Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: A Fatal Collection
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.maryellenhughes.com/
CITY: Gambrills
STATE: MD
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2017048843 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017048843 |
| HEADING: | Hughes, Mary Ellen, 1941- |
| 000 | 00805nz a2200157n 450 |
| 001 | 10529635 |
| 005 | 20170814123004.0 |
| 008 | 170814n| azannaabn |n aaa |
| 010 | __ |a n 2017048843 |
| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |e rda |c DLC |
| 046 | __ |f 1941 |2 edtf |
| 053 | _0 |a PS3558.U3745 |
| 100 | 1_ |a Hughes, Mary Ellen, |d 1941- |
| 667 | __ |a Formerly on undifferentiated name record: n 2001043806 |
| 670 | __ |a A fatal collection, 2017: |b ECIP t.p. (Mary Ellen Hughes) data view (birth date: 1941) |
| 670 | __ |a Hughes, Mary Ellen. Resort to murder, c2000: |b t.p. (Mary Ellen Hughes) jkt. (born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis. where she graduated from Alverno College with a degree in medical technology; worked several years at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.; now resides near Annapolis, Md. with her husband Terence) |
PERSONAL
Born 1941, in Milwaukee, WI; married; husband’s name Terence.
EDUCATION:Alverno College, degree in Medical Technology.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Worked in hospital laboratories, including clinical chemistry at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
AVOCATIONS:Doubles tennis, travel, reading.
MEMBER:Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
American author Mary Ellen Hughes came to writing later in life after a career in the clinical chemistry laboratory at the National Institutes of Health. She notes on her Website: “Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I studied piano along with all the more usual subjects, and I was aware of a certain ease and pleasure in writing. But practicalities of earning a living led me into the sciences.”
A Taste of Death
In her late fifties when she turned to writing as a career, Hughes focuses on cozy mysteries and has created several series. Her “Maggie Olenski Mystery” series features a children’s book author who also dons a sleuthing cap from time to time. In one of the series installments, A Taste of Death, Maggie is headed for New Hampshire for a little skiing. But this vacation soon turns into a cause for investigation when a mine developer who wants to convert the ski resort into a granite mine is found murdered and the prime suspect is one of Maggie’s friends. Writing in Booklist, John Rowen had praise for A Taste of Death, commenting: “Hughes capably combines elements of both cozy and environmental mysteries. The characters are engaging, the plot has more twists than a tough ski slope, and there is plenty of cozy ambience””
Other series from Hughes include “Craft Corner Mysteries,” which focuses on newly widowed Jo McCallister, who runs a craft shop in Maryland and doubles as an amateur detective. The three-book series includes craft tips. Hughes’s “Pickled and Preserved Mysteries” series features Piper Lamb, recently returned to Cloverdale, New York. She opens a pickles and preservers shop and in her spare time also solves crimes. The three books in that series are The Pickled Piper, License to Dill, and Scene of the Brine. Hughes is also the author of the “Keepsake Cove Mystery” series, including the novels A Fatal Collection and A Vintage Death.
The Pickled Piper
The Pickled Piper, the series launch of the “Pickled and Preserved Mysteries” series, sees Piper Lamb returning to Cloverdale, scene of fun summers as a kid, after she is disappointed in romance. Her beloved Aunt Judy and Uncle Frank still live in town and she fulfills a long-held dream to open her own shop, Piper’s Picklings. To advertise her new business, she gets a booth at the annual Cloverdale Fair, and things are going well until the second day when the body of Alan Rosemont, a town council member and boisterous bagpiper, is discovered dead in her pickle barrel. When suspicion falls on the Nate Purdy, boyfriend of her assistant, Amy, Piper goes into investigative action, for she feels there is no way that sweet musician is capable of murder, despite the fact that he and Alan recently had a fight.
