a murder investigation.

When  Drew's mother, Madeline, decides to hold a dinner to introduce Linda and Becca to the rest of Drew's family, she breezes into the market place and starts issuing orders of when and where to show up. To say she was a forceful personality is putting it mildly. It seems her reputation preceded her and no one liked her one bit. I guess someone really disliked her more than others because this was the last time anyone saw Madeline alive.

Even though Becca promised Sam Brion, local police officer, that she wouldn't interfere with the investigation, her need to know and be involved got the better of her good sense. Since Madeline was a much disliked foreclosure agent, there was a long list of disgruntled former land owners that the police were concentrating on but  Becca was more intrigued by Drew's complicated family dynamics. Could the motive be professional or is it a lot more close to home? The suspense heightens when one of the farmer's market merchants goes missing. Is there some connection to the investigation or is it just coincidence? Can Becca get all this solved in time for the wedding?

There were quite a few possible suspects all with good motives which always makes for a fun read. I liked the sub plot line of Becca and her beau, Ian. The only thing I would have liked would be a better sense of place. If the author didn't tell me it was South Carolina, I wouldn't have known. There may have been a few references to the warm weather but that was it. Even so, I liked the characters and I'm sure I will be reading the next one in the Farm Fresh series. 3.5***

To celebrate today's release of Fruit of all Evil, Berkley is allowing me to give away 1 copy **of the book-  open to US only - Deadline to enter is March 11th at 5 PM (est) Please be sure to leave an e mail address in your comment. If you cannot leave a comment and would still like to enter ( I don't allow anonymous comments) just send me an e mail with Fruit of all Evil entry in the subject line. Include your name and preferred e mail contact. Send to florida982002[at] yahoo.com and I will enter your comment for you.

*** Paige Shelton will be adding another copy to the giveaway. There will be 2 winners now instead of one! Thank you so much Paige for your generosity and kindness. ***


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. Good luck!

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