Book Review: Apple Pies and Poisoned Lies at the Cider Falls Festival by Traci Hall (Macki Smith Mysteries #1)

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: I loved the characters and the cozy vibes

Cons: The writing was weak and the plotting was poor

The Bottom Line:

Fall setting; cozy

Really enjoy the main cast

But plot, writing weak

Come for the Vibes Only

I’ve long had Traci Hall on my radar.  I’ve heard lots of buzz about her books and how fun and cozy they are.  When I saw she was starting a new series with Apple Pies and Poisoned Lies at the Cider Falls Festival, I was anxious to give it a try.

This series debut takes us to Cider Falls in Washington State where Macki Smith’s family has had an apple orchard for several generations.  Macki herself has recently returned after spending several years in Seattle.  But a breakup from her jerk of a fiancé has led her back while she figures out what her life might look like next.

Every year as fall begins, her town puts on a festival.  One highlight of that is the apple pie contest, which Macki won for several years as a teen.  She’s been talked into rejoining again this year against her better judgement.  But the contest gets called when Macki finds one of the other contestants dead in her tent.  Worse yet, the murder weapon was Macki’s knife.  The police are quick to zero in on her as a suspect.  Can she prove she didn’t do it?

When I picked up the book, I felt the cozy fall vibes immediately.  Okay, so it’s technically late summer for most of the book, but that’s a minor difference.  I liked Macki and her quite large family.  Cider Falls is charming.  These are the characters and the setting I love in a cozy series and ones I look forward to visiting again and again.

However, I won’t be revisiting this series.

Let’s talk plot.  There’s the storyline I teased, but it doesn’t really get started in any meaningful way until we are a third of the way into the book.  Even then, the story moves forward in fits and starts.  There’s a massive plot hole I kept hoping would be brought up or addressed, and it never was.  And all of that ends with a weak climax.

Not to mention that the police officer that was supposed to be pulled off the case (according to the book at one point) never was.  He wasn’t the lead, but he was still very much involved.

There’s another storyline going on.  It starts before the murder and involves Macki’s parents.  I’m guessing it is going to be a continuing storyline in the series, or maybe it’s the setup for book two.  Either way, it got way too much page time here and left me unsatisfied.

Then there’s the writing in general.  It felt more like a first draft than a finished product.  We had sentences that belonged in other paragraphs, lots of repetition, and way too much detail at times.  Yes, I know I’m the one who complains when an author summarizes a conversation, but in this case, the conversations were among the things that needed some streamlining.

But the vibes.  As I say, I did enjoy the characters and the setting.  I’m sure if I could really visit Cider Falls and meet the characters, I’d enjoy my time spent with them.

That won’t be enough to bring me back for any other books in this series, and I’m not inclined to give the author another try.  Looks like others seem to be enjoying this book, but it didn’t work for me at all.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.