Dead on the Vine: A Finn Family Farm Mystery

by Elle Brooke White

Overview

Perfect for fans of B. B. Haywood and Peg Cochran, Ellie B. White's whimsical series debut is full of farm fun, complete with a helpful baby pig.

Reluctant farmer Charlotte Finn needs the help of the livestock to sleuth a mysterious death.

Charlotte Finn never wanted to inherit the family's produce farm—much less plow a heap of money into it. Her plan is to hammer a great big FOR SALE sign into the farm's fallow furrows—but Charlotte's sunny hopes of a quick sale succumb to a killing frost when she finds a dead body entwined supine in the tomato vines. The poor man, it seems, was run through...with a pitchfork?

Now, Charlotte is stuck with running the farm in the midst of a murder investigation. Charlotte's knowledge of farming is smaller than her bank balance, so she relies on caretakers Joe and Alice Wong and their farmhands. Can she trust them? She doesn't know them. There's also farmer Samuel Brown, who still carries a childhood grudge. But the case gets personal when Charlotte learns that the victim might have been her own kin—and seeds of suspicion grow into a fertile field of suspects.

Charlotte turns to the farm's pig to help root out the killer. Soon, the goats, geese, and horse join in, but will Charlotte harvest a murderer—or buy the farm?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643852966
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Series:	A Finn Family Farm Mystery , #1
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Elle Brooke White is the author of the Finn Family Farm Mystery series. She once had hopes of becoming a renowned actress but ended up taking a job in advertising instead…until writing returned her to “a world of pure imagination.” Born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, she grew up in Paris, Brussels, and London before returning to the US to attend Vassar College. She now lives with her famous diving dog, Bardot, in Southern California.

Susan Boyce is an award-winning audiobook narrator. She has recorded over ninety audiobooks in a variety of categories, and her talents have been put to work by industry giants such as Amica, Hasbro, and Mattel. She earned a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Rhode Island in 1979 and has worked on-stage at Trinity Repertory Theatre, Worcester Foothills Theatre, The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, and every major Ragtime and Traditional Jazz Festival in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

02/03/2020

After Charlotte Finn, the heroine of the pseudonymous White’s lighthearted series launch, is fired from her high-powered job at a Chicago advertising firm, she heads for Little Acorn, Calif., with high hopes of managing the produce farm that she recently inherited from a great-uncle. “I’ve been to a farmers market, so how hard can this be?” she reasons. Her optimism flags when she learns that the farm is barely breaking even. While showing a real estate agent the property, she and the agent discover the body of a young man with a pitchfork driven through his neck. “I can’t sell the farm without taking a loss, and I can’t raise money from it while this murder is fresh in people’s minds,” concludes Charlotte, so she decides to investigate the murder herself. Though she’s surrounded by well-meaning friends, Charlotte’s real ally is a small, impossibly cute, and intelligent pig she names Horse (because he eats like one). Never mind that the culprit is pretty obvious. Animal lovers won’t want to miss this playful cozy. Agent: Sharon Belcastro, Belcastro Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Dead on the Vine:
"[A] lighthearted series launch...Animal lovers won't want to miss this playful cozy."
—Publishers Weekly

"The human-porcine-insect trio attacks the case with a gusto and expertise that would make mere cat sleuths blush with envy." 
—Kirkus Reviews

“The beautifully described rural setting, the nicely fleshed-out characters, and a sense of whimsy distinguish this charming cozy debut, the first in a series.”
—Booklist

“It only took until page four for me to realize what a delight this book is...Well done, Elle Brooke White, well done!”
—MyShelf.com

“A deftly crafted and simply pitch-perfect mystery novel by an author with an impressively effective and narrative driving storytelling style...very highly recommended.”
—Midwest Book Review

“This stunning debut has it all...Elle Brooke White breathes new life into cozy mysteries.”
—Manhattan Book Review

“Like a modern day Charlotte’s Web.”
—Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

"A country-flavored read with a fresh farm-to-table rural setting and a suspenseful fast-paced plot. Mix in a few additional ingredients, like a charming cast, a crime-solving pig, and a loyal lady bug, and you have the perfect recipe for a fun and lively cozy."  
—B. B. Haywood, New York Times bestselling author of the Candy Holliday mysteries

"Dead on the Vine has it all—characters and a setting you will fall in love with and a plot that will keep you turning the pages!"  
—Peg Cochran, USA Today bestselling author of the Farmer's Daughter mysteries

"A debut cozy mystery with a delightful and winning combination: a feisty heroine, a pig named Horse, an enchanting farm—and a mystery that will keep you guessing. Dead on the Vine checks all the boxes!"
—Sally Goldenbaum, USA Today bestselling author of the Seaside Knitters mysteries

"Dead on the vine is a funny, warm-hearted mystery sure to please." 
—Mollie Cox Bryan, author of the Buttermilk Creek mysteries

"Buckle up for a crazy ride when Charlotte Finn inherits the family farm—and her family’s darkest secrets. Did these secrets spawn a murder? Author Elle Brook White kept me in my seat around every curve to the very last page."
—Barbara Ross, author of the Maine Clambake mysteries

From the Publisher

2020-01-27
A displaced ad executive inherits a farm whose latest crop includes a corpse.

Charlotte Finn’s windfall couldn’t have come at a better time, or a worse. The farm her Uncle Tobias left her in Little Acorn, California, gives her a place to retreat when her high-powered Chicago ad agency unexpectedly fires her. But her discovery of a dead body in a field of tomatoes prevents her from putting the failing enterprise up for a quick sale. No one wants a rocky business that’s also a crime scene. So instead, she recruits her friends from Santa Monica, Diane and Beau Mason, to help generate some income from the fields of ripening strawberries. Together with caretakers Ben and Alice Wong and farm expert Samuel Brown, the brother-and-sister team help Charlotte launch a host of moneymaking schemes, including fixing up the old lake to host swimming parties and developing a “you-pick-’em” business to circumvent the high fees their distributor charges. When her human companions turn out to be of limited use in solving the murder, Charlotte finds two assistants whose agricultural experience makes them much more helpful: a teacup pig she names Horse because of his prodigious appetite and a ladybug she dubs Mrs. Robinson for no particular reason. The human-porcine-insect trio attacks the case with a gusto and expertise that would make mere cat sleuths blush with envy.

Animal detection at its most frolicsome.

Kirkus Reviews