Cheryl C. (moondance120) reviewed on 2/26/2015 + 422 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

I was already steeped in the heavenly smell of baking pecan pies and pecan drop cookies when I hurried down, worried, from my apartment over the Nut House, the store our family owned, to find my meemaw, Amelia Hastings, known to everybody in Riverville, Texas, as Miss Amelia, behind the counter, embroiled in her weekly tussle with Ethelred Tomroy.

Good grief!! What an sentence to start a new series! The first book in the Nut House Mystery series introduces us to the Blanchard family. They are pecan farmers in Texas known for their family farm and wonderful baked goods. Someone has started a rumor that Miss Amelia has become forgetful and is not baking her famous pecan pies as she once did. Lindy is a plant biologist working on developing a drought resistant pecan tree. Estranged Amos Blanchard returns to town insisting that he must see Lindy's mom, Emma. Soon afterwards, Lindy finds her research destroyed and Amos' body in her greenhouse. The sheriff looks no further than the family and arrests Lindy's brother, Justin.

This was a very good start to a new series. The science behind maintaining the trees was interesting. The close bond of the family was wonderful. I enjoyed Lindy and Miss Amelia teaming up to find the murderer. There are lots of twists and turns as the family tries to get the sheriff to reopen the case of Lindy's dad. It becomes more apparent that his death was not an accident. I love the description of the characters. The neighbors, Harry and Chastity, are particularly interesting. The deputy, Hunter, is almost an afterthought as a love interest. I guess I need to wait and see how that develops.

Overall a good fun read. I look forward to the next book.

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