Writing in RT Book Reviews website, Jennifer Wilson noted of this series launch: “The plot is well done, with solid pacing. Readers will especially enjoy meeting the cast and look forward to more in the new series.” Richmond Times-Dispatch Online reviewer Jay Strafford also had praise, observing: “Readers will relish Hughes’ series opener and will look forward to her next installment, which promises to provide another peck of pleasure.”
License to Dill
License to Dill finds Piper with her hands full with one too many admirers and a murder to deal with. Her ex-fiancé, Scott, now comes to Cloverdale, which has an unsettling effect on her new relationship with Will, a local Christmas tree grower. But soon there are more important issues to worry about. An Italian soccer team comes to town to have an exhibition game with the Cloverdale All-Stars, and soon its manager, Raffaele Conti, is found murdered in the field of a local farmer, Gerald Standley, who supplies Piper with her dill. Standley becomes number one suspect as he and Conti had major conflicts when the Italian was an exchange student and high school classmate.
Writing in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Online, Strafford voiced praise for this second installment, commenting: “Piper and pals, convinced of Gerald’s innocence, assist the local sheriff with the case and bring it to its shocking conclusion. A pleasing puzzle, License to Dill preserves Hughes’ stature as a first-rate mysterian who specializes in homemade food and homemade homicide.”
Scene of the Brine
The series concludes with Scene of the Brine. Business is great for Piper, but things are not going so well for her friend, Sugar Heywood, a local caterer. She is dating the wealthy realtor Jeremy Porter, but his family disapproves of the affair. When an accountant manages to find some dirt on Sugar, the Porter family gang up on Jeremy to break off their relationship. Then, when said accountant is found poisoned, the evidence leads to Sugar’s son, Zach. Piper no sooner takes on this investigation than she is in hot water herself, as a customer is poisoned by a jar of her preserved cherries.
A contributor in Escape with Dollycas website had praise for this third installment, noting: “Hughes has written a really smart mystery delightfully flavored with some of the best cozy characters. I have liked each of these stories more than the last. The characters continue to evolve and even the mysteries get better and better and each were great already.” Similarly, Carstairs Considers website writer Mark Baker commented: “For those who have been enjoying their visits with Piper and her friends, Scene of the Brine provides another fun trip. And if you’ve missed this series, pick up one today. You’ll find it well worth your time.”
A Fatal Collection
Hughes begins her “Keepsake Cove Mystery” series with the 2017 novel, A Fatal Collection. Callie Reed is visiting her Aunt Melodie–owner of a music boxes shop on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. When Melodie dies mysteriously, Callie inherits the shop and decides to stay on for a change of life. But the thought lingers: was her aunt’s death an accident as the police say or was it murder? To make things spookier for her. Callie seems to get messages from one special music box in the shop that starts playing by itself as if to warn her.
A Kirkus Reviews critic was impressed with A Fatal Collection, noting: “Hughes kicks off her new ‘Keepsake Cove’ series with a charming locale, standard-issue cozy characters, and a schmaltzy storyline.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 15, 2003, John Rowen, review of A Taste of Death, p. 1054.
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2017, review of A Fatal Collection.
ONLINE
Carstairs Considers, http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/ (February 4, 2016), Mark Baker, review of Scene of the Brine.
Escape with Dollycas, https://www.escapewithdollycas.com/ (February 16, 2016), review of Scene of the Brine and author interview.
Fresh Fiction, http://freshfiction.com/ (June 4, 2018), “Mary Ellen Hughes.”
Mary Ellen Hughes website, http://www.maryellenhughes.com (June 4, 2018).
Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.richmond.com/ (May 23, 2014), Jay Strafford, review of The Pickled Piper; (February 21, 2015), Jay Strafford, review of License to Dill.
RT Book Reviews, https://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (June 4, 2018), Jennifer Wilson, review of The Pickled Piper.
