I found this to be a cute first cozy in a new series. The main character is a mystery writer who needs to use their skills to solve a real murder. Can she solve the real life mystery? Cozy novels are like comfort food. I really enjoy their beautiful setting, the lovable pets, always the food and sometimes quirky characters. This cozy is no different and I will look for Jennie Marts in the future.
Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this copy.

Fun debut, and interesting start to the Bee Keeping Mystery series.

The characters were charming, the mystery was intriguing enough, and it took me a while to figure it out.

The granny and aunts had me laughing, but also wondering. Wondering who, wondering why, wondering if it was them.

Love the setting, the town, the secondary characters, and can't wait to return to the Ranch.

Best book I’ve read in a long time! Funny, serious, dramatic, mysterious, romantic, it had it all. I laughed out loud so many times! Bailey and the Hive had a beautiful relationship, and Sawyer, Mateo, and Griff were swoon worthy. The mayor (the murder victim) was a despicable man, one who made you be on the side of the murderer. Marts seemlessly wove the town of Humble Hills into the story, making it a place I want to visit. Can’t wait to read the next book and will definitely read some of her others in the meantime.

Bailey Briggs grew up in Humble Hills, Colorado. She lived at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch and was raised by her beekeeping grandmother, Blossom Briggs, aka Granny Bee.

Bailey is now a successful mystery writer and lives with her daughter. She visits her grandmother occasionally, but hasn't been home in a while. She drops everything to come home when Granny Bee calls to say she has fallen and needs some help. When she gets home, she's shocked to find that her high school boyfriend has returned home, too.

After visiting with Granny Bee, Aunt Aster and Aunt Marigold, along with several members of Granny Bee's book club (The Hive), Bailey decides it's time to pay a visit to the founder of Humble Hills. Nobody is answering his door so she looks in the window only to see his dead body laying on the floor. Apparently the cause of death was an allergic reaction to eating honey.... and it happened to be the honey that Gramma Bee sells.

Unfortunately, Granny Bee is the prime suspect so Bailey uses her fictional detective skills to help solve the murder.

This was a delightful book with well-developed characters. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next in this series

#TaketheHoneyandRun

I enjoyed this story. There were a lot of characters to keep track of but I think the main ones, Granny Bee’s friends from the book club, should be recurring characters so they will be easier to keep straight in later books. The mystery was intriguing and while I was a little sad about who the guilty party was, it kept me guessing until the very end. There were a few things that I don’t like, the worst of which is the amateur sleuth breaking in to get clues, but other than that, I thought this was a good start to a new series. I will continue with the series.

After learning her beloved Granny Bee has broken her foot, Bailey Briggs and her 12-year old daughter, Daisy, return home. Granny Bee is a beekeeper and maker of various and sundry bee related products. When the town's mayor is found dead, it's quickly determined to be due to his bee allergy.As Granny Bee has threatened his life the previous day, she quickly rose to suspect Number 1. Bailey, a mystery author by profession rises to the challenge to save Granny Bee. The characters in this debut cozy offer plenty of potential for further stories, as well as they did in this well paced mystery.

I really enjoyed this Take the Honey and Run. I am new to Jennie Marts, and I am now a fan. I can't wait for book 2 in this series.

Unfortunately I didn't download this book to my kindle. I will be getting it from the library now. I hope to get thr next in the series also

Dollycas's Thoughts

Bailey Briggs writes murder mysteries so she should be able to solve one, right?

Bailey, her 12-year-old daughter, Daisy, and their golden retriever Cooper have come home to the Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch to help her Granny Bee with the ranch when a fall leaves her with a broken foot. Her grandmother raised her and she has so many great memories of her time there. Her grandmother has her "hive" of friends and her sisters, Aster and Marigold but Bailey is happy to do whatever she can to help her granny never expecting that would entail keeping her out of jail for murder.

Werner Humble, the town's founder is dead and Bailey was the first on the scene followed quickly by a man she has a lot of history with Sawyer Dunn who now happens to be the sheriff. It is the jar of "Honey I'm Home" hot spiced honey made by Grandma Bee and some threatening words by her at him that land her at the top of the suspect list for Wener's murder though.

Much to the frustration of Sheriff Dunn, Bailey has decided to solve the murder herself with the help of her BFF, her social media maven daughter Daisy, and the ladies of the Hive. She is going to have to "bee" careful. Can she spread enough honey around to catch a killer or will she get permanently stung?

