Bought the Farm by Peg Cochran is the third novel in A Farmer’s Daughter Mystery series. Shelby McDonald has been busy getting Love Blossom Farm ready for Kelly Thacker and Seth Gregson wedding. Kelly has even arranged a special surprise for Seth. The wedding is lovely, but Seth is not thrilled with his surprise of Travis Cooper and his band. After the festivities are over, Shelby and Bert notice that one guest is still hanging around. Travis has been murdered and strung up on a post to resemble a scarecrow. Seth, the band along with the wedding guests are all suspects in the singer’s death. Detective Frank McDonald has his work cut out for him this time. Of course, Kelly cannot help but do some digging especially with Seth being on the suspect list. The killer, however, is displeased with her sleuthing and leaves her a threatening blog comment. Join Shelby as she weeds through the suspects to expose the evil doer in Bought the Farm.

Bought the Farm is an engaging cozy mystery. It is well-written and has a steady pace throughout. There is a good flow and smooth transitions. Bought the Farm has great characters and a beautiful setting of Love Blossom Farm in Lovett, Michigan. I especially liked Shelby’s blog entries at the beginning of each chapter. They were informative and useful. It was interesting to learn the history behind some wedding traditions. The mystery was well-crafted with multiple suspects and misdirection. The author provided good clues to aid readers in resolving the crime. While Bought the Farm is the third book in the series, it can be read alone. Everything a reader needs to know about Shelby is included. Chickens, planting seeds, gathering herbs, taking care of the kids and the dogs, spending time with friends, dating, creating new recipes, cooking and Shelby working on her blog are some of the cozy moments in Bought the Farm. I like the world that Peg Cochran has created for A Farmer’s Daughter Mystery series. Shelby’s daughter, Amelia stands up for a girl in her class who is being bullied and comes up with an anti-bullying campaign. I appreciate how the author addressed the situation and her suggestions for dealing with bullies. I hope that the children will start doing chores in future books to help out Shelby (she needs assistance with work around the house and farm). My rating for Bought the Farm is 4 out of 5 stars. There are recipes at the end of the book. ( )

Bought The Farm is the third book in The Farmer’s Daughter Mystery series.

This is busy times for Shelby at her Love Blossom Farm, not only is she busy with the vegetables and herbs she grows but her best friend and vet, Kelly Thacker and her husband-to-be Seth Gregson are getting married at the farm. The reception immediately following the ceremony is in full swing. The guests are enjoying the catered food and the music provided by a band featuring singer, Travis Cooper. The happy event makes a downward spiral when the lifeless body of Travis is found face down in a water trough in a nearby field.

Travis is a local boy who made a name for himself by winning on America Can Sing. Travis was supposed to appear with his brother, Jax, but an auto driven by Travis crashed and Jax was hospitalized and couldn’t make the show. In addition to Jax, there are several other people that would want to seek revenge on Travis. To mention just a couple, Jax’s wife, Jessie was once engaged to Travis and was left at the altar. Cody, a member of the band and is also responsible for setting up the equipment without and Travis, for the most part, treats him as a gofer. Also Seth, comes under suspicion when it is learned that a person was seen near where the body was found with a hat similar to the one Seth had been wearing on his arrival.

As in previous books, there are excerpts from Shelby’s blog at the start of each chapter. I find that they provide interesting and useful information. The story is well-plotted and told with an interesting cast of well-developed and believable characters. The book kept me guessing until the end.

Delicious sounding recipes are also included with the book.

I will definitely be watching for the next book in this wonderful series. ( )

When Shelby's best friend Kelly is getting married, she wants to have the celebration at Shelby's farm. Performing is the band that Kelly's cousin is in, but Kelly doesn't know that there's a long-ago resentment between the lead singer Travis and Kelly's fiancé Seth. It seems Travis caused Seth to miss a much-needed exam in order to graduate from medical school, and it caused his grade to drop by a hair.

At any rate, when the party is over and the guests are departing Shelby's friend Bert mentions something about Shelby's scarecrow. When she tells Bert she doesn't have one, they go to investigate. But the 'scarecrow' happens to be Travis, strung on the empty pole and wearing Seth's hat. Once officials are called, the barn becomes a crime scene.

Still, life must go on, and Shelby tries to keep everything normal for her kids. Little does she know that trouble is still brewing, closer than she thinks, and then someone else is murdered. Now if she doesn't stop asking questions there might just be a third one on the way...

I will say that I liked this book better than the first two. The writing has improved and the plot is a very good one. However, there was still something that bothered me: her kids do nothing - and I mean nothing - around the house. Shelby is doing all the cooking, cleaning, and working around the farm, while her daughter spends time in her room texting her friends and sitting on her computer and her son just plays and watches television. I don't know about you, but I would guess kids growing up on farms don't get a free pass to entitlement - they have to actually help out; but not her kids. They don't help with the planting or weeding; don't help with meal prep or cleanup (there was one mention that Amelia helped Kelly clean up, but if Shelby wasn't there how would she know?) She has to hire someone to help out along with her friend Bert; so why is she complaining about money being tight when she could save some if her kids would actually get off their behinds and do a little work? She's not helping them except to be lazy adults who live at home when they're out of school. Trust me, we all had chores growing up, and I lived in the city.

Aside from this, I did like the fact that there were plenty of suspects thrown out and a lot of lies to sift through to get to the truth. I also liked the fact that she's moving toward Matt romantically; there was just a small 'ick' factor when she was considering dating her brother-in-law in the last book.

The author did a good job on this book, giving us plenty to think about and a nice scene toward the end that was a bit of a nail-biter; it was very well done indeed. When the killer was discovered and everything fell into place it did so quite satisfactorily, and the reader ends up feeling that their time has been very well spent indeed. Recommended. ( )