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Mind Your Own Beeswax
Mind Your Own Beeswax by Hannah Reed
by Hannah Reed
   

Fun mystery!

Lauren Kerrigan is missing.  Lauren's past history and her recent return to Moraine, Wisconsin has everyone in the town talking. When Story Fischer's bees go looking for a new hive, she can't help but run into trouble.  While she is hunting for her bees with her sister Holly, they hear gunshots in the woods. When Lauren's dead body is found in the woods near where Story was looking for her bees (and not only hers but another body as well!), past memories of the Lantern Man in the Lost Mile add a eeriness to the murders.  Does the past enlighten the current crime?  Story might be able to locate the bees but can she find the clues and murderer?  Count on her stirring up a lot of trouble!

In MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX, the second of the Queen Bee mystery series, Hannah Reed introduces a reader to the town of Moraine, Wisconsin, letting one visit and get to know the residents and their relationships with one another.  MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX sets up the series, not just with a mystery to be solved, but also with a more in depth visit inside the town than one typically gets in a short cozy stream-lined mystery. 
In that sense, MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX  is a nice change of pace. Readers new to the series can start the series here without feeling lost.  One feels the centrality of Story's grocery store within the town. Story Fischer is quite a character from her flip flops to her knack for finding trouble.  Her character's enthusiastic energy creates a nice sense of humor in the narrative voice throughout the story. 

Despite the small town setting, Story's character has a fresh, hip and even sassy tone  in her outlook.  Her use (and even overuse) of powerpoint presentation lists in her personal thoughts makes her quite a character.  Story's exasperation (and the reader's) with her sister's obsessive use of internet chat acronyms in everyday conversation adds additional humor.  Despite the surface humor and Story's spunkiness, Hannah Reed gives readers a peek into her heart as well, especially as the mystery develops.  The tensions between Story and Johnny Jay are more obvious than others, but Hannah Reed creates depth in her characters by revealing the different levels of conflicts between several characters.  The informational bee background to the mystery is an integral part of the narrative. MIND YOUR OWN BEESWAX is a perfect nighttime reading choice for readers who want to be taken into another world as well as solve a mystery alongside Story.  

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (May 3, 2011)
A Queen Bee Mystery
Author website
Previous Queen Bee Mysteries: Buzz Off
   
Reviewed by Merrimon, Merrimon Book Reviews
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