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This story grabbed me from page 1! I love that the author had me giggling right away and it continued throughout the whole story.

Mystery author Bailey Briggs is a wonderful protagonist. She and her best friend Evie had what Sheriff Sawyer Dunn called a Lucy and Ethel moment and that is truly what they felt like, a modern-day Lucy and Ethel. I enjoyed the banter between Sawyer and Bailey and their interesting history. Granny Bee was a hoot and her sisters and friends were hilarious. For being the first book in the series, the characters were fleshed out pretty well but there is plenty of room for growth and an important secret yet to be revealed. I do love that all the women in the Briggs family are named after flowers. Bailey's is named after one of her mother's favorite roses, the Bailey Red.

The mystery was very well-plotted. The deceased fancied himself to be quite a lady's man and had dated or was dating several women from the Humble Hills area which means there was a large suspect pool. Their motives become clear when we learn why he was dating such an assortment of women. I was kept guessing the entire way and a little saddened when all was revealed as were Sawyer, Bailey, and others.

Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch sounds like a delightful place. It is easy to see why Bailey loves it there and now wants to share that life with her daughter.

The recipes at the end of the book, from the kitchens of Blossom Briggs (Granny Bee), her sister Aster and Rosa Delgado are so tempting too. I can't wait to try them.

With Take the Honey and Run Jennie Marts has set this series off to a fantastic start. With fabulous characters, plenty of humor, and a stirring mystery set in a bee-utiful place, it feeds every cozy craving. With the little bit of a cliffhanger at the end, I feel like this is just the bee-ginning of what I truly hope is a long-running series.

I thought this would be a fun cozy mystery, and it might be for others but I found it too corny. The main character just seemed silly to me. I just couldn't get on board with the "bee hive".

Take the Honey and Run is the first book in Jennie Marts’ Bee Keeper Mystery series. Set in the small northern Colorado town of Humble Hills, this new series features thriller author Bailey Briggs, her family and friends as she embarks on her first visit in awhile with her Granny Bee at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch, the Land of Milk and Honey as the sign proclaims. Her primary purpose for the visit is to help her grandmother while her broken foot heals, but second to that Bailey is looking to move back home when her lease expires soon.

What Bailey does not expect to do on this visit is run into her high school love, Sawyer Dunn, to learn he is now the town’s sheriff, or to discover a dead body with Sawyer. Neither did Bailey expect to be drawn into the murder investigation when her own Granny Bee becomes a prime person of interest in the crime.

This is a wonderfully plotted mystery told with humor and heart. The characters are well drawn and the small town so well described you feel as though you’re there. I very much enjoyed this book and look forward to the books in this series yet to come. I do recommend it!

Bailey became anxious and afraid when she found the Mayor dead mere hours after her gran threatened to kill him. She needed to help find the killer before her granny got arrested for a crime she didn’t commit. Regardless of what her former boyfriend, the Sheriff says, she had no intention of staying out of the investigations. I do not appreciate the way you left such crucial details as to who was Daisy’s father out. Now, I have to wait for the next in the series to get that low down, not kosher, I tell you, not kosher. Putting that aside, Bailey’s Grandmother and the Hives were an exciting and hilarious group of mature women who kickass. It was an immensely engaging and delightful read that was captivating and intriguing.

Take the Honey and Run is the first in a new series by Jennie Marts. It is about an author who comes home to help her injured grandmother, only to find out her teenage boyfriend has moved back and is the sheriff now. The two of them stumble across a body and quickly discover that it was murder. To make matters worse her granny quickly becomes a suspect and in order to clear her name she launches her own investigation to uncover the real killer.
This story quickly grabbed me, but then it lost me around the middle. It did have some entertaining moments that had me laughing out loud, but I wish there were more of them. If you are looking for a cozy mystery with some interesting characters who will have you laughing out loud, then Take the Honey and Run might just be for you.

My first novel from this author and it didn’t quite work for me. There is a huge cast of characters and I though the final denouement was coming twice before it actually did! I could have used it dialling back all the bee references as well. But it is the first in a series though so it had some setting up to do as well as the murder mystery and it has left some questions hanging for a sequel. I might check in again in a few books time and see how it’s going.

