Orange As Marmalade

Rating:
Summary: well-crafted story
Review: Even people who aren't wild about cats can enjoy Orange as Marmalade. It has warm, interesting people, who seem to be growing and learning throughout the book. They are people I want to get to know even more about, because I care about what happens to them. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Delightfully written
Review: Fran Stewart's book is delightful and holds your interest using a warm, friendly style. She also uses a unique format for telling her story, weaving the plot to keep you in suspense. Lots of useful information on gardening, natural healing, and, of course, cats! Mystery, fun, and learning - what more can you ask from a book! Her book club discussion questions at the end are quite thought provoking, even for someone who hasn't read the book. Hard to believe this is Ms. Stewart's first book. Kinda leaves you feeling like you've read a mystery from Mitford! Can't wait to read the next Biscuit McKee Mystery.

Rating:
Summary: A Great New Mystery
Review: Marmalade and Biscuit. Kind of like Toast and Jam, but in this case it's a saucy white and orange cat and her extraordinary human who discover a body in the town library. The tiny little town of Martinsville in northeastern Georgia becomes the scene of an intriguing who-done-it murder mystery. So, who killed nature photographer Harlan Schneider? No ones talking in Martinsville, as most of the clues point to someone local. But then again, not the first investigator asked Marmalade.
I was first drawn to this book simply for the "cat factor." Any book that has as one of it's characters a fancy feline has to be on the right track.

Fran Stewart uses flashbacks to weave the details of what transpired before the murder of the young photographer and the current events surrounding Biscuit McKee, the new town librarian, who is getting ready for her upcoming wedding to the town's only police officer. Although the flashbacks took getting use to, it filled in the story just fine.

Stewart's Martinsville has such a richness to it that I'm looking forward to learning more about this "town" and its inhabitants. Orange as Marmalade contains some clues to a mystery that surrounds the 1745 founding of the town. Each book in the Biscuit McKee Mystery Series will add a few more clues, and the 200-year-old puzzle will be finally solved in White as Ice, the eighth book of the series. So, this will definately be a series worth looking forward to.

This is a five star book worthy of a place on the bookshelf of any well read mystery enthusiast. But you don't have to be a connoisseur of mysteries to enjoy this book.

Take a trip to Martinsville, Georgia and spend a little time with Biscuit McKee, Marmalade, and a town full of interesting characters.