Christmas Cow Bells
Kindle Edition, 320 pages
Published September 24th 2019 by Kensington
Goodreads synopsis:
The first novel in Mollie Cox Bryan’s brand new mystery series, set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, will keep you guessing until the cows come home . . .
Christmas is a time for new beginnings, so after her big breakup, Brynn MacAlister takes the gouda with the bad. With her three Red Devon cows, she settles in bucolic Shenandoah Springs, eager for a new life as an organic micro-dairy farmer and cheese-maker. Then her dear cow Petunia’s bellows set the whole town on edge. But it isn’t until Brynn’s neighbor, Nancy, dies in a mysterious fire that her feelings about small town life begin to curdle . . .
It seems some folks were not happy with Nancy’s plan to renovate the Old Glebe Church. But is a fear of change a motivation for murder? As a newcomer, Brynn can’t ignore the strange events happening just on the other side of her frosty pasture—and soon on her very own farm. Suddenly Christmas doesn’t feel so festive as everyone demands she muzzle sweet Petunia, and Brynn is wondering if someone wants to silence her—for good . . .
***
4.5 Stars
This is the first book in the A Buttermilk Creek Mystery series by Mollie Cox Bryan.
I really felt for Brynn MacAlister. She was living in a town that didn’t want change. And she and her next door neighbor, Nancy, were doing just that. Change in a big way. Brynn through her cheese making and Nancy through renovating the church into a sort of marketplace. They were doing their own thing yet using resources that they changed to make work for them. Really inspiring when you think about it. So sorry some people have to be so pig-headed.
I wasn’t exactly sure about the motivation behind the fire of the church where Nancy was the unfortunate victim. But I assume her need for change clashed with someone else’s need to resist change and she ended up on the wrong side of fate.
I was halfway through this book when the lady who owns the newspaper I work for asked me what it was about. It sounded so out there and impossible when trying to give her a concise meaning about the plot. She was intrigued, probably more about the cows than anything else. She loves anything agriculture. As I pointed out all the highlights to her, I marveled at the intricacy of it all. It always makes me appreciate how much work it takes to craft a mystery like this when I try to explain it to someone else while in the midst of it.
The set pieces are really in place to get this series off and running. It is a great series start and one I want to continue to follow. We have a good idea of who the allies are for Brynn and who might pose a problem in the future.
Regarding this episode, I would have liked to have seen a lot more of Tilly and her family just for the background information. I had a feeling who stole the money from the graveyard but having a motive and a little bit more of her family history would have made that section of the book make a lot more sense. I know, I know, it’s a suspense writing trick but I felt a lot of vagueness around her character as well as a lot of the others who I assume are mainstays. But that will be remedied as we move forward, I’m sure. I still haven’t figured out who the love interest will be as we go into book two. Fire Marshal Mike Rafferty is my guess at this point.
This was just a fun and interesting book. The cheese making idea is just so clever! People might be inspired to try it for themselves! You will definitely want to try this book on for size since it is one amazing read!
Highly recommended.
I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.
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