Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Take the Honey and Run (A Bee Keeping Mystery) by Jennie Marts. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Take the Honey and Run (A Bee Keeping Mystery)
by Jennie Marts
Take the Honey and Run (A Bee Keeping Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Colorado
Crooked Lane Books (July 18, 2023)
Hardcover : 336 pages
The town is all abuzz when a murder occurs in Jennie Marts’ debut cozy mystery, perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Amanda Flower.
As a successful mystery author, Bailey Briggs writes about murder, but nothing prepares her for actually discovering the dead body of the founder of her hometown of Humble Hills, Colorado. Bailey grew up at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch and was raised by her beekeeping grandmother, Blossom Briggs, aka Granny Bee, and her two eccentric sisters, Aster and Marigold—which is why she drops everything to come home and help Granny Bee after a bad fall.
A broken foot doesn’t stop her grandmother from ruling The Hive, her granny’s book club, or continuing to prepare and package her bee-inspired products. But when Bailey’s grandmother’s infamous “Honey I’m Home” hot spiced honey turns out to “bee” the murder weapon and her granny is now the prime suspect, Bailey has no choice but to use her fictional detective skills to help solve the murder and “smoke out” the real culprit.
With the help of Bailey’s witty bestie, a pair of meddling aunts, the feisty members of The Hive, and her computer-savvy daughter, this amateur sleuth is determined to solve the case. A malicious attack and an ominous threat reveal that someone wants Bailey to butt out of the investigation, but there’s no way she’s backing down. She must use her skills to uncover the truth and catch the clever culprit before her grandmother ends up bee-hind bars.
Honey-Glazed Quesitos Recipe
Recipe from TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN: A Bee Keeping Mystery Book 1
Post by Jennie Marts
Thanks so much to Christy for inviting me to spend a day on her blog. I’m really thrilled to be here! I’m Jennie Marts, and I write small town stories with humor and heart. My books range from cozy mystery to romantic comedies to western romance.
My new book, TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN, is the first in a fun new Bee Keeping Cozy Mystery series. And after having over thirty books published, I’m so excited that this will be my first hardback. Yay!
TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN is the story of Bailey Briggs, a single mom mystery author, who returns home to her small mountain town of Humble Hills, Colorado. She and her twelve-year-old daughter, Daisy, arrive to hear her grandmother, Granny Bee, threatening to kill the town mayor. The next morning, Bailey discovers the mayor’s dead body, and Granny Bee’s Honey I’m Home Hot Spiced Honey turns out to bee the murder weapon. Now Granny’s got herself into a sticky situation, and Bailey has to use her fictional detective skills to solve a real murder and keep her grandmother from ending up bee-hind bars.
Oh, and did I mention that upon arriving in town, she runs into Sawyer Dunn, the love of her life, whom she hasn’t seen in thirteen years, not since he got shipped off to his uncle’s farm in Montana the night they stole a tractor and accidentally drove it into a pond? And did I also mention that Sawyer now happens to be the town sheriff?
I had so much fun writing this book! My husband is a certified beekeeper, and he has always told such fascinating stories about the life and habits of bees, that I knew I had to incorporate them into a story somehow. Granny Bee is the beekeeper in this book, and her book club, affectionately known as The Hive, consists of her two spinster sisters (who live in an old purple Victorian called Lavender Manor), Rosa Delgado, and town librarian, Dottie Duffield.
Bailey and her sidekick bestie, Evie Delgado Espinoza (Rosa’s granddaughter), have been described as a mashup of Lucy & Ethel and Thelma & Louise trying to solve a murder.
Granny Bee loves to bake and is always offering up honey-inspired dishes, so I knew I had to add recipes to this book. When I told my mom, who is a fabulous cook, this, she insisted we spend the day in the kitchen testing out all the recipes and finding the best ones for the book.
I think we made sixteen recipes in all. But our favorite was the Cream-Cheese Quesitos, the specialty danish from Evie and Rosa’s bakery. Drizzled in honey, they were so good, they were almost to die for!
…But maybe not to murder for!
I’d love for you to check out all the recipes and find out who used the hot spiced honey to murder the mayor in Take the Honey and Run. Humble Hills and Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch are full of fun and quirky characters, and I hope you love them as much as I do.
Do you have any favorite recipes that you use honey in? I’d love to hear about them! I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration for the next book in the series, Kill Or Bee Killed, coming out next spring. Tell me about your favorite use for honey in the comments.
Thanks for hosting me today! I so enjoy the blog and was thrilled to be part of it today!
You can find TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN here:
About Jennie Marts
Jennie Marts is the USA TODAY Best-selling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”
She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet who loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.
Her books range from Western romance to cozy mysteries, but they all have the charm and appeal of quirky small-town life. She loves genre-mashups like adding romance to her Page Turners cozy mysteries and creating the hockey-playing cowboys in the Cowboys of Creedence. The same small-town community comes to life with more animal antics in her latest Creedence Horse Rescue series. And her sassy heroines and hunky heroes carry over in her heartwarming, feel good romances from Hallmark Publishing. Her newest cozy mystery, Take the Honey and Run: A Bee Keeping Mystery, debuts this July.
Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books, Twitter at @JennieMarts, and at jenniemartswriter on Instagram. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.
Purchase Links
Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Bookshop.org – Alibris
Enter the giveaway
Take the Honey and Run TOUR PARTICIPANTS
August 1 – Mystery, Thrillers and Suspense – AUTHOR GUEST POST
August 2 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
August 3 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT
August 4 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – REVIEW
August 4 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT
August 5 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 5 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
August 6 – Cozy Up WIth Kathy – REVIEW
August 6 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
August 7 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT
August 8 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
August 9 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
August 9 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
August 10 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT
August 10 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – RECIPE
August 11 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
August 12 – Brooke Blogs – REVIEW
August 13 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
August 14 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW
Have you signed up to be a Tour Host?
Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today!
Sounds like a book I will like.