Jennifer Sylvester made her deal with the devil . . . and now they’re engaged!But all is not well in Green Valley. A chicken choker is on the loose, 61 dead birds most “fowl” need plucking, and no time remains for Jennifer and her devilish fiancé. Desperate to find a spare moment together, Jenn and Cletus’s attempts to reconnect are thwarted by one seemingly coincidental disaster after another. … disaster after another. It’s not long before Cletus and Jenn see a pattern emerge and the truth becomes clear.
Sabotage!
Will an undercover mission unmask the culprit? Or are these love-birds totally plucked?
‘Engagement and Espionage’ is the first book in the Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries series, is a full-length cozy mystery, and is a spin-off of Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series. This novel is best read after ‘Beard Science,’ Winston Brothers #3.
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It gets no better than Jennifer and Cletus when they collaborate to solve a mystery! And to be honest, I’m not a huge cozy mystery reader, but this blends the best of both worlds…cozy mystery and small town romance at its best.
I love these two characters and Penny Reid shifts the expectations of the HEA, since they are *just* getting engaged, but aren’t yet married. You’ll have to get the next book for their marriage!! Personally, I can’t WAIT!
This book is everything I want. It’s the perfect combination of cozy mystery and romance. The characters are just weird enough to be interesting, but not so much as to be annoying. There’s funny moments, suspenseful moments, and romantic moments. It’s just… it’s everything. I am SO excited there will be more books in this spin-off series and cannot WAIT to get my hands on the next one.
This book is a spin-off of Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series. I would HIGHLY recommend reading much of that series first, or at least Beard Science, as that’s how the two main characters for this book meet and without reading it there would be major spoilers and general confusion. Much of the plot base for this book would make little sense without reading at least Beard Science. It seems like this book takes place somewhere in the middle of the Winston Brothers series, but I’d have to do some research to recall where—I’d just checked Penny’s website to be sure.
In this book, Cletus and Jenn are in unofficially engaged and trying to find some alone time together when one crisis after another Kees interrupting their plans—dead chickens, burnt beehives, sold cows, and anything and everything involving Jenn’a overbearing mother. But these events seem too connected to be a coincidence. Is someone out to destroy Jenn’s bakery?
Publisher, if you’re reading this, the cover of this book is terrible. If I hadn’t already fallen in love with Cletus and Jenn from the Winston Brothers and was familiar with Penny Reid’s book, I would have never picked it up. It’s dark with weird colors and hardly tells anything about what’s going on. It photographs terribly. I can’t tell if the lines are supposed to be stitching or just some kind of poor artistic choice.
I adored Beard Science so I couldn’t wait to read this next episode of Cletus and Jenn’s adventures. It was fun and hilarious and everything I’d hoped for. Poor Jenn is still learning to be assertive and have a life of her own, but she’s making progress. Her parents have split and her mean old dad is trying to ruin her mother’s life by starting a competing lodge, so Jenn spends a lot of time propping her mom up, at the cost of her own personal life. Cletus is the diabolical evil genius we know and love, but he really shines here as he struggles to support Jenn without interfering.
Her busy schedule and people-pleasing tendencies are taking a serious toll on their alone time, so they’re both pretty frustrated. And just as Jenn finally demands help at the bakery to get some time off, a spate of local crimes turns her world upside down. She buys only the best local ingredients, but someone is working hard to ensure the Donner bakery can’t fulfill their shopping list. It appears the culprit will go to any lengths to hurt the bakery, including murdering a flock of innocent chickens.
The police aren’t taking the crimes seriously and the strain on the bakery results in Jenn’s mom constantly freaking out and mercilessly interrupting the tiny snatches of time Cletus and Jenn find together, so they have various reasons to get involved. Their current exploits are every bit as sweet and funny as their origin story, so it’s definitely worth a read.
I really like this authors work. While it isn’t without it’s flaws, there’s no denying the appeal of Cletus and Jenn. Sprinkle in some witty banter and mystery elements and some quite frustrating freezing of enamourous activities and my FAVOURITE Winston brother (Hey, Roscoe, Hey) making an appearance, I can’t help but really enjoy this. I didn’t however love it as much as I expected to considering I bought this on release week and have only just now had the want to read it.
I enjoyed this book because Cletus is my favorite Winston brother. He is just so special. Lol.
I would recommend you read it after Beard Science. It’s also a fun read because Jennifer seems to really “get” Cletus and all of his interesting ways.
I enjoyed the mystery part of this book. I thought I had figured out who was behind everything, but then there was this little slightly unexpected twist.
I listened to the Audiobook through Hoopla, which was long, but I enjoyed it. I would definitely listen to more from Cletus and Jennifer.
