Dead on the vine /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Perfect for fans of B. B. Haywood and Peg Cochran, Ellie B. White's whimsical series debut is full of farm fun, complete with a helpful baby pig.

Reluctant farmer Charlotte Finn needs the help of the livestock to sleuth a mysterious death.

Charlotte Finn never wanted to inherit the family's produce farm--much less plow a heap of money into it. Her plan is to hammer a great big FOR SALE sign into the farm's fallow furrows--but Charlotte's sunny hopes of a quick sale succumb to a killing frost when she finds a dead body entwined supine in the tomato vines. The poor man, it seems, was run through...with a pitchfork?

Now, Charlotte is stuck with running the farm in the midst of a murder investigation. Charlotte's knowledge of farming is smaller than her bank balance, so she relies on caretakers Joe and Alice Wong and their farmhands. Can she trust them? She doesn't know them. There's also farmer Samuel Brown, who still carries a childhood grudge. But the case gets personal when Charlotte learns that the victim might have been her own kin--and seeds of suspicion grow into a fertile field of suspects.

Charlotte turns to the farm's pig to help root out the killer. Soon, the goats, geese, and horse join in, but will Charlotte harvest a murderer--or buy the farm?

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

After Charlotte Finn, the heroine of the pseudonymous White's lighthearted series launch, is fired from her high-powered job at a Chicago advertising firm, she heads for Little Acorn, Calif., with high hopes of managing the produce farm that she recently inherited from a great-uncle. "I've been to a farmers market, so how hard can this be?" she reasons. Her optimism flags when she learns that the farm is barely breaking even. While showing a real estate agent the property, she and the agent discover the body of a young man with a pitchfork driven through his neck. "I can't sell the farm without taking a loss, and I can't raise money from it while this murder is fresh in people's minds," concludes Charlotte, so she decides to investigate the murder herself. Though she's surrounded by well-meaning friends, Charlotte's real ally is a small, impossibly cute, and intelligent pig she names Horse (because he eats like one). Never mind that the culprit is pretty obvious. Animal lovers won't want to miss this playful cozy. Agent: Sharon Belcastro, Belcastro Agency. (Apr.)

Booklist Review

Charlotte Finn leaves her Chicago advertising career behind to travel to Little Acorn, California, to run the family farm, left to her by her great-uncle. On arriving, Charlotte learns that the farm barely breaks even, so she decides she must sell it. Unfortunately, during the tour with the real-estate agent, she finds the body of a young man, skewered with a pitchfork. Fearing she is a suspect, Charlotte begins her own investigation into the murder, aided by a smart baby pig. The idyllic setting and fond childhood memories of visiting the farm cause Charlotte to change her mind about selling, as she, her friends Beau and Diane, and the farm's employees implement various ideas to make the operation more profitable. Complicating matters, others claim they have ownership rights, and someone is intent on sabotaging the farm. Working with the local police chief, Charlotte sets a trap for the killer and saves the farm. The beautifully described rural setting, the nicely fleshed-out characters, and a sense of whimsy distinguish this charming cozy debut, the first in a series.

Kirkus Book Review

A displaced ad executive inherits a farm whose latest crop includes a corpse. Charlotte Finn's windfall couldn't have come at a better time, or a worse. The farm her Uncle Tobias left her in Little Acorn, California, gives her a place to retreat when her high-powered Chicago ad agency unexpectedly fires her. But her discovery of a dead body in a field of tomatoes prevents her from putting the failing enterprise up for a quick sale. No one wants a rocky business that's also a crime scene. So instead, she recruits her friends from Santa Monica, Diane and Beau Mason, to help generate some income from the fields of ripening strawberries. Together with caretakers Ben and Alice Wong and farm expert Samuel Brown, the brother-and-sister team help Charlotte launch a host of moneymaking schemes, including fixing up the old lake to host swimming parties and developing a "you-pick-'em" business to circumvent the high fees their distributor charges. When her human companions turn out to be of limited use in solving the murder, Charlotte finds two assistants whose agricultural experience makes them much more helpful: a teacup pig she names Horse because of his prodigious appetite and a ladybug she dubs Mrs. Robinson for no particular reason. The human-porcine-insect trio attacks the case with a gusto and expertise that would make mere cat sleuths blush with envy. Animal detection at its most frolicsome. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Elle Brooke White became a world traveler at a young age when her family moved to Europe. She grew up in Paris, Brussels and London until returning to the US to attend Vassar College. She then moved to New York City with the hopes of becoming a renowned actress but took a job in advertising-- as Elle says "just until." But it was time for her to return to "a world of pure imagination". Now Elle lives in Southern California with her famous diving dog, Bardot.