Rhubarb Pie Before You Die by Gin Jones
Reviewed by: Dawn Dickey
Genre: Cozy mystery
Suggested Age: Adult
What is the book about?: In the quiet of night, Mabel Skinner and her friend Rory are making off with a neighborhood’s bags of chemical-free yard waste (“black gold”), nabbing them before the morning garbage pickup. They plan to use the clippings and leaves as mulch for the garlic and lavender grown on Mabel’s inherited farm. The quiet night is disrupted, however, when a man pulls up in a rusty pickup truck, jumps out and confronts the duo, shouting, “You’re stealing my stuff!” The man, Graham Winthrop, is loud enough to wake the neighborhood, including a city council member. Graham reluctantly agrees to a compromise to share the mulch. By morning, Mabel finds that more trouble could be brewing with threats of charges for trespassing, breach of peace, and other misdemeanors. Wanting to smooth things over with Graham and avoid legal troubles, Mabel pays a visit to his rhubarb farm. She finds Graham dead in his greenhouse. After the previous night’s confrontation, it looks like Mabel is the police’s prime suspect!
My Review: This is the second in cozy mystery writer Gin Jones’s Garlic Farm Mystery series. But don’t worry if you haven’t read the first one. Jones deftly takes you into Mabel’s world and does a fine job of explaining the back story behind the farm, how Mabel inherited it, and her relations with the various characters in the tale. I find that I am liking the characters even more with this mystery as we learn more about Mabel and her talent for analysis (and coding!), her social awkwardness, her cats, and her deceased aunt’s friends who are now becoming Mabel’s friends. Mabel has not yet embraced the life of a farmer – preferring her coding work – but perhaps she will! That, too, is the part of this cozy mystery, in addition to finding out who killed Graham and why. Spend some time with this satisfying read – you’ll be glad you did! And perhaps, like me, you will look forward to trying some rhubarb when it is available!
Three Words That Describe This Book: Engaging, Cozy, Rhubarb
Give This a Try if You Like… Cozy themed mystery series such as Diane Mott Davidson’s A Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery series, Cleo Coyle’s A Coffeehouse Mystery series, or Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles Herbal Mystery series.
Rating: 5/5