Engagement and Espionage (Solving for Pie #1) by Penny Reid is a cozy mystery told in first person, dual point of view. This series is a spin-off from the Winston Bothers romantic comedy series and is best read after Beard Science (Winston Brothers #3). The story follows new couple, Jennifer Sylvester and Cletus Winston, as they struggle to spend time together, and they get caught up in some mysterious happenings on the farms in Green Valley when 21 chickens go missing and 40 turn up dead.
I love Jenn and Cletus! They’re my favorite Penny Reid characters, so I was very excited to get a new story that featured them in the lead roles. I just wish they had spent more time together on the page. Overall, the story was a fun blend of Penny Reid’s trademark humor with some mystery and a hint of romance. I’m looking forward to my next Cletus and Jenn fix as they solve more mysteries together in upcoming books.
I will read anything that Penny Reid writes. Love her characters so much.
I admit, I recently started reading this author’s books, and I haven’t gotten to the original book that this one is a spin-off from. Not reading the other book didn’t really hinder my reading experience too much since I know of the characters already. I do think it would’ve helped some more though.
I enjoyed this book. This author has a thing for characters that are “different”. That alone makes the story more interesting. Having such unique characters makes for a more unique story. And this was for sure unique.
I love goofy mysteries. If I had to describe this book, that is exactly how I would describe it. A goofy mystery with fun characters. There’s nothing like small town woes.
If you’re looking for a book with some love story and a little fun mystery, this book should be right up your alley. I definitely will read the next book. I will also try to get the other books read before it comes out too.
It’s the Winston brothers, vs chicken killing, milk depriving, bee burning maniacs ! Cute adorable Cletus and Jenn struggle to get that lovin’ feeling dealing with family business dramas. I can’t help but love this family. Another fantastic addition to the series
3.75- 4 stars. Aww, this was really good! I wasn’t sure what to expect because I have never read a cozy mystery. Reading only romance, I was worried there would not be any romance or heat to keep my interest. But this book was the perfect blend of romance and mystery to me! Engagement and Espionage is the first book in the Solving for Pie Cozy Mystery series by Penny Reid, which is set in the Green Valley world of her Winston Brothers series. This book continues with Cletus and Jenn’s story a few months after they got engaged. The two of them get caught up in a mystery in their small town when suspicious calamities begin to happen to the local farming venders that the Donner bakery uses. Cletus and Jenn have to investigate the mystery in hopes of saving the bakery from ruin, while also dealing with Jenn’s parents tumultuous divorce drama. The couple makes a great team and they are able to get the mystery solved.
I really liked Cletus and Jenn in this book. It is less angsty than their original book, Beard Science, because their relationship is more settled. But there are still insecurities and minor issues they need to work out between them. There is no doubt that they love each other and are meant to be together. I liked Cletus even more in this book than Beard Science. He seemed more real and less of an “out there”, unrelatable character. The two had a great dynamic and chemistry. There is heat and a payoff in way that I was surprised, but loved, to find in a cozy mystery. I really enjoyed this story. The mystery is fun and I loved being back in Green Valley.
Overall, this was a good book! I thought it was an easy, fun, witty, and sweet read. I can tell that I’m really going to enjoy this series! I look forward to the next book asap!
To start off I just have to point out how much I love Cletus. He cracks me up so much. I mean the quote on the banner at the top of the post is just so him. Now, this story does not take place after all of the Winston Brothers series books, but rather in the middle kind of. Also if you’ve followed my reviews or blog, you know I don’t really read a lot of what is considered cozy mysteries. I had a short span of time where I loved the Goldy Bear Culinary Mystery series by Diane Mott Davidson, but have since kind of not picked any up. But give me a book with one of the Winston Brothers, and written by the awesome Penny Reid, and I’m in.
Because of my lack of cozy mystery reading lately, I was a bit hesitant to begin this one I think. But I shouldn’t have been. Because I was sucked in from the moment I picked it up until I finally finished it less than 24 hours later. I’d have been done a lot quicker if I hadn’t been dealing with my dogs acting a little sick this past week.
The mystery was all there and from what I remember from past cozy mysteries, it really was all laid out exactly like you’d expect it to be. Followed the usual patterns for sure. Now there were no deaths, humans that is. And it was probably a little steamier than a lot of cozies usually are, but that’s to be expected from this author, and that’s definitely something I was glad hadn’t been completely left out. Even if we were kept hanging along with the characters until the end.
I love, love, loved this book and can’t wait for more Cletus and Jenn mysteries!
Favorite Quotes:
Good Lord, now I’d offended his serene layers.
Chicken sausage? I didn’t grimace, and that was a miracle. Chicken sausage was akin to turkey bacon, an abomination.
That old man is mean as a badger with half a brain.
