Josiah Reynolds is quite a character!  Josiah: older, smart, talented, eccentric, the type of woman you would like to know, be friends with and admire for her strength and bravery. Set in bluegrass hills of Kentucky, this mystery has all the southern culture you would want without being uppity. Josiah was an art history professor, now retired who along with her architect husband designed their amazing home, The Butterfly.  Aside from being a famous house, it is filled with fabulous art with a huge “yard” running to the river in the back and surrounded by horse breeders. Josiah’s husband ran off with a younger women, hid all their money and left Josiah with nothing but the house when he died. Struggling to keep up her beloved home, she has turned to beekeeping and sells her honey at the local farmer’s market.  

Unfortunately, the man whom she thinks is her worst enemy (trying to end her beekeeping days and thus her only source of income) is found dead in her bee yard with his head in a beehive.  Josiah is not going to let anyone keep her from her source of income or force her to lose her home. Regardless of the autopsy ruling the death a heart attack she, wants to know why the man was even at her house, much less with the bees.  Unraveling the mystery reveals more secrets, murder, a tangled love affair and more answers than Josiah wants.

Warning!  There is a major cliffhanger at the end of the book.  I know this can be frustrating to many people, myself included, but the solution in this case is simple: Read the second book in the series.  This should not be a problem because the books are well written, fun, interesting and some of the best cozy mysteries I have read!