Book 20, 2025

[chez_jae]

A Deadly Turn by Paulette Brewster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished an ebook last night. It was A Deadly Turn by Paulette Brewster, and it’s the second in her “Maple Ridge” series of cozy mysteries. The main character is Liz Marsh, who owns and operates a B&B as well as a farmette.

Liz is settling into her life in bucolic Maple Ridge, VT. Life is going well, until her friend, librarian Shelly, must referee two groups who are vying for use of the library’s community room. On top of that, Shelly has been receiving threats in the library’s drop box. Worst of all, however, is the escalating feud between two of the town’s elder statesmen: Roger and Cyrus. When one of them ends up dead, Liz can’t help but think it was more than a mere heart attack that killed him. In the meantime, her Aunt Esme shows up out of the blue to visit, and Liz’s milk cow, Myrtie, is misbehaving. She has a lot on her plate, but Liz is up to the challenge.

I liked the story well enough, but the author really needs to either research dairy cattle or at least ask someone who knows dairy cattle. Pearl is not a cow; she’s a heifer. Considering Pearl’s age, Myrtie should already be pregnant with her next calf. It pained me to read some of this. Is Esme a witch? If so, come out and say it. Once again, the fact that the animals are sentient doesn’t come about until the epilogue. And, a lot of the book was written in Esme’s point of view. It did add to the narrative, but I feel authors should stick to one character’s pov. Characterizations were fine, and the plot moved at a good pace.

Favorite lines:
♦ “Most of the time I smell like a barn and look like a whirlwind just whipped past me.”
♦ She never believed a lady should openly smirk, but it was so difficult to avoid, once in a great while.

“Holding breath” line: Liz let the air out of her lungs in a whoosh, not even realizing that she’d been holding it in.

Entertaining, but average. Three stars.