My Review:
This was a fun, engaging, and pleasurably engrossing read with healthy servings of mystery, family drama, and romance. Oddly sinister crimes were occurring in Green Valley and surprisingly, it all started with choked chickens and had nothing to do with the criminal elements that typically plagued the community. The mystery was artfully plotted and shrewdly paced with clever lashings of levity, crisp witty banter, and profoundly insightful and amusing inner musings and observations of human nature. I adored this well-matched and quirky couple in a previous series and am gleefully anticipating a continuation of their story with their brainy conundrums and unique and peculiar family complications.
I received an eARC of this book via the author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.
Oh my chickens! Engagement and Espionage by Penny Reid is the first book in her new spin-off series Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries. To all the fans out there that wanted more of Cletus and Jenn, this is it! Taking place after the events of Beard Science, the book follows Jenn and Cletus as they navigate their relationship and Jenn’s work with her mother. Engagement and Espionage is full of suspense as the two work together to find the chicken murderer (yes, you read that right).
Cletus is my favorite Winston brother, though if he was a real person that I had to interact with, we’d have issues. He plays mind games with everyone he encounters, purposefully makes himself look stupid so no one knows how intelligent he really is, and loves his family with a scary devotion. It’s that last one that makes me love him. He truly puts them first. Every maneuver and deal he makes is for his family. It’s kind of endearing. In this new book, we see a different side of the cunning Cletus. He’s insecure in his relationship with Jenn, not knowing where they stand after his impromptu proposal. He meant it, but did she?
Jenn is the complete opposite of Cletus, or at least that is what I thought. She was living in an abusive household before he helped her stand up for herself. He gave her the confidence to live her own life. However after her mother leaves her father and begs Jenn to return to the bakery, she falls back into her old routine: working long hours, doing all the chores, and breaking promises to Cletus. She hates herself for it because Cletus is the best thing to ever happen to her and she’s hurting him. Jenn wants to be there for her mother, but she needs Cletus more. How will she juggle her time and find a new balance before she loses the man she loves?
With all the problems in their relationship brewing under the surface, something is amiss. All of Jenn’s suppliers are no longer able to supply: chickens murdered, a dairy farm auctioned off, bees burned alive. Who is behind it? Cletus and Jenn hatch a plan to find the culprit, but it will test their relationship to the core. I love how Reid combines the mystery with the romance here. Suspense drives the plot, and I couldn’t be happier!
Overall I really enjoyed Engagement and Espionage. It was refreshing to return to Green Valley, see the family and friends, and fall in love with Jenn and Cletus again. While this could be read as a standalone series, I do not recommend it. I recommend at least reading the Winston Brothers series through Beard Science. I would’ve been lost if I hadn’t with the names and places mentioned in the story. If you enjoy cozy mystery with some steamy romance, you are in for a treat with this book. Can’t wait to read more of the series!
ENGAGEMENT AND ESPIONAGE is the first instalment in Penny Reid’s contemporary, adult SOLVING FOR PIE: CLETUS AND JENN MYSTERIES cozy, mystery series-a spin off from the author’s Winston Brothers series. Cletus Winston and Jenn Sylvester’s story can be found in book three BEARD SCIENCE.
Told from dual first person perspective (Jenn and Cletus) ENGAGEMENT AND ESPIONAGE follows Jenn and Cletus as they endeavour to reveal the truth and the people behind a series of accidents at the local farms from which Jenn gets her ingredients for her prize winning bakery. The attack against her mother and a fire at the local bee hive, the death of a flock of chickens, and the sale of the farm and cows where Jenn buys her milk finds our couple looking into the who, how and why, including the acrimonious break up and impending divorce of Jenn’s belligerent parents. As Jenn and Cletus go undercover, including a ruse to reveal the truth, Jenn quickly discovers that not all is well in Green Valley, as she has become the target of jealousy, vengeance and a disgruntled family member.
ENGAGEMENT AND ESPIONAGE is an intriguing, quirky and spirited mystery. The premise is compelling ; the romance is tender and light hearted; the characters are animated.
Engagement and Espionage is a side mystery story from Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers series, and Cletus and Jenn are definitely one of the best couples, if not the best. This was an interesting turn, as it was a mystery with some romance instead of just being all about the couple falling and staying in love.
I’ve read most of Penny’s Knitting in the City series, which I highly recommend, and most of her Winston Brothers series. Reading one of her books is always a great time. This book was honestly, just okay. Cletus and Jenn are a fun couple to read, but some of the problems in their relationship felt a little too convenient in that it kept them apart, driving them and me insane. I just wanted them to be happy! My biggest complaint is that for two big scenes, including something pretty climatic, the reader doesn’t get to see exactly what happened, we are told. It was a little frustrating the first time it happened, and then the second time it was just annoying.
But even an okay Penny Reid book is still better than most. So though I can’t say I loved this book completely, I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment, and Penny Reid remains one of my favorite authors to read.
Rating~3.5 stars
This takes place pretty much after Beard’s Science epilogue.
