Check Out the First Book in the New Backyard Farming Mystery SeriesCHICKEN CULPRITFinally healing after her heart-breaking divorce, Anne Freemont is ready to put the painful past behind her. Discovering an old Victorian for sale in the small mountain town of Carolan Springs may be just what she needs. The beauty of Colorado beckons, so Anne heads west to start her new life.Yet, before … heads west to start her new life.
Yet, before Anne’scompletely settled in, her neighbor is found dead in his compost pile. What’s worse is that Anne’s quirky young neighbor, Kandi Jenkins, could be the killer. When Kandi begs for her help, Anne feels she has no choice but to help the young woman.
However, she finds herself quickly at odds with the local sheriff. And while she uncovers more of the community’s secrets, she’s also exploring her awakening feelings for Sam Powers, the town’s deputy coroner.
Once Anne starts looking at who could be the real killer, the suspect list keeps getting longer and longer. It seems that Carolan Springs is a place of many secrets. But who would want to murder Ralph and who’s willing to kill again to keep their secret?
Cast of Characters
- Stewart Rogers: Ralph’s nephew who’s always turning up unexpectedly.
- Hope Boswell: Doctor and herbalist who’s come home to care for her ailing mother.
- Faith Boswell: Dealing with early onset dementia, she still has what some call second sight.
- Eliza de French: An Ethiopian woman whose beauty hides an ugly secret.
- Jeff Jenkins: Kandi’s goal-oriented husband who often travels for work.
˃˃˃ First Book in The Backyard Farming Cozy Mystery Series
Chicken Culprit introduces us to Anne Fremont, a divorcee starting over in the fictional town of Carolan Springs, Colorado. With a diverse cast of characters, the locale isn’t short of personalities and suspects.
With a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor that women of a certain age can relate to, Chicken Culprit takes a look at love, loss and the impact of the past in our lives.
˃˃˃ Q&A with the Author
1.Why did you decide to write a mystery series around homesteading?
Mysteries have always been my favorite genre since I received my first set of Nancy Drew books. When I finally decided to write my own I knew I wanted to write about something I love and that’s homesteading or backyard farming. I live in the suburbs but our landscaping is a combination of permaculture food guilds, gardens and Xeriscape. We have chickens and are beekeepers. My chicken, Rusty, was a character in her own right. Now she’s one in my first book.
2.What advice would you give to someone who wants to start backyard farming?
Decide what you want the most and do that first. Then add to it. Don’t do too much at once. You can use the simple quiz on my website to help determine the top three things for your havenstead.
3.What’s a havenstead?
I believe that your home should be your haven. Homesteading has been around for hundreds of years. Now you can create your own havenstead.
4.Can you give us a glimpse into the next book?
Sure! Someone and possibly a couple of someone’s are going to die. It will feature another part of homesteading and that’s around the food production side of things. In this case the main star will be the elderberry plant. The book after that will feature bees.
5.What do you hope your reader’s take away from your book?
It’s not great literature. It’s a short book in simple language. I hope people will enjoy it as a light read with a touch of humor, a spotlight on the human condition, and learn a bit about chickens and eggs.
˃˃˃ Connect with Vikki
Free Bonuses Available when you visit www.vikkiwalton.com
Connect with Vikki at https://www.facebook.com/VikkiWaltonAuthor
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Great book
When is the next ebook
Fun to read
Even though I didn’t want the story to end it brought tears to my eyes. It was very inspirational and it the same time unexpected.
For some reason, a variety of raters didn’t like this book … granted, it’s not a block buster or Pulitzer Prize candidate, but it certainly is an enjoyable read with a couple unusual twists … all created by an amateur detective who sees more in an ornery man’s death than the overpaid small-town investigators. For half the book, the plot when no where … but the final chapters took several nice twists. I liked it very much … maybe a ‘5’ is over-rating it, but it did have its merits.
Loved it.
Characters well developed, interesting story, kept my interest. Well done.
I enjoyed it.
Well written and mdae mr not want to pu it down.
I loved it Would enjoy a sequel
Such a nice, easy read. The characters were relatable and the story clipped along nicely. There a few twists in the tale, but isn’t that why we read these things?
True to life!
Not good
I am a frequent cozy mystery reader and often search out new series. When Vikki Walton’s new ‘Backyard Farming’ mystery series fell into my lap, I jumped on the chance to read the first book, Chicken Culprit: (Backyard Farming Mystery Series) (Cozy Mystery). Walton is a new author for me, but one I enjoyed getting to know. In this caper, a ~40ish woman moves to a small Colorado town known for homesteading. As the story evolves, we learn she has a lot more connections to it than we originally thought — always makes for a good mystery. I’ll leave it at that so the suspense grabs you enough to check it out. I give this debut caper 3.5 out of 5 stars and will gladly continue reading the series.
Walton notes a sort of tongue-in-cheek approach to the story, which I definitely see in the style and humor. At first, it threw me off a little but I settled into the tone eventually welcoming the approach as an easy and enjoyable read. The main character has a strong personality and doesn’t hide her concern over some of the interesting / wacky neighbors she meets, including a potential chicken killer, then a real killer, and a girl who says ‘like’ as often as any Valley Girl I’ve met before. (And that’s quite a few!) I like to learn when I read a cozy mystery, hence why it needs a catchy theme. This is my first farming book where I can gain some useful information if I ever move to the country (a distinct possibility!).
I can’t speak too much about the characters without giving away critical information, but there are several fun twists which I didn’t expect. There’s a bit of culture and life-experience more than I’ve seen before in a cozy, but I liked it a lot. I found the banter between the sheriff and the main character, Anne, amusing. Sometimes I think he’s a meanie, other times, he has potential. All-in-all, there’s a good level of diversity and range in the characters. Walton has a few things to work out with the setting and relationships in the book, but it’s off to a promising start.
delightful characters, interesting plot twists
Cute read
Loved the town of Carolan Springs and its inhabitants. Sweet, sassy, tragic pasts and bright futures. Must read.
Great!!!
This was a fun book!
This was a decent little “snack” of reading. Not the best cozy mystery, but far from the worst cozy mystery. An easy read at the end of a busy week, during a busy time of year.