Deadly Row to Hoe

October 1, 2012
Murder and vegetables--what more could you ask? Sophie Mae Reynolds and her bridegroom, police detective Barr Ambrose, are living upstairs in her best friend Meghan Bly's house, where Sophie Mae makes handcrafted soap in the basement. Both are delighted to be helping out at a community-supported farm until Meghan discovers a body in the compost pile. The police learn that the unidentified young woman was stunned, probably by a shovel, and buried alive in the compost. Farm owners Tom and Allie Turner, Allie's sister Hallie, and their apprentice, Nate Snow, all deny any knowledge of the crime. But Sophie Mae, who seems to discover more than her share of dead bodies (Something Borrowed, Something Bleu, 2010, etc.), resolves to identify the dead woman. She enlists the help of a clay artist specializing in masks to enhance a police photo to a more lifelike state. The new photo, careful questioning and time spent on the Internet pay off when the victim is identified as ornithologist Darla Klick. As it turns out, the pregnant Darla had ties to a commune the farm family and Nate had lived on years before. Sophie Mae's nosiness may help to find a killer if it doesn't get her killed. McRae, whose home-crafting mysteries always offer tips in mastering some new area of domestic expertise, spices her juicy mystery with some intriguing veggie lore.

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October 15, 2012
This series highlights a different craft in each volume, with community farming being featured here. Sophie Mae and her friend Meghan find a body in the compost pile, yet no one in the small Washington State community seems to know who she is. Sophie and her detective husband are trying to conceive a child at the same time she is harvesting crops, canning, and running her own bath-products business. She doesn't think she'll have time to help when the police ask for her assistance with the case. But she can't resist asking questions and soon uncovers the name of the victim: Darla Klick. Darla knew another young man who works on a local farming commune. Sophie Mae finds him beaten in the fields. The pacing and setting are refreshing, and the craft details are well blended. Another strong volume in a series that will appeal to fans of farmer's market series from Paige Shelton and B. B. Haywood.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)