Mary Ellen Hughes is the national bestselling author of the Pickled & Preserved Mysteries (The Pickled Piper, License to Dill, and Scene of the Brine) the Craft Corner Mysteries (Wreath of Deception, String of Lies, and Paper-Thin Alibi) and the Maggie Olenski Mysteries (Resort to Murder, and A Taste of Death), as well as several short stories including The Woman on the Train.
Her upcoming book, A Fatal Collection, will be the first of her new Keepsake Cove Mystery series, debuting in November, 2017.
A transplanted Wisconsinite, Mary Ellen lives and writes in Maryland. You can visit her at http://www.maryellenhughes.com
QUOTE:
Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I studied piano along with all the more usual subjects, and I was aware of a certain ease and pleasure in writing. But practicalities of earning a living led me into the sciences.
I took a circuitous route to mystery writing, but the constant of it all was my love of books. Growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I studied piano along with all the more usual subjects, and I was aware of a certain ease and pleasure in writing. But practicalities of earning a living led me into the sciences. I earned a degree in Medical Technology at Alverno College, and worked in hospital laboratories, including clinical chemistry at the National Institutes of Health, but eventually found my way to what I enjoyed most: writing mysteries.
RESORT TO MURDER and A TASTE OF DEATH were my first published mystery novels. The Craft Corner Mystery Series followed with WREATH OF DECEPTION, STRING OF LIES, and PAPER-THIN ALIBI. After that came the best-selling Pickled and Preserved Mystery Series, starting with THE PICKLED PIPER, LICENSE TO DILL, then SCENE OF THE BRINE.
A FATAL COLLECTION begins the Keepsake Cove Mystery Series, with more books to follow.
As a break from all the time spent at the computer, doubles tennis is my favorite activity, followed by travel, and—you guessed it—reading. As I said, it’s been a circuitous route but a gratifying one. I hope my readers will find it so, as well.
Mary Ellen Hughes
Blogging at Fresh Fiction
Mary Ellen Hughes | Does Romance Belong In Mysteries?
February 8, 2016
My answer is it depends. Why? Because readers look for different things in different kinds of mysteries. Thrillers, police procedurals, traditional mysteries and cozies all Read More...
Mary Ellen Hughes is the author of the Craft Corner Mysteries, including Wreath of Deception, String of Lies, and Paper-Thin Alibi, as well as the Maggie Olenski Mysteries. She lives in Maryland with her husband, Terry, who has long provided her with bounties of homegrown vegetables for preserving and pickling as well as unique inspirations for mysteries. Mary Ellen is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime
QUOTE:
Hughes has written a really smart mystery delightfully flavored with some of the best cozy characters. I have liked each of these stories more than the last. The characters continue to evolve and even the mysteries get better and better and each were great already.
February 16, 2016
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
by Mary Ellen Hughes
When I talk to people about my books, there’s one question I can count on being asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” But a question I rarely hear is, “How do you come up with names for your characters?”
I suppose that’s because most people take character names for granted. A reader makes note of them in order to keep everybody in the story straight but mostly doesn’t think much about them. For me, though, and I suspect most authors, character names are very important. Margaret Mitchell, for example, changed Scarlett O’Hara’s first name several times before settling on one, calling her star character Pansy for a while. I think we can all be glad Ms. Mitchell moved on from that one.
pickled piper
When I started putting ideas together for THE PICKLED PIPER, the first book of my Pickled and Preserved mystery series, I had no problem coming up with a name for my main character. Since she was a young woman who would be making and selling all things pickle-related, what could be better than Piper?
But Piper wasn’t the only character in the book. She has an aunt and uncle living nearby, a shop assistant, neighboring store owners and other townspeople, along with, of course, the victim and murderer. All these characters needed names, and ones that fit. I wouldn’t, for example, name Piper’s aunt, who is around sixty years old, Britny. And for Piper’s twenty year-old helper, Gladys would be all wrong but Amy was right.
