Put Out to Pasture by Amanda Flower: Book Review

Put Out to Pasture is the second in Amanda Flower’s Farm to Table Mystery series. Released on February 22, 2022, it continues the story of Shiloh Bellamy as she works to revive her family farm in Michigan. A dead body is discovered at the Bellamy farm’s fall celebration, and Shiloh’s best friend is the main suspect. Shiloh is willing to bet the farm that her friend is innocent. Will she lose it all?

I want to thank Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Put Out to Pasture. All opinions presented here are solely mine.

Synopsis from Goodreads

There’s fowl play afoot on the farm.

Shiloh Bellamy has saved her family’s farm from financial ruin—but now what? She’s barely scraping by on the farm’s new organic business model, and the fall festival she organized to drum up business comes to a screeching halt when the body of a prominent townswoman is discovered underneath a scarecrow in a nearby field. Worst of all, the evidence points to Shiloh’s childhood best friend, Kristy, as the prime suspect.

Between cooking up delicious treats made with her farm’s produce, convincing her cantankerous father to let her do things her way, and dealing with a newcomer in town who could be serious competition for her customers, Shiloh doesn’t have time to wade into a murder investigation. But with a killer on the loose and suspicious activity circling closer and closer to Shiloh and the people she loves, she realizes there’s nothing to do but roll up her sleeves and get down to the dirty work of finding the killer and clearing Kristy’s name once and for all.

Positives

It was great being back at Bellamy Farm and seeing how Shiloh has worked to make her dreams and goals come true. While she still has a lot of work to do, she isn’t letting it stop her.

Another great thing was getting to know more about some of the other town residents.

My favorite characters in this book were the attack chickens! I can’t say more, or I will spoil the ending.

Negatives

Is it strange that the only negative I can think of is that I don’t know when the next book in the series will be released?

My Opinions

While part of a series, you could read Put Out to Pasture without reading the first book. But you will miss out on some details, like character growth. Speaking of that, will Doreen finally stop hating on Shiloh so much? And what is it about Chief Randy? Why does he seem to have issues with her?

My favorite relationship in the book is the friendship between Shiloh and Kristy. They were best friends in high school and lost touch when Shiloh suddenly moved to California. After 15 years, Shiloh returns to town, and the two resume their friendship as if nothing happened. They admitted they were both at fault and didn’t work on the friendship while Shiloh was in California. Instead, they put the past in the past and are moving forward.

I had my suspicions as to who the murderer was, but I wasn’t 100% certain because it didn’t quite feel right. In addition to the fact that there were four other potential suspects, other than Kristy, I kept changing my mind throughout the book.

If you enjoy cozy mysteries, you will enjoy Put Out to Pasture. The first Amanda Flower book I read was Farm to Trouble, the first book in this series. I have heard many great things about the author and will have to read some of her backlist while I wait for news on book three.

Looking for some more books to read? Check out my other book reviews and my monthly reading wrap-ups.