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A Dismal Harvest

Published by Seventh Street Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
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About The Book

Autumn on the Sonoma Coast. A welcome chill is whipping through the crisp Pacific air, but something else is stirring in this rural California town…

Witty and down-to-earth Claudia Simcoe is sure that the gourmet harvest dinner being held at her artisan marketplace will wipe away any memories of the unpleasantness last summer. Not to mention give her a chance to figure out the bewildering relationship budding with her craft-beer-brewing neighbor, Nathan. But rather than dealing with carefully curated food and cautious flirting, Claudia finds herself thrown into the center of a murder investigation when a secret compartment in her market is tied to the death of a local lawyer.

At least this time she isn’t the prime suspect. Instead, it’s one of Claudia’s marketplace tenants who is wanted by the police: the locally-famed cheesemaker, Julie Muller. Determined to help clear her friend’s name—and to discover the history connecting her market to the murder victim—Claudia is forced to test her mettle as a detective once more. As she starts digging into San Elmo’s long-buried past, she is confronted with Prohibition-era mysteries, shady land deals, and a small town bursting with motives to kill the crooked lawyer. But just as she thinks she’s getting a handle on this investigating thing, another gruesome death brings Claudia dangerously close to the killer.

The second installment in Daisy Bateman’s Marketplace series delivers cozy mystery and charming humor as Claudia works to uncover the truth about the murders, her marketplace, and her feelings for her ruggedly attractive neighbor.

About The Author

Daisy Bateman is the author of the Marketplace Mysteries series, in which the owner of an artisan foods marketplace on the Sonoma Coast solves murders and stops for the occasional snack. Daisy is a mystery lover, cheese enthusiast, and world-renowned expert in Why You Should Buy That. In what passes for normal life, she works in biotech and lives in Alameda, California, with her husband and a labradoodle on a mission to chew the world into tiny pieces

Product Details

  • Publisher: Seventh Street Books (March 15, 2022)
  • Length: 240 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781645060383

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Raves and Reviews

A pleasing debut for a complicated sleuth in this up-to-date take on the cozy mystery.

– Kirkus Reviews

Claudia’s lively and often highly amusing narration presents plausible potential suspects and motives galore—all this plus intelligent furry and feathered friends. Cozy fans will eagerly await Claudia’s next adventure.

– Publishers Weekly

There’s nothing like a good murder weapon, and Daisy Bateman delivers, with several, including a jar of pickles, a cheese wire, and a butcher knife. Bateman brings us Claudia Simcoe, a smart businesswoman and manager of an artisanal market who knows her way around software, her tenants’ two-year gouda, and the occasional goose. Claudia is a rich character who gets into the kind of trouble we love: tracking down a murderer who has not only killed, but pushed Claudia to the top of the suspect list. Bateman writes with confidence, providing descriptions that are a sensory delight, whether of frittatas or splendorous bay and ocean views, and a crew of characters who stand out as unique and unpredictable individuals. We hold our breath as Claudia investigates, sometimes sneaking around, other times frighteningly out in the open, but always holding our attention.

– Camille Minichino, author of five mystery series

This is my favorite debut novel ever. Bateman's wit, warmth, and charming depth of descriptive power don't just leap off the page, they welcome you into the company of such splendid characters you won't want to leave. Pick your coziest chair, bring snacks, and don't forget to hydrate. May she write fast: I can't wait to devour her next book.

– Cornelia Read, author of the Edgar Award-nominated debut 'A Field of Darkness'

A lively, witty mystery set in a coastal northern California town that’s so real I can almost smell the ocean and hear the gulls. And as Daisy Bateman writes: “If you had asked Claudia what she expected to come of her opening an artisanal marketplace in a seaside town, “assembles a mismatched team to investigate a murder” would not have been her first guess.

– Susan C. Shea, author of 'Love & Death in Burgundy'

In this charming debut, Daisy Bateman offers a deliciously fresh and funny take on cozy mysteries. Readers will want to spend more time with the irrepressible Claudia Simcoe, not to mention the quirky vendors and customers of her artisanal (but occasionally murderous) market hall located on the atmospheric Sonoma coast. I know *I’m* already hungry for more Murder Goes to Market!

– Juliet Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author of the Witchcraft Mysteries and the Haunted Home Renovation series

This foodie cozy is not too sweet, and not too sharp, but juuuust right. The setting - a farm-to-fork marketplace and cottage by the sea in California - pulls us in on page one and the day-dream is complete when we meet Claudia Simcoe, who's a BFF waiting to happen. Of course, murder gets in the way but the plot is tight, the twists convincing, and the resolution nicely sprung. And did I say it's laugh-out-loud funny? Neatly up-ending some cozy conventions, Murder Goes to Market is a confident series debut, with just a whiff of what's on sale in book two.

– Catriona McPherson, author of Mary Higgins Clark award finalist 'Strangers at the Gate'

Murder Goes to Market is perfect for any reader in the market for mystery. You'll find a puzzling whodunnit, an endearing amateur sleuth to root for and, in bucolic San Elmo, California, a setting you'll wish you could visit. And it's all handcrafted by the finest local artisans. (Well, or wonderfully written by Daisy Bateman, anyway.) Plop a copy into your shopping basket today!

– Steve Hockensmith, Edgar finalist author of 'Holmes on the Range'

Wine and cheese have never been so deadly delicious as in Daisy Bateman’s A Dismal Harvest. Claudia Simcoe is a wry and introspective sleuth, determined to discover who killed the thief who disrupted her harvest dinner by sneaking a mysterious package out of her farm-to-table marketplace on the edge of California’s wine country—though it might prove easier to figure out who didn’t want the man dead. A dash of history, a splash of romance, and an intriguing hint of what’s to come make A Dismal Harvest a gourmet treat for lovers of cozy mysteries and foodie fiction.

– Leslie Budewitz, three-time Agatha Award-winning author of the Spice Shop Mysteries

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