Henny Penny Farmette

Fans of my Henny Penny Farmette cozy mysteries (novels with no gratuitous sex, violence, or profanity but each with a terrific puzzle to solve) seem to enjoy the farmette milieu. The second novel in the series includes a roller-coaster ride of a story with all new farmer almanac sayings, chicken and beekeeping tips, and delicious recipes.

My newest mystery will be released September 29 from Kensington Books in New York.

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE STORY

Abigail Mackenzie—a former cop and owner of a run-down farmette where she keeps chickens and bees—has planned the perfect English garden party to honor her friend and herbalist Fiona Mary Sullivan. Abby can’t wait for Fiona to see their handiwork–a medieval herb garden they planted based on a design from an old gardening book. However, a series of unfortunate events—one involving hundreds of dead honeybees in front of Abby’s hives—threaten to ruin the party. The situation goes from bad to worse when free-spirited Fiona is a no-show.

Calls to Fiona’s shop—Ancient Wisdom Botanicals—and her mountain cottage go unanswered. Hours pass, stomachs growl, tempers flare, and Fiona’s whereabouts remains a mystery. Then the unthinkable happens: the police find a woman’s body inside a burning car near Kilbride Lake, located on the mountainous western side of town. When the victim is identified as Fiona, Abby worries about a killer on the loose.

Although the police are on the case, it takes little persuading by the victim’s handsome brother Jack Sullivan (an ethnobotanist with a wicked sense of humor and family roots in Ireland) to convince Abby to undertake an independent investigation . . . and he’ll help.

Complicating Abby’s life is the return of Clay Calhoun, an old boyfriend who’d abandoned their relationship on Valentine’s Day more than a year earlier. Working Fiona’s case not only gives Abby time away from her farmette to re-think her relationship with Clay but also the opportunity to learn more about her free-spirited friend Fiona and her attractive brother Jack. All the while, she is turning up the heat on some unusual suspects. When the killer strikes at Abby, she isn’t wearing her protective beekeeper’s suit, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t ready to do battle.

The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com at http://tinyurl.com/zl67lmm as well as other online bookstores; it will be available in brick-and-mortar stores in October 2016.