chez_jae

Let's see...it was Thursday night when I finished reading A Biscuit, A Casket, which is the second book in Liz Mugavero's "Pawsitively Organic" mystery series.

Kristan "Stan" is settling into small-town life in Frog Ledge. Her new business of making organic treats and food for pets is starting to take off, and Stan is asked to cater a doggie party at a local dairy farm. The farm is all decked out for Halloween, including a corn maze. When Hal Hoffman, the owner of the farm, is found murdered in his own corn maze, Hal's wife, Emmalee, asks Stan to help her organize the farm's finances, and Stan is unwittingly drawn into the investigation by her proximity to the people involved with the farm, including family, friends, neighbors, hired help, and other dairy farmers whose farms were part of a co-op with Hal's farm.

To make matters worse, Stan's mother shows up for an unexpected visit, putting Stan further on edge. One of Stan's friends is behaving in a bizarre manner, one of the co-op wives is sticking her nose where it isn't wanted, Stan is trying to decide where she stands with hunky bartender Jake, and Jake's police officer sister doesn't seem to appreciate it when Stan tries to give her inside info from her stint working at the farm.

Lots going on, but all of it melded together. A couple points didn't sit well with me. One was the constant knocking of the dairy industry. While most of it came from Stan's friend, Nikki, you KNOW it's actually coming from the author. Another thing that bothered me is when Stan got a tour of the farm from its manager, he showed her the dry cows and said they'd be dry for 150 days. WTF?! I grew up on a dairy farm. You don't have cows out of production for five months! Holy cow pies, you'd never make any money! Nice try, Liz, but next time, ask. Cows are dry for six to eight weeks, tops.

Favorite line: "Plenty of people deserve to have chairs thrown at them."

I'd give it 3 1/2 if I could, but I guess I'll go with three.

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