Fruit of All Evil
A Farmer’s Market Mystery
By Paige Shelton
Paperback, 290 pages, $7.99

With the reopening of most local farmers’ markets in May, this mystery series is a must-read for cozy fans who frequent these wonderful venues.

Paige Shelton not only weaves a terrific tale in this Farmers’ Market series but also has a tight grasp on the family of vendors who meet once or twice a week across the country in markets large and small.

“Fruit of All Evil,” is the second in this outstanding series that features sisters Allison Reynolds, the market manager, and Becca Robins, a jam and preserve vendor at Bailey’s Market, which like the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market, is open year-round.

Set in South Carolina, this series will take you inside the lives of the farmers and artists who make a living selling their fresh and handmade creations. You might even find a composite of several of your favorite vendors in these characters.

In the second of this enjoyable series, Becca is asked to organize a quick wedding for a good friend and fellow vendor, Linda McMahon, whose fiancé is reporting for duty in parts unknown in just five days. And, she wants a farmers’ market themed wedding at Bailey’s.

“Laura dressed like a character from a Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and for seven years had sold homemade fruit pies from a stall next to mine,” Becca says.

Linda’s marrying a Navy Seal from a local well-to-do banking family but before the ceremony can take place, her future, rather unpopular, mother-in-law is murdered, which puts a bit of a crimp in the wedding plans. And adds to the number of suspects when it’s discovered that several market vendors have received foreclosure notices on their farms.

Meanwhile, Becca’s suffering from “a big lump of commitment phobia that clogged her throat,” when it came to Ian Cartwright, an artist she’d met at the market and had been dating. She’s much better at growing strawberries and pumpkins and turning them into jams and preserves than she is at relationships.

For readers who remember when the milk man delivered milk, butter and ice cream to your home, this book will remind you of days gone by.

And there’s a hilarious inquisitive calf encounter, too.

This series is not only farm fresh but also fantastically fun. You’ll want to read “Farm Fresh Murder,” the first in the series, while munching on locally produced products, and there are recipes included. Does it get any better than that?

Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter for AnnArbor.com who writes a weekly book review column, Cozy Corner, which appears every Wednesday.