Wicked Harvest

The author had me stumped until the ending as she cleverly shuffled clues and prime suspects to keep me from guessing the perpetrator. If you’re familiar with this cozy series, you know Lucy Resnick is a protagonist to remember. I always love re-visiting her farm turf where she resides with pets, Blossom—the cow; Chuck—the poodle; and mischievous goats—Hot Lips and Gidget!<br /><br />In book six, it’s Oktoberfest, and the highlight of the annual festival is Sweetwater Brewery’s unveiling of a new special recipe brew—Dubbel Trouble. Owners, Felix and Simon Gustafson (brothers), need sales to stay afloat. Resident psychic teen, Teena Marburger, has a premonition just before Felix is found lifeless inside the brewing plant. The big-bellied sheriff, Rooster Kocurek, declares brother Simon did it, and shows little interest in any further investigation. Lucy dons her (imaginary) sleuthing beret and magnifying glass, and along with her handsome boyfriend—local veterinarian Tobias Brandt—begins to review all leads with a fine tooth comb. When a second gory murder occurs, Lucy is hot on the trail of the killer. There is a secondary mystery thread throughout the story which is fairly easy to identify the culprit. The story moves swiftly, and I really enjoyed unraveling all the plot twists.<br /><br />I reviewed a digital arc provided by the Author. This review is my honest, unbiased opinion. Thank you.<br />

The town of Buttercup, Texas, has decided to host an Oktoberfest event this year. Naturally, farmer Lucy Resnick will have a booth selling wares from her farm, but the kickoff event is at the Sweetwater Brewery, and Lucy is going to be there as just a guest. The brewery is planning to reveal a new recipe at the event, but that reveal doesn’t quite go as planned. However, things take an even worse turn a little while later when Lucy and her boyfriend, Tobias, start to take a brewery tour and instead find a dead body. It is pretty obvious that it was murder, but who did it?<br /><br />Not only do we have the murder, but we have several sub-plots, so this book is constantly moving and kept my attention the entire time. Things come together for a logical and satisfying conclusion. This series has always had a bit of a paranormal element to it, but it is much stronger here, and I felt the book was a bit weaker since it relied on that more to drive the plot. There’s also a major editing issue, with a scene with Lucy going over clues with a friend before she’s received them. The characters are wonderful as always. Since this is a quick read, we didn’t get a lot of new character development, but I still enjoyed the time with them I had, and the suspects are strong enough to keep us guessing. There are six recipes at the end that sound delicious, too. Fans of the series will enjoy this latest outing.<br /><br />NOTE: I received a copy of this book.<br /><br />Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2019/10/book-review-wicked-harvest-by-karen.html" rel="nofollow noopener">Carstairs Considers</a>.

This series is so well written and this book was no exception. I love the characters Lucy and Tobias, and Quinn. I also liked that we saw more of Teena the teenage who has premonitions. The story was really good though it did drag a little to begin with. I loved the new cats Lucy finds and how Chuck the dog plays Mama to them. Lucy's grandmother who is dead helps out a little this time making sure Lucy stays safe and giving her hope when she wants to give up. The only bad thing about this book and this series is Rooster. Why do so many cozy mysteries seem to have to have an incompetent sheriff. I keep hoping Rooster's wife will kick him out and he moves out of town or something. The deputy who usually is really good was missing from this book.

Book 6. It is October and the October Fest is coming. With Simon and Felix ( brothers) introducing their beer in their new Brewery. It was a Garden like Etc... Brewing and it was Amazingly wonderful to Lucy and all others. They had Bratwurst, Funnel Cakes, and other delious treats to eat. Including beer main Set of Dubbel Trouble that originated by Monks in Belgium. It was a dark brown beer the flavors you will taste are carmilized beer sugar flavor, a special yeast, and delicate spices, and raisins, prunes, and dates. The only thing was a Brewerer named Max was trying to sue the brothers over trying to steal his ancestors Titles and Sabotaged their new Brewery. But things went totally wromg. The first barrel of beer was very nasty. It taste like urine. Felix yelled at his bro Simon What did you do to it. Simon said nothing. At least they have other barrels. Then Feliz lay dead on the floor with a heavy bag of barley that had fallen on him. Nick a young teen that was working a house renovations with Ed the owner. Was Stalking one of Felix and Simon employees Teena. Some people believed he killed Felix because his fascination with Teena. There were also some other people that Felix rubbed the wrong way including ex girlfriends. Lucy and her vet boyfriend Tobias found little kittens in odd places around Lucy farm. Lucy had been wanting cats to chase rodents away from her beloved chickens. So she kept them. <br />Love these series. They have all Cool Stories.This one is no Acceptance. Love Karen's cozy mysteries

This is the 6th in the Dewberry Farm series. I really enjoy this series! The MC, Lucy Resnik is an investigative reporter turned farmer. She lives on the farm her grandmother owned. The spirit of her grandmother is around the farm and makes an appearance from time to time, which is great. In this story, Lucy is prepping for Oktoberfest as well as trying to get the Ulrich Cabin up and running so she can rent it out, and make a little extra money. Things aren't amazing on the farm though. Someone is trying to sabotage the Ulrich Cabin progress and due to an overly rainy season, some of her crops are ruined.<br /><br />Sweetwater Brewery is putting on Oktoberfest, trying to boost their product, when one of the owners ends up dead, smashed by a large sack of barley that was dropped on him. Rooster, the town sheriff is incredibly incompetent and just wants an easy way out, which leads Lucy to do some sleuthing of her own. On top of all of that, Tobias is being called out to a bunch of different farms because their cattle are getting sick.<br /><br />I enjoy all the characters in this series, with the exception of Rooster. I keep hoping he will retire, or that someone will knock him off!

