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Expert muffin baker Merry Wynter is finally ready to turn her passion into a career. But when a dead body is found on her property, she’s more worried about cooking up an alibi… Merry is making a fresh start in small-town Autumn Vale, New York, in the mansion she’s inherited from her late uncle, Melvin. The house is run-down and someone has been digging giant holes on the grounds, but with its restaurant-quality kitchen, the place has potential for her new baking business. She even has her first client—the local retirement home. Unfortunately, Merry soon finds that quite a few townsfolk didn’t like Uncle Mel, and she has inherited their enmity as well as his home. Local baker Binny Turner and her crazy brother, Tom, blame Melvin for their father’s death, and Tom may be the one vandalizing her land. But when Tom turns up dead in one of the holes in her yard, Merry needs to prove she had nothing to do with his death—or her new muffin-making career may crumble before it starts…

Another new-to-me author and series, I borrowed this audiobook from the library. I’ve been enjoying cozy mysteries recently, so I decided to try something new.

Bran New Death has so many of the cozy mystery elements that I love: no explicit scenes, quirky characters, and small-town life. One surprising/different element was the length–this book was almost twice as long as many cozies I’ve read recently. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though, as sometimes I wish cozies were longer so I could enjoy them for longer. A few times the story felt a bit wordy, but the author set up a lot of characters and backstory all at once. I assume many of those characters will return in later books (which I’ll likely also read).

If you like cozy mysteries, I recommend this book.

Rated PG.

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For more cozy mystery series, try:

Crossed by Death by A.C.F. Bookens
Death in the Park by London Lovett