Description (from cover):
‘When Tess Tremaine starts a new life in the colorful town of Goose Pimple Junction, curiosity leads her to look into a seventy-five-year-old murder. Suddenly she’s learning the foreign language of southern speak, resisting her attraction to local celebrity Jackson Wright, and dealing with more mayhem than she can handle.
A bank robbery, murder, and family tragedy from the 1930’s are pieces of the mystery that Tess attempts to solve. As she gets close to the truth, she encounters danger, mystery, a lot of southern charm, and a new temptation for which she’s not sure she’s ready.’
My thoughts:
I am a girl that was born and raised in the South. I like books that portray a sense of the upbringing that I had, but I also don’t like books that overdo it and put a bad slant on Southerners as well. I’m torn between stating whether or not this book did that or not. I don’t think that it was intentional on the author’s part, but I almost felt a little insulted. This book takes place in Tennessee and I live in North Carolina. While I realize that this book is fictional and a spin on the South, we simply do NOT speak like the people in this book. It was annoying to read and it was very hard to get past.
Nevertheless, if you put the horrible way the characters speak in this book, it wasn’t all that bad. I liked how the author portrayed a current day mystery and mixed it with a mystery from the 1930’s. I thought that was interesting and I really like how the author did that in this book. It created a depth and a thread of a storyline that I was eager to read on to figure out. I like Tess’ character and I like the small town of Goose Pimple Junction as well. I thought that this was a good cozy and I would like to see some more of the characters in this book. I will say that this book was a little too “romancey” for my tastes, but it wasn’t distasteful or anything.
If you like books that are set in the South and if you like very strong characters, then this might be a book worth checking into. It wasn’t the best book, nor was it the worst. I am curious to see what the author has in store for these characters, so I am sure that when the next book is released, that I will pick it up. I just have to get over the Southern speech thing first.
Overall Rating: 3
Title: Murder and Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction
Author: Amy Metz
Series: N/A
Publisher: Southern Ink Press
Publication Date: September 6, 2014
Pages: 320
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
About the Author:
Amy Metz attended Centre College and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BA in Elementary Education. She taught first grade until her first child was born, and then motherhood and volunteer work took up her time. When her mother was diagnosed with dementia in 2009, she turned to writing as therapy. Needing an escape from life and from the memoir, and desperately needing to laugh, she began writing a humorous southern mystery that eventually became Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction, and an author was born.
Amy has been richly blessed with two sons–an adult and a teenager–and a daughter-in-law. When not actively engaged in writing or spending time with her family, Amy can usually be found with a mixing spoon, camera, or book in her hands. Amy’s debut novel, Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction, was published in August 2012. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
This has been a stop of the ‘Murder and Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction’ book tour hosted by Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. Make sure that you stop by all the other stops as some of them are giving away a copy of this book!
October 15–MysteriesEtc
October 16–Tea and A Book
October 17–Cozy Up With Kathy
October 19–A Cup of Tea, A Friend, And A Book
October 20–Girl Lost In a Book
October 21–Turning the Pages
October 22–deal sharing aunt
October 24–Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book
October 25–readalot
October 27–rantin’ ravin’ and reading
October 28–Chloe Gets A Clue
October 30–Queen of All She Reads
October 31–Melina’s Book Blog
Now you can win a copy of this book too. Just enter using the widget below. Please note this giveaway is for US residents only. Good Luck!!
Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher, through Great Escapes Virtual 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 
This looks like a great read. Added it to my tbr list. Would love to win a copy! Fingers crossed! 🙂
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I was raised in the South, too (Atlanta), and I always wonder why authors think everyone speaks like that! Glad to hear that the mystery makes up for that somewhat.
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Kimberlee, thank you so much for reading Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction. I'm sorry if the way my characters speak offended you–you are correct in assuming that was not my intention. I've lived in Kentucky all my life, and while I've heard many of the euphemisms (goosepimpleisms) that my characters use, I would have to agree with you that real life is sadly not that colorful. Goose Pimple Junction is a place for readers to escape. My characters try to one-up each other with the colloquialisms. They–and I–only want to make people laugh, and I exaggerated the speech toward that end. Thank you again for reading and for hosting me on your blog. I hope you like the second book in the series more.
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Your review captivated my interest in this book. It sounds intriguing and unique. The era and the storyline. thanks.saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
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It is a mystery and very nice theme, so I am interested in reading it 🙂
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I like historical fiction and I love the idea of a modern day mystery intertwined with a mystery from the past.
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This looks like a fun read. I am interested to see how the past and the present collide 🙂
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a definite 'must-read' for me!!!!I love mysteries!!!thank you for the giveaway!!
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Being a Yankee, the South is like a foreign country to me—so I enjoy reading books that take place there.
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