The upcoming Bee Festival is all the buzz around Humble Hills, Colorado. Mystery writer Bailey Briggs and her family have coordinated many bee-inspired events, and celebrity Rex Rafferty will be hosting the Bee Festival Bake-Off.  All the locals are excited, but when Rex turns out to be a jerk and is knocked dead with a KitchenAid appliance, Bailey knows she better start investigating because her best friend and bake-off contestant Evie Delgado is the prime suspect in book 2 of the Bee Keeping Mysteries, KILL OR BEE KILLED by Jennie Marts.

Bailey is enjoying being home again at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch, surrounded by Granny Bee and her aunts Marigold and Aster. It’s the perfect place for her daughter Daisy to grow up, and the rekindling of an old romance with Sheriff Sawyer Dunn sounds pretty good to Bailey too. When Rex is murdered at the Bee Festival and Evie and the other bake-off contestants become suspects, Bailey knows she and Evie have to find the real killer quickly. From the disgruntled camera crew, Rex’s unappreciated personal assistant, old bullies, a secret identity, a missing pie, a spiked water bottle, and another dead body, Evie and Bailey have their job cut out for them. Will they uncover the real killer before the festival falls apart and Bailey gets stung by a real bullet?

KILL OR BEE KILLED is a fun, fast-paced cozy that will keep readers laughing and guessing to the end. Bailey is a lively character who jumps right in and takes no prisoners during her investigation. There are plenty of humorous moments where Evie and Bailey get themselves into precarious situations, and the car trunk scene at the end is pretty darn funny. The story is filled with wonderfully eclectic characters and centered around family, making readers root for Bailey and her group. The mystery is well-plotted, includes several plausible suspects, and contains a few surprising twists and turns. When all the pieces fall together, and Bailey finds herself in a harrowing situation, readers will be on the edge of their seats to see how she makes it out of this mess alive. The ending also includes a nice cliffhanger to entice readers to look out for the next book in the series. KILL OR BEE KILLED is definitely an enjoyable and buzz-worthy read!  Recipes included!