Running and maintaining an organic farm isn't easy! Cameron "Cam" Flaherty never expected all the social obligations that would occur when she decided to leave the computer business and take over her Uncle Albert's farm. Her first farm-to-table dinner appears to be a smashing success... until someone winds up dead afterwards. Now Cam finds herself- and her farm- smack dab in the middle of yet another murder investigation. Irene Burr ruffled a lot of feathers but who was angry enough to actually murder her? Will Cam survive when the danger heats up?

I love the concept behind Edith Maxwell's Local Foods mystery series! 'TIL DIRT DO US PART is the second entry into this mystery series featuring an organic farmer who finds out that bugs and weather struggles are only part of her problem. Edith Maxwell was actually the owner of an organic farm herself and her knowledge clearly shows in the series. We see the struggles of an independent farmer, particularly one who is going against some of the conventional farming methods and foregoing things such as pesticides. The foray into the local markets and fairs where Cam sells (and eventually competes) is especially insightful.

The Locavores, a group of locals who make up a large part of Cam's business and only eat local foods, are an interesting bunch and I am glad we get to see more of them. Edith Maxwell does a marvelous job at crafting quirky characters! I love that we are seeing more of Detective Pappas as Edith Maxwell throws a few interesting twists into 'TIL DIRT DO US PART.

'TIL DIRT DO US PART is a fun and entertaining cozy mystery that has me hooked! Edith Maxwell cleverly mixes in a nice education about the value of local foods and organic farming while providing the reader with a fascinating mystery. I look forward to reading more books by Edith Maxwell and seeing what future struggles the winter gardening season may hold for Cam!

Book Summary

The produce is local - and so is the crime - when long- simmering tensions lead to murder following a festive dinner on Cam Flaherty's farm. It'll take a sleuth who knows the lay of the land to catch this killer. But no one ever said Cam wasn't willing to get her hands dirty...

Autumn has descended on Westbury, Massachusetts, but the mood at the Farm-to-Table Dinner in Cam's newly built barn is unseasonably chilly. Local entrepreneur Irene Burr made a lot of enemies with her plan to buy Westbury's Old Town Hall and replace it with a textile museum-enough enemies to fill out a list of suspects when the wealthy widow turns up dead on a neighboring farm.

Even an amateur detective like Cam can figure out that one of the resident locavores went loco - at least temporarily - and settled a score with Irene. But which one? With the Fall harvest upon her, Cam must sift through a bushelful of possible killers that includes Irene's estranged stepson, her disgruntled auto mechanic, and a fellow CSA subscriber who seems suspiciously happy to have the dead woman out of the way.

The closer she gets to weeding out the culprit, the more Cam feels like someone is out to cut her harvest short. But to keep her own body out of the compost pile, she'll have to wrap this case up quickly.