Buttercup, Texas loves a festival and the town is welcoming Oktoberfest with open arms. There is a new brewery in town and they are kicking off the weekend's festivities with a free tasting of their newest beer. What begins as a lovely day ends in horror with the death of one of Sweetwater Brewery’s owners. Almost immediately the local Sheriff arrests the first person he can think of and stops investigating. Lucy is determined to find the guilty party and embarks on a dangerous investigation. <br />I continue to enjoy this series. The main characters are realistic and engaging. The plot for this book was well written and I hated to put it down. I recommend this book.<br />

Rated 3.5 stars

This fun, exciting cozy mystery is a fast-paced, compelling read! I enjoyed seeing a woman as a farmer in Buttercup, Texas, and her creativity in diversifying crops, livestock, and products. The characters are well defined and mostly likable, and elements of the mysteries are interwoven with the farmers of this little community.<br /><br />Lucy has her hands full with her farm, getting products ready to sell at the Oktoberfest festival in this little town of German heritage, and getting a historic wooden house restored that was moved to her property. Today was a rough one. The carpenter’s helper, while replacing a rotted stud, barely made it out of the structure before it started leaning over. Someone had cut two of the support cables, nearly leveling the house – and Nick.<br /><br />This festival opening night is at Sweetwater Brewery, where the owners and brothers, Felix and Simon, will introduce their new seasonal beer, Dubbel Trouble. The two men have only been open a few months and are building a good following. Someone has it in for the brewers, it seems. When they taste from the first barrel of beer before sharing with the crowd, both brothers made faces and spit it out. The next keg was fine, just as they wanted it, and many are excited about this new beer that Felix, master brewer, concocted.<br /><br />Shortly after, Teena, one of the young staff members of the brewery and a friend of Lucy’s, was looking for Felix to give the opening speech. Teena has “feelings” about things that are going to happen that are usually correct. This time, she doesn’t want to go into the brewery building. They open the doors to see Felix is lying dead on the floor with a huge bag of what looks like barley crushing him and a can of beer from a neighboring brewery next to him.<br /><br />Teena is heartbroken, especially since she and Felix were secretly seeing each other for a couple months. Simon is arrested, the only suspect the loudmouth sheriff, Rooster, will consider. As Lucy asks questions and keeps her eyes open, there are several viable suspects. Felix has a few skeletons in his past and present n the area.<br /><br />There are so many things going on; are any of them related? The sabotaged barrel of beer, the wooden house nearly falling over and another home the contractor is working on is vandalized, many cattle in the area are going lame, with Felix’s murder is front and center.<br /><br />This is quite a page-turner! While favorite parts of mine include trying rescue kittens, I appreciate the camaraderie of the people in Buttercup. There are so many things going on that it is impossible to focus on just one, just like real life can be. Twists and turns kept me on my toes! While I figured out some of what was going on and by who, there were still surprises! All of the loose ends are tied up well, and the ending is satisfying. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy well-written cozy mysteries set in Texas farm country, animals, and slight paranormal twists. It is a delight to read at any time of year, not just in October!<br /><br />From a thankful heart: I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. A review was not required.<br />

Autumn has arrived in the little town of Buttercup, Texas and once again a killer is loose. Buttercup is the home of novice farm girl Lucy Resnick who is struggling to maintain her grandmother's farm. The town is in the throes of Oktoberfest and a new brewery is opening up with a long family history to the area. During the grand reveal of a new beer from an old family recipe, one of the proprietors turns up dead. <br /><br />Lucy, who is a former investigative reporter, goes in search of the killer and motive behind the murder while also handling her own mystery back on her farm. Can Lucy put the pieces of the puzzle together before another Buttercupian meets their demise?<br /><br />I thoroughly enjoy all of Karen MacInerney's cozy mystery series. I especially enjoy her Dewberry Farm Mysteries for the Texas references and setting. I am looking forward to the further adventures of Lucy in Buttercup, Texas.

I really enjoy this series. It is always a real trip to the farm, with the cow, the goats, the chickens, not to mention Chuck and maybe another addition in this volume, then there are the new beehives, vegetables, fruit trees, you just feel your blood pressure go down reading the descriptions, that is until there is a murder. This time a brotherly argument later ends in tragedy at the Octoberfest at the grand opening of the Sweetwater brewery. Would one of the brothers really kill his partner??? Lucy is not convinced and when her young friend, who is doing an internship at the brewery and had a relationship with the dead brother, asks her for help, Lucy can't say no. Another great adventure in Buttercup.