Murder at the Mushroom Festival – a #BookReview

Title: Murder at the Mushroom Festival (A Kelly Jackson Mystery) by Janet Finsilver

Genre: Currently #4576 on Amazon Best Sellers Rank in Kindle eBooks, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery, Cozy

Publisher: Kensington Publishing/Lyrical

Publication Date: To be released April 17, 2018 – Happy publication day!

Source: Kensington Publishing/Lyrical and NetGalley

Title and Cover: Murder at the Mushroom Festival – Cute cozy cover

Murder at the Mushroom Festival is the fourth in the Kelly Jackson series and my first experience with the series or the author. In this installment, Kelly Jackson has been named permanent manager of the Redwood Cove B&B and is gearing up for the festivities by bringing in Elise Jenkins to host a cooking class featuring mushrooms.

Among the town’s guests are Ned Blaine, a reporter who is creating a lot of animosity as he noses into secret mushroom locations that he plans to disclose on the internet and in his soon-to-be-written book. Some of the locations are on reservation land and off limits. Also among the redwoods and on reservation land are “sinker logs,” an extremely profitable result of old growth logged last century, some of which found their way into lakes and streams. Ned has a confrontation with Daniel Stevens, one of the local Native Americans, and is found murdered on reservation land.

Among the issues in contention are harvesting of redwood without a permit, retrieval of sinker logs, allowing mushroom sniffing dogs and pigs in the competition, as well as the location and/or disclosure of mushroom sites.

I really enjoyed the way the Senior Sentinels go about solving the mystery and the different personalities involved. While this book may function as a standalone, it’s possible protagonist Kelly was more fully developed in previous episodes. The little redwood community sounds disarmingly quaint and the seaside location is described well enough to taste the salt air and feel the heavy mist.

The well-plotted storyline doesn’t do 60 out of the gate, but keeps a steady and engaging pace introducing many interesting facts along the way regarding our beautiful northern California redwood coast and the industries in the area. Kelly seems to be a missing manager for most of the activity, focusing on the whodunit, until the owner comes to do a checkup of the circumstances. There seemed to be an abundance of character tension so there was a wide choice as to who might have done it.

The dialogue flowed naturally and the well-crafted plot came to a satisfying conclusion, wrapping up loose ends, but the culprit was not a surprise having been a strong suspicion from introduction.

I was allowed this ebook download by Kensington Publishing Corp and NetGalley and greatly appreciated the opportunity to read and review. Recommended for fans of cozy mysteries, those who love our northern California coastal area, or anyone who loves to learn about the unique assets of our beautiful country.

Rosepoint Publishing:  Four of Five Stars 

The Author: (From Amazon Author Page) Janet Finsilver is the USA TODAY best-selling author of the Kelly Jackson mystery series. She worked in education for many years as a teacher, a program administrator, and a workshop presenter. Janet majored in English and earned a Master’s Degree in Education. She loves animals and has two dogs—Kylie and Ellie. Janet has ridden western style since she was a child and was a member of the National Ski Patrol. One of the highlights of her life was touching whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. MURDER AT REDWOOD COVE, her debut mystery, was released on October 13, 2015. Her second book, MURDER AT THE MANSION, became available on June 7, 2016. MURDER AT THE FORTUNE TELLER’S TABLE came out in March 2017. ©2018 V Williams