It's harvest time in the small town of Granford Massachussetts, and it's the busy season for apple orchard owner Meg Corey and her Jamaican apple-pickers.

The small town is also slowly being beautified, and Meg's friend Gail, director of the Historical Society, wants the Society's building to be enlarged, which must be done underneath; they will need to excavate. Meg's fiancé, Seth Chapin has a construction business and is involved in the renovations. The gubernatorial candidate's nephew, Jeffrey Green, will be watching the excavation work to merit his Boy Scout archaeological badge. The excavation work has barely started when Jeffrey notices something, which turns out to be part of a human skull. Although the bones seem to be quite ancient, the excavation site has become a crime scene. It makes the news for a very short while however because not long after, Jeffrey finds the body of an unknown African-American man who has been murdered, and Jeffrey has blood on his hands.

PICKED TO DIE is the eighth book in the An Orchard Mystery series, and even if you have not read the previous instalments, you will have no problems keeping up with the ongoing stories and characters, as Ms. Connolly subtly recaps everything. The author's descriptions are so vivid and informative that I felt I was right there in Granford, that I knew the place, the people; that I belonged to their community.

PICKED TO DIE is a very well-written cozy mystery, the pace of the story matches that of a small town, and the character development is exceptionally thorough, and even though there are numerous characters, it's never confusing. PICKED TO DIE is a fun, quick, easy read, with enough plot twists to keep you on your toes until the last pages. And there is the added bonus of a few scrumptious recipes at the end!