Matchmaking can be murder . . . When widowed Millie Fisher moves back to her childhood home of Harvest, Ohio, she notices one thing right away—the young Amish are bungling their courtships and marrying the wrong people! A quiltmaker by trade, Millie has nevertheless stitched together a few lives in her time, with truly romantic results. Her first mission? Her own niece, widowed gardener Edith … widowed gardener Edith Hochstetler, recently engaged to rude, greedy Zeke Miller. Anyone can see he’s not right for such a gentle young woman—except Edith herself.
Pleased when she convinces the bride-to-be to leave her betrothed before the wedding, Millie is later panicked to find Zeke in Edith’s greenhouse—as dead as a tulip in the middle of winter. To keep her niece out of prison—and to protect her own reputation—Millie will have to piece together a patchwork of clues to find a killer, before she becomes the next name on his list . . .
Praise for Amanda Flower and her Amish cozies
“As it turns out, Amanda Flower may have just written the first Amish rom com.”
—USA Today
“Flower has hit it out of the ballpark . . . and continues to amaze with her knowledge of the Amish way of life.”
—RT Book Reviews
“At turns playful and engaging . . . a satisfyingly complex cozy.”
—Library Journal
more
I have enjoyed all of Amanda Flower’s series and was eager to read this new series. It’s another winner. Set in the same Amish town as the Amish Candy Shop series with Bailey King, we get to see more of the residents we have only seen in passing. What a treat. Millie Fisher is the focus of this spin off series and she is wonderful. She has been away from Harvest, Ohio for ten years and it takes some adjustment. Matchmaking becomes her new focus and her first challenge is her own niece, also a widow with a couple of children and a thriving garden business. Too bad her choice of a new husband is ruining the business. In Amish tradition the husband controls the business and Edith has let him take over running things – right into the ground. He is definitely not a good match for Edith and soon she calls off the wedding, making Millie happy. That happiness soon vanishes when Millie goes to see Edith and finds her standing over the very dead body of her ex-fiance. So, if she didn’t kill him, who did? Millie and her childhood friend, Lois – the exact opposite of Mille but her best friend – set out to track down the killer and keep Edith out of prison.
The Amish Candy series has Jethro the polka dot pot bellied pig and this series Millie has a pair of goats named Peter and Phillip. The humor had me laughing and the mystery had me guessing, both things I expect in an Amanda Flower book. Now I have another series to put on my must read list.
Millie Fischer has moved back to Harvest, Ohio after spending ten years in Michigan taking care of her sister. She has two mischievous goats and is known in her community as a matchmaker. Millie doesn’t approve of her niece Edith’s fiancé and is thrilled when she decides to call off the engagement. When he is found dead the next day in Edith’s greenhouse, she immediately becomes a suspect. Millie and her childhood friend Lois work together to find the culprit.
Matching Can Be Murder is a wonderful start to a new series. The plot is engaging, well-paced, and is filled with laugh out loud moments. Millie is a likable and well-developed character. It’s always a pleasure to be back in the wonderful town of Harvest, Ohio and I enjoyed seeing it through Millie’s eyes. If you’re a fan of the Amish Candy Shop mysteries, then you will be pleased to see quite a few familiar faces in this book. I was particularly excited to see Bailey make an appearance and we also learn some interesting news about Charlotte. The murder mystery is well-plotted and I didn’t know who the killer was until the reveal. While I didn’t love this book quite as much as I did the Amish Candy Shop series, it is still a page-turner and I look forward to the second book. Amanda Flower is one of my favorite cozy mystery authors and I highly recommend any of her books.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first book in a new series by Ms. Flower. I thought this was a very entertaining start to a new series. The main character, Millie, is sympathetic and very likable. She is surrounded by a diverse cast of characters, both English and Amish that are poised to add dimension to the stories. This series is a spin-off of the Amish Candy Shop Mystery series. It is set in the same town and some of the characters from that series make an appearance in this story as well. I thought the author did a good job of expanding the world she created in the town of Harvest Ohio. In addition to the human characters, there are two goats owned by the main character that provides comic relief and some help in gathering clues. Millie, who has lived in Michigan for the last ten year, reconnects with some old friends, both Amish and English. Lois, her English friend from childhood, makes a wonderful sidekick and has some great dialogue.
As always, the mystery is well crafted, with a steady plot that keeps the reader turning pages. There are plenty of suspects to choose from and the author drops plenty of twists and turns along with the clues along the way. While the identity of the killer is not a surprise, as he is one of the suspects, it was not a foregone conclusion that this person was the killer.
I am a big fan of Ms. Flower and her books. She has a wonderful gift of creating these wonderful places and populating them with such diverse characters that just draw her readers in and invites them to stay and make some friends of their own. The mysteries are always well crafter and keep me guessing. In short, she crafts stories that hit all the items on my list of a terrific cozy mystery series. I will always return to see what she has in store next for her characters.
I voluntarily read a digital ARC provided to me by the publisher, Kensington, through Netgalley.