Book Review: Murder Most Fowl by Edith Maxwell (Local Foods Mysteries #4)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Enjoyable characters, good mystery

Cons: Plot pacing a little uneven

The Bottom Line:

A suspicious death

Gets Cam into more danger

Sit back and enjoy

Return to the Farm to catch a Chicken Hearted Killer

Most of the culinary cozies I read revolve around desserts or other such treats, so it’s good to get a little healthy food into my reading diet every so often.  I need a balanced reading diet, right?  (If only it were that easy to have a healthy diet based on what you read.)  In all seriousness, I do enjoy visiting Cam and her farm in the Local Food Mysteries.  Murder Most Fowl is the latest in the series, and fans will enjoy it.

Cam Flaherty. has taken over her great-uncle’s farm in a small town in Massachusetts.  What she didn’t count on was the murders she would find.  This is her fourth time being involved in a murder.

The victim this time is Wayne Laitinen, who owns a poultry farm not too far from Cam’s own Attic Hill Farm.  He’s nice and friendly and always willing to give Cam some advice on the few chickens she has herself.  Wayne’s body is found just hours after his farm was attacked by a group of very radical animal rights activists.  While the police suspect murder, they can’t find any proof of how Wayne died.  Was it murder?  Did the animal rights activists come back to make things personal?  Or did someone else want Wayne dead?

I’m an indoor person and always have been, but I must admit there is something appealing about Cam’s life.  I get jealous of the description of her life on the farm, always out in the great outdoors.  Of course, if I tried it, I’d probably be sun burned all over by the end of the first week.  Still, it’s always fun to live vicariously through her.

Working on the farm also gives Cam plenty of time to mull over the clues she’s found.  While it does slow down the pace, she manages to find some good information, too, which gives us several good suspects and red herrings.  Things build toward a logical murderer and a fantastic climax.  Plus, there are seeds for the next book planted here, and I can’t wait to see what they grow into.

I must admit I was disappointed to find a couple of the series regulars out of town for this book.  One in particular, Ellie, the high schooler who helps Cam on the farm, is my favorite character in the series.  I quickly got over that as the rest of the regulars are great, and I enjoyed spending time with them again.  I am pleased to see that Cam’s romantic life seems to be growing nicely.

And yes, there are three recipes in the back of the book.  They are for Irish stew, carrot muffins, and lamb ragout.  All three feature plenty of the vegetables that have been mentioned in the book.

With spring turning into summer, it’s growing season, which means it is the perfect time to visit Cam in Murder Most Fowl.  And if the book leaves you craving healthy food, all the better, right?  It will certainly leave you anxious for her next crop of mystery.

Need more mystery down on the farm?  Here are the rest of the Local Foods Mysteries in order.

NOTE: I was sent an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.