Murder Freshly Baked

Vannetta Chapman

Jun 2015 · An Amish Village Mystery Book 3 · Sold by Zondervan

About this ebook

When delicious baked goods become lethal, a trail of poetry leads to a sweet-toothed killer.

The Amish Artisan Village of Middlebury, Indiana, might be the last place you would ever expect to find a murderer. But Amber has been managing the Village for decades and there’s nothing she hasn’t seen. Or so she thought.

When poetic notes begin appearing around the bakery, warning that some of the pies have been poisoned, Amber is as confused as she is concerned. Who poisons pies? And more to the point, who leaves poems of warning after they’ve done it? When Amber decides to help the police track down the sweet-toothed saboteur, she enlists Hannah Troyer for another round of Amish-style detective work.

Can Amber and Hannah help the police before the Poison Poet strikes? Both women will need to draw on their faith to preserve the peaceful community they’ve built in Middlebury . . . and to protect the girls who work in the Amish Artisan Village.

• Sweet and cozy Amish mystery
• Part of the Amish Village Mystery Series. Book 1: Murder Simply Brewed; Book 2: Murder Tightly Knit; Book 3: Murder Freshly Baked
• Book length: 85,000 words
• Includes discussion questions for book clubs

Ratings and reviews

Murder Freshly Baked by Vannetta Chapman is the third book in the Amish Village Mystery series. Amber Bowman is the manager of The Amish Village in Middlebury, Indiana. Things have been going well for the last few months and Amber is looking forward to the weddings of her friends, Hannah and Mary. Then she starts receiving strange emails. The emails are bad poetry stating that pies and other pastries are poisoned. Then someone starts leaving pies with poetry around town. Then the Poison Poet (as they have dubbed him) starts making it personal and attacking Amber. Hannah, Tate, Amber, Jesse, Pam and friends set out to find who is behind the notes and pies. Who is the Poison Poet? Preston Johnstone is still having PTSD episodes (he was the homeless man in the first book and now works and lives in the Amish Village). He is dating Zoey Quinn who is a nurse who works at the nursing home where Preston’s father lives. Zoey has found out about a special program that pairs dogs with people with PTSD. Zoey has convinced Preston to fill out an application for a dog. Preston is not sure how a dog will help him, but he is willing to give it a chance (with a lot of encouragement from Amber, Tate, and Zoey). Preston would like to get over his past so he can have a future. Hopefully, Mocha (his new PTSD dog) will help him so Preston can go after the girl of his dreams. Hannah (manager of coffee shop) and Mary (The Cat’s Meow) are busy planning their weddings. They are having a double wedding. Their finance’s are finishing up their rooms. They will be living at the Miller’s home (the boy’s parents). Hannah, Mary, Pam (assistant manager at The Village), and Amber are worried about their friends. Martha Gingerich, Letha Keim, and Georgia Small are all dating Ryan Duvall. Ryan is something of a playboy. He is Englisch and two of the girls are Amish. No one wants to see them hurt, but it is destined to happen. Ryan would never convert to the Amish faith and Martha and Letha would not want to leave the Amish. Then after Ryan finishes The Race for the Cure he is shot dead. Who killed him? Was he shot because of philandering ways or because of his gambling problem? Murder Freshly Baked is a charming novel. The book contained great, likeable characters, a little romance, a beautiful setting, and good mysteries. However, I did not enjoy this book as much as the first two in the series. I liked that Preston was getting help for his PTSD, but I did not enjoy all the scenes of his time in Afghanistan. They did not seem to go with the book (maybe if there had been only one or two scenes). I liked hearing about how dogs can help people with PTSD. What a great program. I give Murder Freshly Baked 4 out of 5 stars. I received a complimentary copy of Murder Freshly Baked from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are my own.

Kept me in suspense !

About the author

Vannetta Chapman writes inspirational fiction full of grace. She is the author of sixteen novels, including the Pebble Creek Amish series, The Shipshewana Amish Mystery series, and Anna’s Healing, a 2016 Christy Award finalist. Vannetta is a Carol award winner and has also received more than two dozen awards from Romance Writers of America chapter groups. She was a teacher for fifteen years and currently resides in the Texas hill country. Visit Vannetta online: VannettaChapman.com, Twitter: @VannettaChapman, Facebook: VannettaChapmanBooks.