Apple Cider Slaying by Julie Anne Lindsey

[spindizzy]

Blossom Valley, West Virginia, is home to Smythe Orchards, Winnie and her Granny's beloved twenty-five-acre farm and family business. But any way you slice it, it's struggling. That's why they're trying to drum up business with the "First Annual Christmas at the Orchard," a good old-fashioned holiday festival with enough delicious draw to satisfy apple-picking locals and cider-loving tourists alike--until the whole endeavor takes a sour turn when the body of Nadine Cooper, Granny's long-time, grudge-holding nemesis, is found lodged in the apple press. Now, with Granny the number one suspect, Winnie is hard-pressed to prove her innocence before the real killer delivers another murder . . .

I really liked Apple Cider Slaying! It had all of the beats that I expect of a cosy mystery: a young woman trying to start her own business, a warm and loving family, a town where everyone knows everyone else's business, the prioritising of normality over the details of investigating a murder, and inexplicable heteronormativity.

In this case, the young woman in question is Winnie Montgomery, full of ideas to save her grandmother's near-bankrupt apple orchard, as long as she can convince the bank manager to give her business loan! Which it looks like he might not, considering that on his professional tour of the business, he and Winnie find her grandmother's nemesis dead in the apple press. Winnie, horrified that the town's new sheriff won't immediately rule her grandmother out as a suspect, immediately starts snooping.

I was very fond of Winnie and her grandmother, and of the people that Winnie loves; there's a lot of sweetness and support going on, and there's enough smattering of history that the characters feel rooted in their home. The constant circling of gossip alternates between feeling realistic for a small town, and incredibly convenient for the plot, especially when the narrative expects me to believe no one gossipped about a very public break-up. But I did like that Winnie's reaction to threats and attempts on her life feels very realistic: utter terror, and then phoning the police, instead of hiding it in some way like a lot of amateur sleuths end up doing.

I do not, by the way, understand the trend in cosy mysteries to have the female lead talk about how beautiful and amazing and talented all the women she meets are, and then have the love interest be some guy who intimidates her! Like, I say this as someone who quite liked the sheriff once he found his chill: I don't know why he's the love interest. Nor do I feel entirely sure about Winnie's ex-boyfriend showing back up at the end of the book, because that particular thread of drama felt very pasted on at the end. I'm also not sure about the level of affection between the Sheriff and Winnie; it makes more sense when it's revealed that they've met before, but the fact that she doesn't remember it and he does means that the thread of it feels weird.

But on the whole, it was mostly sweet and fun, and I liked Winnie a lot! I'm looking forward to the next one coming out.

[Caution warning: threats of violence and stalking, off-screen murder, references to neglectful parents, off-screen animal death and on-screen animal peril] [This review is based on an ARC from Netgalley.]

This review was originally posted at Lady Business.