Scary in a fun way. Looking forward to reading book #2. ( )

I really enjoy this series and book two is just as fun as the first. In this one business started to slow down after the holidays so the town mayor planned a "Winter Walk" to bring tourists and visitors to town. ( )

Monica Albertson left her home in Chicago to move to small-town Cranberry Cove, Michigan, to help her half brother on his cranberry farm. She bakes goods for their store, and does whatever else he needs her to do. She's been settling in nicely, and even has begun a new relationship with a local bookstore owner.

Also present is her brother Jeff's mother, Gina, who's opened a store and move there, too. Now, though, her own mother, Nancy, because she's met a man who lives in Cranberry Cove and has decided to pay a visit to both him and Monica. But soon after her arrival, he's murdered -- and she discovers that not only was he seeing her, but Gina. Now the local police have told her not to leave town, because both women might be suspects. To make it worse, Monica finds that her friend Tempest is also a suspect in the murder. So Monica decides to do an investigation on her own, and hopefully find a killer who just might get away with it...

This is the second book in the series and I am glad to say that I liked it much better than the first. While it started out slow, I was happy to see that in this book Monica has developed a bit of a backbone, and I also like the fact that even though Nancy disliked Gina, they aren't at each other's throats and have come to a common ground. (I really dislike the 'evil nemesis' angle in books).

Although Monica knows both women are innocent, she begins to wonder who hated the mayor enough to kill him. While there aren't a lot of suspects, Monica sets her sights on one in particular, but then something occurs to make her wonder if she's looking in the right direction. She gives what clues she does discover to the police, and hopes that Detective Stevens will follow through on them.

While this book isn't too involved in throwing everyone red herrings, one thing I didn't care for was the fact that Monica was like a dog with a bone. She wasn't going to let go of her insistence on this person being the guilty party, and had made up scenarios in her own head how they could have done it. I get that she wanted to prove her mother, Gina, and Tempest innocent, but I didn't feel that there was really anything pointing to them specifically anyway.

When the ending came and the killer was revealed, the reason for the murder was again an interesting one that was unexpected, and I did enjoy the way the murderer was caught. It was done differently, and that was a nice change. As stated above, I did enjoy this book more than the last and I will continue the series to see if it improves even further. ( )

Monica Albertson moved to Cranberry Cove to help her step-brother, Jeff, with his cranberry farm. She makes cranberry goodies to sell in the farm store. The town is holding the first Winter Walk in January to bring in tourists in this small town next to Lake Michigan. The mayor turns up dead in the grand opening ceremony. Monica's mother is also visiting and comes face to face with Jeff's mother who married Monica's father after he left her mother. He has now left both women and they seem to be making peace with that. Monica helps puts the clues together to come up with a solution.

The mystery itself wasn't great...there just didn't seem to be enough suspects. But the setting was pleasant enough, and the character's story (without the mystery) was fine. There was one appearance by a character that seemed random and unnecessary. ( )