Bad Pick by Linda Lovely
Vegan Brie Hooker lives and works with her feisty Aunt Eva at Udderly Kidding Dairy, a hop, skip, and jump away from South Carolina’s Clemson University. Brie’s fun farm outreach attempt backfires when religious extremists decide goat yoga is a form of devil worship. Believing one of the zealots might be persuaded to see reason, Brie’s free-wheeling friend Mollye convinces her they should call on the young woman. Big mistake.
Picketers at Udderly’s gates soon become the least of Brie’s troubles. Not only is she accused of murder, she worries the death might actually be her fault. Danger mounts when an old family friend’s visit ensnares Brie in a high-stakes feud between a U.S. Supreme Court nominee and the woman determined to expose his secrets. In her personal life, Brie’s still torn between the town’s two most eligible bachelors. While she’s edging toward a decision, she must first survive a cunning killer adept at crafting murders that look like tragic accidents. Will Brie be another “accident” victim? Pay a visit to Udderly Kidding Dairy and find out!
Book Information:
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Published by: Henery Press
Publication Date: April 16, 2019
Number of Pages: 270
ISBN: 9781635114744
Series: Brie Hooker Mystery Series
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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My Review:
Bad Pick by Linda LovelyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
An overzealous religious group targets Udderly Kidding Dairy as their next protest site – all because Brie and her friends want to start up the highly popular goat yoga. Insistent that goat yoga is a form of devil worship, the religious cult begins picketing outside the gate of the farm. Brie’s Aunt Eva is mostly annoyed but when one of the members who ambushed Brie and friends winds up dead, things get a bit more serious. Add in the food tasting event Brie has planned and things begin to turn ugly.
Brie has plans to open a B&B that caters to vegans and vegetarians. The time has come to test her menu on the most discerning of pallets – her mom, a judge friend, other restaurateurs, and food bloggers. Shortly after the tasting, several of the attendees wind up in various stages of illness including no symptoms, light symptoms, violently ill, and dead. Brie knows she didn’t do anything wrong and when toxicology reports come back, she knows someone was tampering with her food. Now – she just has to prove it before she’s sued or convicted of murder.
Amid Brie’s turmoil, one of her mother’s friends is embroiled in a situation involving a Supreme Court nominee, who also happens to have ties to the religious group. The book also continues the multiple suitor storyline. Brie is certainly busy in book 3 of the Brie Hooker Mystery series.
Bad Pick is another intense, edge-of-your-seat cozy mystery set in the world of a vegan working her family’s goat dairy farm. The South Caroline world of Brie Hooker created by Linda Lovely is spectacularly written. The images of each scene in the book were not only vivid but easy to get immersed in as you read. The world and characters were written well, and I felt like I was there at the farm, on the climbing trails, or in the middle of the scuffles.
Brie’s character is down-to-earth, enjoyable, and a completely likable character. It really is no wonder she has two suitors vying for her attention and affection. Paint and Andy, men on complete opposite ends of the spectrum, are well-written and caring, each wanting Brie for themselves. Aunt Eva is a quirky yet strong woman who demonstrates the ability to be independent and self-sufficient. Brie’s quirky friend Mollye (yes, it ends with an “e”) rounds out the character list quite nicely.
The author did a wonderful job weaving everything in this book together. The book contains religious fanaticism, murder, and a tangled web of events, carefully explained, envisioned, and played out. Add those elements to simmering romances, secrets, a vegan working on a dairy farm, and one shady Supreme Court nominee and his family, and you have one spectacular tale in Bad Pick. The plot is solid, and I didn't see the conclusion coming. There were several ways this story could have gone. Bad Pick is a great novel that drew me in, kept me engaged, and continued to pique my curiosity from the very beginning. I can't wait to see where Linda Lovely takes everyone next.
I was provided a copy of this book to read.
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Meet the Author:
Hundreds of mystery writers have met Linda Lovely at check-in for the annual Writers’ Police Academy, which she helps organize. Lovely finds writing pure fiction isn’t a huge stretch given the years she’s spent penning PR and ad copy. She writes a blend of mystery and humor, chuckling as she plots to “disappear” the types of characters who most annoy her. Quite satisfying plus there’s no need to pester relatives for bail. Her new Brie Hooker Mystery series offers good-natured salutes to both her vegan family doctor and her cheese-addicted kin. Bad Pick is her eighth published mystery novel. She served as president of her local Sisters in Crime chapter for five years and belongs to International Thriller Writers and Romance Writers of America.
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lindalovely.com, Goodreads, Twitter, & Facebook!
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https://saphsbooks.blogspot.com/2019/05/book-spotlight-review-giveaway-bad-pick.html
I have this book on my TBR list. Now all I need is to have the RL not interfere in my reading time :-)
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