Beard Science is my favourite of the Winstons brothers series book and Cletus is my favourite Winston brother so I was pretty psyched to read this. I haven’t read cozy mysteries before though, just mystery/thriller or romantic suspense so this was new subgenera to try out.
In Engagement and Espionage we find Jenn Sylvester and Cletus Winston in a bit of a pickle. On the mystery aspect, someone is running amok in their small town, buying all the eggs, killing chickens, causing mayhem and trying to kill Jenn’s mama ???? On the romance aspect, Cletus and Jenn are engaged well kinda. Cletus proposed and Jenn accepted and its been months now but they haven’t talked about it. They haven’t really gotten to spend time together lately.
Cletus was still my favourite part of this book even though the sparkle that he generally has is dimmed here.
I did enjoy this but I was pretty frustrated with Jenn, it felt like regardless of the progress she’d made in the Beard Science, she is now stuck in this new position. Things are slightly better but not overall. I just wanted to her to speak her mind and do something. Verbal abuse is still abuse, I was getting offended even if Jenn wasn’t of how they talked about her. I think part my frustration is because when I finished reading Beard Science, Jenn had made decisions and was independent and I thought that was that. And reading the other books in the Winstons series, we move years and years past that. So now when we’re back into the early stages, and due to my previous mentioned misconception relating to Jenn I wasn’t expecting her to kinda slide back into her more passive role and overworking etc. I get its difficult to just change completely from who you were for years but perhaps I was just disappointed in her for not being more firm in her stance.
Cletus I thought was being very supportive and biting his tongue for Jenn so it made it even worse. He’s trying his best to give her the time, even though it hurts him. I think they really needed to have a full open and frank discussion. Which they don’t really have in Engagement and espionage. They really need one before they get married. I guess this is one of the cons of a series, things like these take time.
Also,
It was a bit predictable, especially the whole plot of how they go around finding the murderer. As soon as she suggested the idea of the plan I knew what was coming.
I would have liked Jenn and Cletus to spend more time together, also there was just too much coitus interpertus happening.
Regardless of above mentioned issues I did enjoy it and I’m looking froward to more Jenn and Cletus. If you’re a fan of Cletus & Jenn and Penny Reid’s then you don’t want to miss this one!
*ARC
Engagement and Espionage was the perfect pick me up! Revisiting Cletus, Jenn and the rest of the Winston family was pure entertainment!
Cletus Winston is one of the most absolute, uniquely written character I’ve come across! His way with words, attention to detail, love for his family, and all that sly scheming…I never know whether I should shake my head at his antics or laugh myself silly!
Random fact: that honey was bee vomit.
Laugh out loud funny amongst a mystery. The lovers from Beard Science are trying to find time to be together while trying to figure out who beheaded chickens, set fire to bee boxes and tried to kill the heroine’s mom. Although a stand alone book it would be best to read Beard Science or the entire Winston Brothers series before starting this book.
Engagement and Espionage is the first book in the Solving For Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries. When I found out that Jenn and Cletus were getting a spin-off series I was super excited! Cletus is my favorite of the Winston Brothers. Let me tell you this book did not disappoint! I was hooked from the very beginning and couldn’t put the book down! It was nice to be back in the Winston world! You get bits of the Winston Family! It was nice to be back in Green Valley! This book had me laughing so much! The mystery was a great one too! I am so excited for the next book! I would definitely recommend this book!u2063
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Received an arc for an honest review.u2063
Initial thoughts after hitting The End: You can’t get enough or Jenn and Cletus!! If you loved, Beard Science from the Winston Brothers series, you’ll adore this book!
Heroine: I loved Jenn’s further character development. She truly came into her own in this book.
Hero: Cletus Winston is a sexy, clever evil genius. Picture Dr. Evil with the most gorgeous face and body.
Sexiness: Cletus and Jenn fell in love during Beard Science, but finding quality time to spend together while chickens are being chocked is not an easy task. But these two have a deep connection that won’t be thwarted.
Plot: Penny Reid writes with skill and hooks the reader from the start in a witty, fun and sexy story filled with intrigue.
Feels: I was so incredibly sad when the Winston Brothers series ended. But having this new spin off is like coming home. It was heartwarming not just being in Cletus’ incredibly smart and peculiar head, but also reading about his love for Jenn and his affection towards his family and the shenanigans they’re up to. I hope we get many more books about this incredible family.
Facts: Engagement & Espionage is standalone cozy mystery / romance by Penny Reid. It is book #1 of the Solving for Pie: Cletus and Jenn Mysteries. It’s told from both points of view with a happy ending.
Quotes:
Best LOL moment
“Listen, the point is, you pluck a bird when it’s wet and hot” Beau said
This is true moment
“It was a well-known fact, women wanted men to be mind readers.”
One of the MANY awesome Cletus moments
“Then I also gazed at the horizon like it was the most interesting horizon that ever horizoned.”
Overall rating: 4.5