Perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Julie Anne Lindsey, when Kate Mulligan inherits her great uncle's fruit orchard, she quickly realizes that apples aren't the only thing that can have rotten cores. After losing her husband in a terrible car crash, thirty-five-year-old Kate is left to pick up the pieces of her life alone. Although she has physically recovered, she worries her spirit never will. But when she learns that she has inherited a fruit orchard in a small town just outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from her ...
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Perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Julie Anne Lindsey, when Kate Mulligan inherits her great uncle's fruit orchard, she quickly realizes that apples aren't the only thing that can have rotten cores. After losing her husband in a terrible car crash, thirty-five-year-old Kate is left to pick up the pieces of her life alone. Although she has physically recovered, she worries her spirit never will. But when she learns that she has inherited a fruit orchard in a small town just outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, from her great uncle Stan, she takes this as an opportunity ripe for the picking. Kate knew immediately what to do with it: open a cider house. Her hopeful plans fall far from the tree when she finds the body of the orchard manager, Carl Randolph, leaving her to figure out who is at the core of this murder. She had been in correspondence with Carl, who had agreed with her brilliant idea of opening a cider house. But not everyone is so quick to buy what she was selling--Uncle Stan's lawyer, Robert Larabee, paints a less rosy financial outlook of the orchard's past, present, and future. Kate discovers that Carl had large, unexplained deposits to his bank account and it becomes clear that either he was blackmailing someone, or someone was paying him to keep quiet. Meanwhile, Kate and her neighbors receive offers to buy their property from a mysterious buyer. And there's more than meets the eye with the neighboring orchard owner, Daniel Martinez, although Kate can't quite put her finger on if it's sweet or sour. Will she be able to pick out the bad apple among the bunch before it's too late?
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Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
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Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 240 p. A Cider House Mystery. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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Seller's Description:
Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 240 p. A Cider House Mystery. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 240 p. A Cider House Mystery. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 240 p. A Cider House Mystery. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
Deadly to the Core by Joyce Tremel is the debut of A Cider House Mysteries. Kate Mulligan is ready for a fresh start after the loss of her husband. She has inherited a fruit orchard from her great uncle, and this is Kate�s opportunity to open her cider house. The author is extremely descriptive. She will describe rooms in detail down to the color of the walls, but she is less graphic when depicting individuals. The characters need to be fleshed out. I found them lacking in emotion. We are told their emotions instead of the characters expressing them. The mystery was straightforward. The orchard manager is murdered, and Kate insists on searching for the killer. There might as well have been a neon arrow pointing to the killer. The reveal was lackluster. The story�s pace was sluggish, especially in the middle. The longwinded descriptions as well as the discussions regarding maps, farmlands, who owns which properties, and property lines made for dry reading (helpful if you suffer from insomnia). Unneeded step by step details did not help with the pacing (the steps of preparing a meal, getting a drink of water, and such). I was surprised that Kate did not know more about orchards or even the terminology. As you can tell, I struggled to get through Deadly to the Core.
Lori
Jan 27, 2024
A Stirring Mystery
Dollycas's Thoughts
Kate Mulligan has returned to Orchardville, Pennsylvania with a plan following the loss of her husband to an awful car accident and her inheritance of her uncle Stan's orchard. She has mostly recovered from the physical injuries she sustained in the crash and feels she is ready to open a cider house at the orchard. She feels her uncle's orchard manager, Carl Randolph, will help her with the orchard and get the cider house off to a great start. Their first meeting goes well and he has done everything she asked so they are ready to hit the ground running. She is stunned when she later finds him dead in his cottage.
Who would kill Carl and why? The information she received from her uncle's lawyer conflicted with the information she received from Carl. In fact, the attorney had found her a buyer to take the orchard off her hands.
After Carl's death, she finds irregularities in his bank account that confuses her even more. Could these issues be the reason he was killed? And why does someone want her property so badly? Can her new neighbor Daniel Martinez help her answer all her questions or is he part of the problem?
Kate may have a bushel full of trouble. Can she solve all the mysteries and open her cider house? Or will she be forced to leave her dream behind? Worse, will the killer decide she is another threat that needs to be eliminated?
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I enjoyed meeting Kate Mulligan and her fire to follow her dream of having her own cider house. She is missing her husband and dealing with her own recovery but she does her best to tackle everything thrown at her including trying to find the killer of her orchard manager. I liked Carl and was sad he was the victim. We meet a variety of residents of the small town of Orchardville from Uncle Stan's attorney to Rudy Miller of Miller's Grocery Emporium to her old friend Marguerite Yost to her neighbor, Daniel Martinez, and more. Orchardville is a typical small town where everybody knows everybody and usually all their business. All the characters were well-crafted with room to get to know most of them better as the series continues.
The mystery held my attention. I knew early on that one character was up to something fishy but was unsure about all the elements going on behind the scenes. Those elements were all twisted and tangled together and much more involved than I had imagined. Secrets, lies, revenge, and greed played into a very intriguing mystery and set up an interesting showdown with help from an unexpected character.
I enjoyed the author's descriptive writing style. Her words brought to life all the places our protagonist visited. I especially like the details of setting up the cider house in the barn on Kate's property and that the history of the area plays in a major way throughout the story. It is nice to get the "lay of the land" in the first book of a series so readers can build a picture of the locations in their mind's eye.
Deadly to the Core has set the Cider House Mysteries off to a terrific start. I enjoyed this stirring mystery with a strong protagonist surrounded by a great supporting cast. I am eager to get to know these characters better and see what Ms. Tremel has planned for them next.
