Friday, October 30, 2020

Short Story Review: Pumpkin Pied by Karen MacInerney

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Great characters, good story
Cons: None, as along as you expect a short story
The Bottom Line:
Harvest festival
Is the area haunted?
A fun short story



Halloween Hijinks

True confession time – I’ve had the short story “Pumpkin Pied” downloaded for a while now.  I kept meaning to read it during October, but it never seemed to work – until this year.  I’m glad it did because I enjoyed this short story.

The action takes place on Cranberry Island off the coast of Maine.  Bed and breakfast owner Natalie Barnes has a few down days with only one guest – her college roommate Lucy Resnick.  Natalie is planning to use the time to enjoy the annual Cranberry Island Harvest Festival, complete with a corn maze, Great Pumpkin Contest, and pie contest.

However, something else is happening on the island.  Rumors that the area around the festival is haunted start to grow, and Natalie sees some proof herself.  But as more begins to happen, Natalie has to wonder if a real person is behind the events.

As I said, this is a short story, and it took me under an hour to read from start to finish.  It was fun to visit the island and the characters since I’ve always loved them.  Fans of author Karen MacInerney’s books will recognize Lucy as the star of her Dewberry Farm mysteries.  This is definitely set before those books started, and it’s fun to meet Lucy for the first time.

The mystery?  Since this is a short story, there might not be the twists of a full novel, but it is engaging and fun.  What more could you want?

We even get a couple of recipes for delicious sounding pumpkin desserts.

If you are a fan of either series and have missed this short story, you owe it to yourself to take a quick trip to Cranberry Island with “Pumpkin Pied.”

Spend more time with these characters in the Gray Whale Inn Mysteries and the Dewberry Farm Mysteries.

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