A novelist has to come with more names than you might realize, sometimes just for walk-on characters who need a name simply to avoid being continually referred to as “elderly gentleman,” or “her.” Where do we get them all? When I first started writing and needed a name for an older person, I’d flip through the obituary section of my newspaper. If the obituaries had photos attached, all the better. Mixing and matching first and last names kept me out of lawsuit territory.
Younger characters were a little tougher. A copy of a baby-naming book helped there—though it did startle my family at first until I explained why I needed it. Then I discovered the Social Security website, which lists baby names that were popular in each decade. That was—and is–so helpful! I also found a few random name generator websites, which come up with combinations of first and last names, sorted by gender or ethnicity, as well as “common” or “rare.” A great time saver!
Until I settle on a character’s name, I often can’t completely picture him or her. Martin will look and act differently from Matt, and, though close, Patsy won’t be quite the same as Patty, at least to my mind. If, farther down the road, I see the need to change a character’s name, I’ll often go back and tweak their description to go with the new moniker.
scene of the brineIn SCENE OF THE BRINE, my latest and third Pickled and Preserved Mystery book, I needed a name for a character new to the series, a forty-something, female caterer. “Sugar” popped into my head, and with it I immediately knew what she looked like: attractive, silver-blond, and with a Rubenesque figure. Her personality grew from that, and I was soon good to go.
Sugar had a college-aged son, and it didn’t take me long to name him Zach, a popular name of his generation. Zach majored in botany and, while bright, also had a bit of a temper. It was that last thing that got him into a pile of trouble in my story. Would that have happened if I’d named him Nigel or Preston? Doubtful. But we’ll never know because a mother called Sugar would never give her son either of those names, would she?
Family names, for me, at least, are off-limits, as are close friends, since the image that comes with them is too strong to shape into the character I want to write. Also in that “don’t touch” category are one-of-a-kind celebrity monikers and names already famous in fiction such as Scarlett, Kinsey, or Reacher.
It tends to narrow the choices, which makes me sometimes envy science fiction and fantasy writers. If they need a name, they can just scramble a few letters or make it vaguely middle-earth-ish. So much simpler. And they don’t have to worry about age, either.
But then, I’d have a hard time picturing a Ruavu Flagmatag.
Wouldn’t you?
~Mary Ellen
The national bestselling author of License to Dill returns with a dilly of a pickle.
Piper Lamb has to take a break from jarring her delicious pickles and preserves to blow the lid off a poisoner….
Business is booming at Piper’s Picklings in Cloverdale, New York. But not all is sweet in the life of Piper’s number one customer and friend, local caterer Sugar Heywood. Sugar is dating wealthy realtor Jeremy Porter, but his family doesn’t approve. After their unscrupulous accountant finds some dirt on Sugar, the family quickly urges Jeremy to throw her out like rotten fruit.
Things are further spoiled after the accountant is found poisoned, and all evidence points to Sugar’s son, Zach. With the Porter family determined to avoid scandal, it won’t be easy for Piper to preserve Zach’s innocence. And after someone falls victim to a poisoned jar of some of her brandied cherries, Piper’s got a peck of trouble to deal with herself…
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Check out that cover and the new door to Piper’s Picklings! Handcrafted and a true work of art. Piper has a party to celebrate her new entrance and it seems almost everyone from Cloverdale attends. Thankfully new resident, Jeremy Porter and his right hand man, Dirk Unger skipped the festivities. Unger has been making life difficult for some people in town, like Piper’s friend, Sugar Heywood. Dirk, the jerk, dug up some dirt and Sugar was terribly hurt. She lost her boyfriend and a huge catering gig. When “the jerk” is murdered, Sugar’s son becomes the prime suspect but before the murder is solved, others are hurt and Piper finds herself in hot water.
Trips to Cloverdale are never dull, that is for sure. Hughes introduces us to the Porter family. I hated the whole snobby bunch and that was just awesome. These characters like all my favorites were wonderfully written and totally believable. I wasn’t surprised when Dirk Unger was killed. He was a nasty man. What surprised me was the twists and turns we took to find the murderer. Just when I thought “I know who it is!”, something happened to prove me wrong. It sure was a fun as I kept trying.
