I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. I received this for free and I voluntarily chose to review it. I've given it a 5* rating. This second book in this Greenhouse Series pulled me in again to this small town setting with more dead bodies coming to light almost from the first. The very busy heroine puts her life on the line more than once, dragging friends and workers along with her. To mix the pot more, there is a community celebration bringing more strangers into town. This kept me guessing till the end, and wasn't who I thought it could be.

So it's weird. I have owned this book for a while, but never got around to reading it. I think it's because I watched this on a couple of television shows (Forensic Files and Murderous Affairs). So to read Ann Rule's insight into a couple that ended up in a toxic marriage that resulted in a fire that killed two of their children will have you reading each page while holding your breath.

The incident takes place in 1995, but we go back to see the beginning of the married couple (Doctor Debora Green and her husband Doctor Michael Farrrar). Initially attracted to his skinner and more lively wife (the number of times it's said that Debora is not attractive anymore due to her weight gain, haircut, and clothes is unreal) when he first meets her, Michael realizes pretty quickly he made a bad decision. I don't even know what to say about this, because I know a lot of friends who have married in haste and repented in leisure. In Michael's case he realized it was a mistake on their wedding night. I also get from the story that includes quotes from Debora (Rule did visit with her) I don't think she ever really liked him too. Instead, I think they both stayed with each other due to expectations foisted on them by what society expects of a man/woman. 

I didn't like Debora, but I also didn't like Michael Farrar. I felt for their three kids (Tim, Kelly, and Lissa) and just felt as if the two adults in this situation were acting like children. You are also going to get to read about Farrar having an affair. I like that Rule doesn't pull any punches with her depictions of everyone in this one. I don't think she cared for Farrar that much either. Even so, I did have sympathy for the man when you realize what he and his family (his kids) have been put through. One wonders if there could have been anything he could have done if more people had been willing to call out something that they saw was wrong (a mother who was being emotionally manipulative of her kids and an actual danger to her husband). 

We also get an insight into a woman that Farrar has an affair with (I had some thoughts about her) as well as the law enforcement and prosecution that is involved with this. 

I really enjoyed the writing in this one. Probably because Rule managed to keep the story moving along without any huge digressions into other things. I think her having just one story to tell and not an anthology helped things along the way. 

The setting is primarily focused in Kansas and you do get a great sense of the area/neighborhood and how tight knit the community was before and after the events in this book. 

Even when you think you are at an end, Rule comes back and shows you what Debora's side of the story is/was and you just end up shaking your head all over again. 

I have long been a fan of mysteries, particularly series mysteries. When I first came across Wendy Tyson's Allison Campbell series, I immediately fell in love with her writing. Now, never having been a fan of the cozy mystery genre, I was unsure when I heard about A MUDDIED MURDER, the first in the Greenhouse Mysteries. But, it was Wendy, so I gave it a go. All of my snobbery was completely unwarranted, at least as far as these books are concerned. I immediately felt at home in Winsome and knew all of the characters as if I'd grown up with them. Plus goats!

Having been privileged enough to read BITTER HARVEST in advance of the release, I can tell you that this one is even better. No really! Even better. There is depth to the characters, as one would expect in a series, but it is more than that. The depth reveals that everyone has secrets and sometimes they keep them out of love, not self-preservation.

Megan reads as if she and I would actually be best friends. We'd have tea or wine and talk about all of the odds and ends in our lives. Bibi would join us and I would hope she would immediately adopt me. If Emily Gilmore lived on a farm and embraced the organic life, she would be BiBi. I want to go to their farm, the cafe, and even the town events. And I cannot wait to see what develops for Denver and Megan! The vet is nothing short of dreamy and I want him to be my book boyfriend.

I'm not going to go into any of the details of the plot because I loathe spoilers, but.... Aunt Sarah is more involved, there's an Oktoberfest celebration, apples are important, beer matters, and I want all of the recipes from the cafe.

I like this series (all two of them so far).  It's cozy, but not insipid; the setting is interesting (if you like gardening/farming) without being a preachy sledgehammer.  The romance incidental...but could be a bit better.  There's discreet and then there's 'wait...did they or didn't they?'.

The town of Winsome is holding its first Octoberfest and Megan starts to question when the committee starts doing things contrary to the rules they themselves setup.  A dead body ups the ante.

The characters and setting are really well written and so is the mystery plot.  Complex, lots of clues that don't seem to connect to anything at all and an interesting sub-plot running along in the background.

It seems Tyson also writes thrillers and there's a hint of that vibe running through the story, giving it that slight edginess over most cozies.  I'm definitely on board for the next one.

This is the second in the series of Wendy Tyson's greenhouse series and the mysteries of Megan's background is till unfolding as one plot. A lot of suspense and secrets involved in this one.

The main plot of the book is that it's October and the town of Winsome is holding an Octoberfest. There is major contention in that most of the townsfolk are not happy with the farm picked to be the major sponsor for the event. The farm picked gets a lot of free publicity. Seeing as this is an event that is supposed to be helping out the little farmers and the biggest farmer becomes the sponsor. The whole town is seeing red.

Not only that, several people on the committee are turning up either dead or missing. What's going on in Winsome?

A fun, entertaining and enjoyable read. This one becomes pretty sinister just for a little advertising or is that all that's going on in the little town of Winsome?

Thanks to Henery Press for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.