What if your kitchen cabinets were bare?No food.Could you steal from the church to feed your family?When Missy, the pastor’s wife, discovers missing food from the church’s food pantry, she asks Holly to help find out who did it, so the church can help them. For Holly, it brings back memories, times she’d rather forget, of when her mother was drinking and using, leaving her to fend for herself, … her to fend for herself, often with little or no food. Missy had helped her then and this was a way to repay her, but can Holly find who did it time to help?
And why is everyone ignoring her sixteenth birthday? That’s a pretty big deal, at least to Holly.
Then there’s her aunt Fiona’s postpartum depression. Something else to help with. It’s a good thing Holly has a big heart and really cares about people!
If you liked Nancy Drew, don’t miss the third book in the Holly Lewis Mystery Series by a two-time USA Today Bestselling Author.
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Holly and the Food Pantry
A Holly Lewis Mystery, Book #3
Dianne Harman
5 Stars
Synopsis:
What if your kitchen cabinets were bare?
No food.
Could you steal from the church to feed your family?
When Missy, the pastor’s wife, discovers missing food from the church’s food pantry, she asks Holly to help find out who did it, so the church can help them.
For Holly, it brings back memories, times she’d rather forget, of when her mother was drinking and using, leaving her to fend for herself, often with little or no food. Missy had helped her then and this was a way to repay her, but can Holly find who did it time to help?
And why is everyone ignoring her sixteenth birthday? That’s a pretty big deal, at least to Holly.
Then there’s her aunt Fiona’s postpartum depression. Something else to help with. It’s a good thing Holly has a big heart and really cares about people!
If you liked Nancy Drew, don’t miss the third book in the Holly Lewis Mystery Series by a two-time USA Today Bestselling Author. (Goodreads)
Review:
I really enjoyed this book, it was different from most of the cozies that I read. There was a mystery to solve, but it was not a murder, which was refreshing. The author took an important social issue, childhood hunger, and wrote about it in a heartwarming way.
The characters are well developed and well rounded. I enjoyed getting to spend more time with Holly and her friends and family. And I enjoyed getting to learn a little more about Holly and her past and how she ended up in her current situation.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted cozy mystery. Reading this book is a great way to spend an afternoon.
There was a room in the Church which was stocked with all kinds of donated food–another stocked with all kinds of and sizes of clothing. Not too many people were aware of the rooms in which they were kept. If someone was in need Missy, the Pastor’s wife always made sure to help them out. Several people had opened that door and were in shock–but one of them came back and helped themselves to food. Missy noticed but instead of calling Bridget, who now worked with the Sheriff’s Dept, she asked Holly to try and find out who had taken the food. She didn’t want the person to be in trouble–but she realized they needed help and wanted to make sure they had food. Now if you have ever lived in a small town you realize that people tend to be proud even when they and their children really need a bit of a helping hand, or they honestly do not know that there is help to be had.
Holly had it rough while her Mom was still alive and remembered what it was like so she was the perfect one to try and figure out who had done grocery shopping at the Church. It wasn’t until the community picnic held by the Church that Holly finally got the person to confess-after promising that noting bad would happen to them.
What really warmed my heart was that Holly also realized that the food pantry had to become more noticed–especially for the children who, since school was out, may not get any food for that day at all–a school luch program was to be set up for the children who needed it
Childhood hunger is a BIG problem here and in the rest of the world-Dianne Harman’s novel brings this home–but it also makes suggestions on how to fix it.
There is a very happy ending for all in this book!!
I really enjoy the simple nature of this mystery series! It stars high school student Holly and her friends and family. Someone stole some items from the local church food pantry. Holly gets invited to help figure out who it was. There is more than one person who could use the food and who were at the church. Holly is determined to figure out what they can do about it. I really enjoyed Holly, her friends, and the bookstore crew. Brigid and Linc are in this series as well. And there’s some dogs! The narration was done well and easy to listen to.