There is a bit of romance as Will remains patient while Scott still tries to worm his way back into Piper’s life. The man has been trouble since he showed up in Cloverdale. I think Piper may be on the verge of making a decision.
Mary Ellen Hughes has written a really smart mystery delightfully flavored with some of the best cozy characters. I have liked each of these stories more than the last. The characters continue to evolve and even the mysteries get better and better and each were great already.
For someone that doesn’t like pickles I sure do love these pickled and preserved mysteries.
QUOTE:
kicks off her new Keepsake Cove series with a charming locale, standard-issue cozy characters, and a schmaltzy storyline.
Hughes, Mary Ellen: A FATAL COLLECTION
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 1, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hughes, Mary Ellen A FATAL COLLECTION Midnight Ink/Llewellyn (Adult Fiction) $14.99 11, 8 ISBN: 978-0-7387-5219-8
An unexpected new start in life morphs into a dangerous hunt for the truth.Callie Reed is visiting her Aunt Melodie, whom she has not seen in 10 years, on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Melodie sells music boxes in charming Keepsake Cove, whose shops are devoted to all things collectible, and lives in one of the cottages behind the shops. Next door is her dear friend Delia Hamilton. A less hospitable neighbor, Karl Eggers, who's outgrowing his model car shop, is eager to persuade Melodie to sell him her store. After a lovely evening of nostalgia and admiration for family items like her grandmother's desk and her grandfather's music box, Callie awakens to find Melodie dead in her shop, "eyes open and mouth slack, lying in a pool of dark red blood." The police think her death is an accident, but Callie's forebodings are intensified by spooky moments in which the music box suddenly plays by itself as if to warn her of danger. When she learns that she's inherited all her aunt's property, Callie ends her moribund romance and decides to stay and run the business with the help of Tabitha, Melodie's part-time worker. She's attracted to cafe owner Brian Greer, harassed by Eggers, and befriended by music box collector Jonathan Harman. She even gets drawn into a fight over ingratiating Duane Fletcher, who keeps the store owners association's books. Some members have complete faith in Duane; others can't help noticing that he seems to live beyond his means. The discovery of a box of love letters to her aunt fuels Callie's need to know more about her death even though, in a town full of strangers, her hunt for information may prove perilous. Hughes (Scene of the Brine, 2016, etc.) kicks off her new Keepsake Cove series with a charming locale, standard-issue cozy characters, and a schmaltzy storyline.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
1 of 3 5/15/18, 10:20 PM
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
"Hughes, Mary Ellen: A FATAL COLLECTION." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2017. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A502192344/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=ac921dd6. Accessed 15 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502192344
2 of 3 5/15/18, 10:20 PM
QUOTE:
Hughes capably combines elements of both cozy and environmental mysteries. The characters are engaging, the plot has more twists than a tough ski slope, and there is plenty of cozy ambience,
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Hughes, Mary Ellen. A Taste of Death
John Rowen
Booklist.
99.12 (Feb. 15, 2003): p1054. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2003 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Feb. 2003. 186p. Avalon, $19.95 (0-8034-9578-1).
Maggie Olenski, a children's book author and amateur sleuth, heads for picturesque Cedar Hill, New Hampshire, to complete a book and do a little skiing. Within hours of arriving, she and friend Dyna Hall witness an acrimonious town meeting concerning the conversion of a ski resort to a granite mine. When the mine's developer is murdered and a friend of Maggie and Dyna's becomes the prime suspect, Maggie launches her own investigation. Hughes capably combines elements of both cozy and environmental mysteries. The characters are engaging, the plot has more twists than a tough ski slope, and there is plenty of cozy ambience, thanks to a charming cat, much attention to food, and the ski resort setting. Fans of Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear series or Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone novels should add this series to their lists.
