Cordial Killing Book Review


Cordial Killing (A Backyard Farming Mystery #2)
By Vikki Walton
Published November 5, 2018

Why I chose this book:
You may recall that I was invited to participate in a blog tour some time ago for this book. Since I love reading cozy mysteries, I was excited to participate, and I received a review copy in conjunction with that blog tour.

Review

Anne, Kandi, and Hope are confronted with two murdered guests during their bed-and-breakfast's opening weekend.

Cordial Killing is the second book in a series, but reading the first is not a requirement. The premise of this series is that three friends have become business partners, running a bed-and-breakfast that offers classes on herbal remedies and gardening. Events from the first book are referred to with enough detail to bring new readers up to speed. This second book takes place on the opening weekend of the bed-and-breakfast, the Brandywine Inn.

Four former college friends, as well as one husband, reunite at the inn after many years without contact. The husband, it turns out, has a history with more than one of the friends, and this causes strife amongst those four guests. Soon after their arrival, the husband is found dead, presumably from a heart attack, then a second individual dies, clearly from poison. Next everyone, innkeepers and guests and the sheriff, are all trapped in the inn as a storm rages and power cuts out! Exciting! They gather 'round the fire in blankets as the snow comes down (I read this cuddled up in a blanket by the fireplace myself), and it's quite the cozy mystery! I don't want to get into too much detail, or I would spoil the mystery, but I will say that the killer was a surprise, though in retrospect I could see it.

Overall, it was a fun, quick, exciting, and suspenseful read. The writing is smooth, the characters likable, and the mystery well-planned. If you have read the first, then I'd recommend the second. If you haven't read either, then I might suggest starting with the first, as I wish I had done. (I haven't read the first yet myself.)

Comments