*Review* War and Peach by Susan Furlong

Synopsis:

Nola Mae Harper is too busy restocking the jars of preserves and chutney flying off the shelves of her shop, Peachy Keen, to keep up with all the gossip about the upcoming mayoral election, but she does know the debate is sure to be a real barn burner. 
Local farmer Clem Rogers claims he has a bombshell that could take small business owner Margie Price out of the running. But before Clem can reveal his juicy secret at the debate, his actual barn goes up in flames--with him inside of it. The town casts its vote against Margie, but Nola isn't convinced the hardworking woman is capable of murder. Now to clear Margie's name Nola will have to work fast under pressure, before Margie gets taken in by the fuzz... 

Book links:

Amazon

Goodreads

My Review:

5 out of 5 stars

★★★★★

War and Peach is the third book in the Georgia Peach mystery series.  This was my first book by this author and I never felt confused or like I was missing any information even though I haven't read the previous two books yet.  War and Peach is going down as one of my favorite reads so far this year.  I really enjoyed the characters in this book.  Each one has their own unique personality.  They are very well developed so you can get a good feel for who you are reading about.  I especially liked Nola and her love for her family.  Carla really caught my attention also.  I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing more about her and how she continues to grow as a person. The mystery hooked me from the beginning and kept me interested until the end.  The author did a wonderful job at keeping me guessing as to who the murderer was.  Each suspect seemed guilty in different ways.  I went back and forth several different times as to who I thought was guilty.  When the murderer was revealed I was completely surprised since it was someone I hadn't suspected at all.   Another thing I really enjoyed about the book was the Southern Girl Secret listed at the beginning of each chapter.  Being a southern girl myself, I thought those were a really fun addition to the book.  The recipes included in the book all sound delicious so I'm definitely going to be giving them a try sometime!  

About the Author:

During her writing career, Susan has worked as a freelance writer, academic writer, and novelist. Her short work has appeared in several national publications including Woman’s World magazine. Currently she's busy working on The Georgia Peach Mysteries, soon to be released from Berkley Prime Crime. She has also continued the New York Times bestselling Novel Idea Mysteries, starting with the fourth book in the series, under the pen name Lucy Arlington.

You can visit Susan Furlong's website here.