Pups, Pumpkins, and Murder (Samantha Davies Mysteries Book # 4) by S.A. Kazlo

Autumn has arrived in the small town of Wings Falls in upstate New York, and children's book author Samantha Davies couldn't be happier. She's excited to attend the town's annual Taste of Wings Falls craft and food festival with her boyfriend Detective Hank Johnson. The fair features several booths, like the one Sam's rug hooking group, the Loopy Ladies, have set up as a fundraiser to send underprivileged children to summer camps, as well as home-grown vegetables, like the 2,000-pound pumpkin grown by Farmer Scooter that he's proudly displayed on the back of his truck. But maybe the biggest draws for the fair is the barbeque cook-off. Samantha is friends with the owners of the three restaurants participating, but she is betting on Franny Goodway, the owner of Sweetie Pie's Café, taking home this year's coveted first place prize.

But things take a stomach-churning turn when several fair goers become ill after chowing down on Franny's pulled pork delight. Franny insists it's not her fault... but when Sam sees Franny vehemently arguing with the new loan officer at the town's bank, she knows something is wrong.

Little did Sam know how wrong.

That evening as Sam takes her dachshund, Porkchop, for a stroll, she finds the body of the loan officer...crushed under a 2,000 pound pumpkin and deader than the fall leaves covering the ground! Franny instantly becomes the number one suspect, and it's up to Sam to prove her friend innocent of the man's murder. Can she find a killer, and navigate her relationship with her detective boyfriend, and save Sweetie Pie's Café?


"A doggone entertaining mystery filled with small town scandals! Funny and entertaining!"
~ Fresh Fiction   (Summary via Goodreads)

The best advice that I can give readers when picking up Pups, Pumpkins, and Murder by S.A. Kazlo is to just sit back and enjoy the story and murder because trying to solve the latest murder in this series will be impossible !!!  Unless,of course, you are Nancy Drew...then I say go for it !!

Pups, Pumpkins, and Murder is the fourth book in the Samantha Davis Mystery series and the series is full of great characters, a charming little town with quaint stores and restaurants and yes murder !!

In Pups, Pumpkins, and Murder the town of Wings Falls is celebrating the town with their annual Taste of Wings Falls Fair.  Three local restaurants will be competing for the Best Barbeque Prize, local vendors will be selling their homemade goodies and everyone will be checking out Scooter Dickerson's 2,000 pound pumpkin.....unfortunately no one knew that Scooter's pumpkin was going to roll off of the truck and kill the new local bank loan officer, Edgar Jensen. Also people become ill after eating one of the competing restaurants pulled pork sandwiches.

To say local Detective Hank Johnson was going to have his hands full with this case is stating it lightly.  The suspect list for both instances is long and unfortunately Hank's younger brother, Aaron, is on both lists as a suspect.  Hank's girlfriend, Sam, does not believe that Aaron would do anything to jeopardize his girlfriend's aunt's restaurant and put something in the pulled pork and also Sam doesn't believe he is capable of murder.

Sam along with her cousin Candie put on their investigator hats and start looking into both cases.  As they look into Edgar's death they find out that he was giving members of the community a hard time when they applied for loans as well as charging a "special fee" along with the interest if they were to receive the loan.  After talking to some people they find out that all of the contestants in the barbeque contest had applied for loans and were unhappy with Edgar's behavior, Edgar and his wife were seen arguing the day of the fair and Sam's childhood enemy, Police Officer Joe Peters and his wife had bad dealings with his also.  But were any of them capable of pushing a 2,000 pound pumpkin on the man ??

Readers will have their hands full reading this tasty tale and will love everything about it.  The Samantha Davies Mystery series will become of favorite for sure, if it hasn't already.