Rowen, John
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Rowen, John. "Hughes, Mary Ellen. A Taste of Death." Booklist, 15 Feb. 2003, p. 1054. Book
Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A98541511/GPS?u=schlager& sid=GPS&xid=bfa27d2e. Accessed 15 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A98541511
3 of 3 5/15/18, 10:20 PM
QUOTE:
Piper and pals, convinced of Gerald’s innocence, assist the local sheriff with the case and bring it to its shocking conclusion. A pleasing puzzle, “License to Dill” preserves Hughes’ stature as a first-rate mysterian who specializes in homemade food and homemade homicide.
Some writers in the “cozy mystery” genre offer pleasant reads but neither suspects nor motives plentiful enough to constitute a true whodunit.
But not Mary Ellen Hughes, whose “License to Dill” (294 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99) — the second novel in her series starring Piper Lamb, proprietor of Piper’s Picklings in Cloverdale, N.Y. — will keep the reader guessing.
When an Italian semi-pro soccer team arrives in Cloverdale to take on a group of local all-stars, red cards are replaced by red blood. The Italian squad’s manager, cad and bully Raffaele Conti, is found shot to death in a field owned by Cloverdale farmer and assistant coach Gerald Standley, who supplies Piper’s dill and with whom Raffaele clashed while he was an exchange student and classmate of Gerald’s in high school.
But as Hughes cooks up her intricate and intriguing story, more potential killers emerge, including a player Raffaele has signed to a bad contract, a Cloverdale pizzeria owner he bullied in high school, several women he knew as girls and with whom he toyed — and his distinctly non-prostrate widow.
Piper and pals, convinced of Gerald’s innocence, assist the local sheriff with the case and bring it to its shocking conclusion. A pleasing puzzle, “License to Dill” preserves Hughes’ stature as a first-rate mysterian who specializes in homemade food and homemade homicide.
QUOITE:
The plot is well done, with solid pacing. Readers will especially enjoy meeting the cast and look forward to more in the new series.
THE PICKLED PIPER
Author(s): Mary Ellen Hughes
Hughes introduces an entertaining cast of characters in the first book of the Pickled and Preserved Mystery series. The plot is well done, with solid pacing. Readers will especially enjoy meeting the cast and look forward to more in the new series.
Piper Lamb moved to the small town of Cloverdale to pursue her dream of opening a pickles and preserves shop. To get more exposure for her shop, Piper’s Picklings, Piper gets a booth at the local fair. It’s going great until the morning of the second day when a member of the town council is found dead in her pickle barrel. Suspicion soon lands on the boyfriend of Piper’s assistant, Amy. There’s no way that the sweet musician could have committed the murder and Piper vows to find the real culprit. (PRIME CRIME, May, 304 pp., $7.99)
Reviewed by:
Jennifer Wilson
QUOTE:
For those who have been enjoying their visits with Piper and her friends, Scene of the Brine provides another fun trip. And if you’ve missed this series, pick up one today. You’ll find it well worth your time.
Book Review: Scene of the Brine by Mary Ellen Hughes (Pickled and Preserved Mysteries #3)
Mark Baker
Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Great plot and characters
Cons: A bit slow to start
The Bottom Line:
Accountant murdered
Sets in motion a strong plot
Characters we like
The Accountant’s Number is Up
I’m an accountant by day, so I took note when it came to the murder victim in Scene of the Brine, the latest mystery from Mary Ellen Hughes. Accountants are good people, right? No one would ever want to harm one of us. Of course, this accountant turns out to be a complete and total jerk, which made reading the book lots of fun.
The town of Cloverdale, New York, is abuzz about the Porter family who has just moved into town. Jeremy Porter is a very successful realtor, and he’s bought an old mansion on the edge of town and his mother and sister have moved in with him. Unfortunately, his accountant, Dirk Unger, has moved into town as well. Dirk is a mean man who seems to have all the dirt on people and uses it to destroy them and help Jeremy.
