Description (from cover):
‘Expert muffin baker Merry Wynter is finally ready to turn her passion into a career. But when a dead body is found on her property, she’s more worried about cooking up an alibi…
Merry is making a fresh start in small-town Autumn Vale, New York, in the mansion she’s inherited from her late uncle, Melvin. The house is run-down and someone has been digging giant holes on the grounds, but with its restaurant-quality kitchen, the place has potential for her new baking business. She even has her first client–the local retirement home.
Unfortunately, Merry soon finds that quite a few townsfolk didn’t like Uncle Mel, and she has inherited their enmity as well as his home. Local baker Binny Turner and her crazy brother, Tom, blame Melvin for their father’s death, and Tom may be the one vandalizing her land. But when Tom turns up dead in one of the holes in her yard, Merry needs to prove she has nothing to with his death–or her new muffin-making career may crumble before it starts…’
My thoughts:
I read a lot of cozy mysteries and I’ve notice over the years that they tend to somewhat follow a formula of sorts. This one totally defied the norm. I enjoyed this one because it was a little different from your typical cozy mystery. Sure it was themed and it glossed over the murder details, but it had a different type of feel that made this one almost impossible to put down. I loved the small town of Autumn Vale, New York and the strange townspeople. They all had they own quirks and it was very interesting to see a small town with such a vast group of residents. This book was a great debut for a new cozy mystery series.
I typically tend to not adore the first book in a new series and it takes me some time to warm up to the characters and to the series. This was definitely not the case with this debut. I loved everything about it from the main character, Merry Wynter, and her friends, the small cozy setting in Autumn Vale, and the mystery was enough to keep the seasoned cozy mystery reader on her toes. There was a hint of romance, but nothing like some other cozy mysteries where there are love triangles and the romance takes over the whole story.
I can’t wait to continue this series and I applaud Ms. Hamilton on doing a fantastic job on this debut. I appreciate her daring to try something new and think that is what really brings this book to a class of its own. I can’t stress enough how much I think cozy mystery readers will enjoy something new and fresh and I highly doubt that anyone will not enjoy this novel. I encourage you to try something a little different by reading this book and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.
Overall Rating: 4.5
Title: Bran New Death
Author: Victoria Hamilton
Series: Merry Muffin Mystery #1
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
Pages: 304
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
About the Author:
Victoria Hamilton is a pseudonym for national bestselling author Donna Lee Simpson, who is also a collector of vintage cookware and recipes.
You can check out her website at: http://www.victoriahamiltonmysteries.com
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This has been a stop on the Bran New Death blog tour presented by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. Make sure you check out all of the other stops on this tour!
August 30 – Chloe Gets A Clue
August 31 – Brooke Blogs
September 1 – Michelle’s Romantic Tangle
September 2 – Cozy Up With Kathy
September 3 – StoreyBook Reviews
September 4 – Books-n-Kisses
September 5 – Booklady’s Booknotes
September 6 – Melina’s Book Blog
September 7 – Musings and Ramblings
September 8 – A Chick Who Reads
September 9 – readalot
September 10 – Girl Lost In a Book
September 11 – Mochas, Mysteries and More
September 12 – My Recent Favorite books
September 13 – Socrates’ Book Review Blog
a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher, through Great Escapes Book Tours, in exchange for my honest review. I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
girllostinabook.com 
Great review, thank you. I can't wait to read it.Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
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would love this!
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Good review! New follower here, via GFC & Bloglovin. I enjoy historical fiction, historical mysteries, and cozies myself (along with fantasy, SF, historical romance, and the occasional contemporary romance), so I'm glad to find your blog.
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I love cozies! They are comforting and often have comfort foods in the story with recipes about how to make them or have knitting a comforting hobbie. No words to make be blush to violence to scare me.CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
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