Piper Lamb, the owner of Piper’s Picklings, sees just how devastating Dirk can be when her friend Sugar Heywood, a caterer in town, is crushed after Dirk destroys her personal life over something that happened years ago. While much of the town is at a party, Dirk winds up dead from poison, and suspicion turns to Sugar’s son, Zach. With Sugar in a panic, Piper begins to dig in to find out who else Dirk had destroyed. Can she clear Zach’s name?
Since I’ve read and enjoyed the first two books in the series, I was a bit surprised to find that it took me a few chapters to fully get into the book. It has a bit of a slow start with a sub-plot that is used to introduce new characters, and Piper is told about some things that happen off page instead of witnessing them. However, when the murder does happen, this information is used in the rest of the book.
Looking back at the book, it doesn’t take too long for the murder to happen, and once it does, things really do pick up. In fact, it got so interesting I read almost half of it in one day – I just had to know what in the world was going on. There were some nice twists I didn’t see coming that kept me confused. I did figure out the killer before the end, but I had missed several logical clues. The climax was creative and kept those pages turning while tying up all the red herrings.
The characters in the series are good, and I enjoy spending time with them. We see some nice growth in a couple of the regulars, and the new characters are fleshed out with some secrets of their own. They are a great group, and it’s hard not to root for them to have a happy ending. Well, all except the murderer, or course.
Circling back around to the opening of my review, I want to be sure to point out that the accountant was a vile man. He was one of those murder victims you loved to see wind up dead. It actually made me think how seldom accountants really play a role in the cozies I read, which is probably one reason why the profession of the victim stuck out to me here (in addition to my day job as an accountant, of course).
And for those wondering, a plot thread opened in the last book in the series appears to be wrapped up successfully here. At least I hope it is. That’s all I will say on the subject to avoid any further spoilers.
Of course, we get two recipes at the end of the book, Brandied Cherries and Spicy Carrot Pickles. I’ve got to admit, I still haven’t tried any different pickled vegetables, which I always say I’m going to do after reading a book in this series. I guess I’m just not adventuresome enough.
In the end, any complaints I have about the book are truly minor. For those who have been enjoying their visits with Piper and her friends, Scene of the Brine provides another fun trip. And if you’ve missed this series, pick up one today. You’ll find it well worth your time.
NOTE: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Giveaway!
Thanks to the publisher, I have one copy of this book to give away. Because it is a physical book, the contest is limited to residence of the US.
Just leave me a comment with your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you if you win. I will pick the winner next Thursday, February 11th, so please leave your comment before 12:01AM Pacific Time on 2/11. You will have until midnight on 2/16 to get back to me, or I will choose a new winner on 2/17.
Posted by Mark Baker at 2:04 AM
QUOTE:
Readers will relish Hughes’ series opener and will look forward to her next installment, which promises to provide another peck of pleasure.
The Pickled Piper
Jay Strafford
May 23, 2014
When penny-pinching politician Alan Rosemont’s body is found bobbing in a barrel of brine, pickle pro Piper Lamb finds herself in a sour situation.
As Mary Ellen Hughes’ “The Pickled Piper” (295 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99) opens, the title character has opened a pickle shop in Cloverdale, N.Y. Not long after, Alan is found dead in Piper’s dill barrel at the local fair.
To Piper’s dismay, the cops consider musician Nate Purdy — the boyfriend of Piper’s assistant, Amy Carlyle — a person of interest. But Alan, a town councilman, has angered many residents, in both public and private pursuits. Piper believes in Nate’s innocence and, with friends and family, launches her own investigation.
Readers will relish Hughes’ series opener and will look forward to her next installment, which promises to provide another peck of pleasure.
Jay Strafford is a retired writer and editor for The Times-Dispatch. Contact him at jstrafford@timesdispatch.com.
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