Phenomenal first in series!!! Such an amazing cast of characters. I loved this book from chapter one. I love the dynamic of the young and older cast, it really worked. I felt like I was in the story right along with them, excellent writing! I also laughed out loud several times. The mystery/mysteries of the book were interesting, and I did not expect the reveal at all.

I cannot wait for more from this series and to reconnect with bee hive again.

This is the first book in A Bee Keeping Mystery series. It’s very well written and entertaining. The characters are interesting and their interactions are heartwarming and often humorous. There are many things in this book that will appeal to cozy mystery fans; family, friendship, small town community, humor, mystery, murder, amateur sleuthing and a little romance. As much as I expect the amateur sleuths in cozy mysteries to do their own investigations and ignore being told by law enforcement to stay out of the investigation, I did have some issues with Bailey and Evie doing things that they could be arrested for and feeling that it was ok because they were trying to protect Granny Bee. I guess I want my amateur sleuths to have a bit more respect for the law. 🤷🏼‍♀️ The mystery itself was well done, keeps your interest and has plenty of red herrings to keep you guessing.

Take the Honey and Run is book #1 in the Bee Keeping Mystery series by Jennie Marts.

Bailey Briggs is an author who heads back to her hometown when her grandmother has an accident. She isn’t prepared to get involved involved in a real murder investigation, but she has to clear her grandmother’s name.

This was such a fun read! Bailey, her family, friends, and The Ladies of the The Hive are wonderful characters. There were some laugh out loud moments and some heart wrenching ones too. The mystery was interesting with so many suspects and Bailey and Evie “helping” Sawyer. I can’t wait for the next book!

Thank you to the author, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

When Granny Bee breaks her foot, Bailey heads home to take care of her grandmother, who runs a Bee farm and makes all things Bee related. When Bailey stumbles upon a body and one of Granny’s products was the murder weapon, making Granny the main suspect, Well let’s just say that being a mystery author doesn’t make one a real life sleuth…until it does!

With Bailey and the Bee Hive on the case, someone is getting nervous and Bailey refuses to cave into their threats to stop digging. Bailey will do anything to clear Granny Bee’s name…no matter the cost.

First off, I love Bees, so this one was a MUST READ the moment I saw it. I’m so glad it caught my eye, because it’s now on my MUST read cozy series list! The Hive and Queen B…great plays on pop culture and the mystery is solid with a wonderful cast of characters and a very llikeable protagonist. Can’t wait for more int his series!

Take the Honey and Run by Jennie Marts is basically a cozy mystery, which is not what this author is known for. Here is the only spoiler: the story is not done. There will be more. The lease on Bailey’s house has run out and she needs to find a place to live. At the same time, her grandmother calls to say she’s broken her foot and needs help so she and Daisy, her daughter, are off to Humble Hills, Colorado, to assist Granny Bee with her bee enterprise. She doesn’t want to be late for high tea but the tractor in front of her is going soooo slowly. She finally decided to pass but ends up in a ditch avoiding a cow that had been in the road. Who should be the guy on the Tractor but Sawyer Dunn, her high school boyfriend who had taken off and broken her heart. He did get her to Granny Bee’s, though, almost on time, where the other members of the Hive, Granny’s book club were there to meet her. Well, almost. Really Granny Bee was chasing away some elderly man: apparently he had made a pass at her and she didn’t like it. Well, no matter. He ended up dead the next day and Granny Bee was the prime suspect.

Bailey wrote murder mysteries and was apparently quite good at it as she had sold eight of them. She was a very attractive young woman and had an adorable 12-year-old daughter who was excited to be there. When Bailey discovered the body of Werner Humble the next morning when she went to tell him off, Sawyer appeared again. It seemed he was the sheriff. Why had no one told her? Evie, her best friend and daughter of one of the Hive members thought it was funny. She was enjoying herself. No matter how many times Sawyer told them to stay out of it, Bailey and Evie thought they knew better. Actually, it turned out they did. It was a good mystery full of red herrings and misadventures. The character-driven plot was excellent as were the characters. They were called the Hive, after all. A good read for cozy fans as well as romance fans, as there were several.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Take the Honey and Run by Crooked Lane Books, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #CrookedLaneBooks #JennieMarts #TakeTheHoneyAndRun

Oh my gosh, this was just so good and so funny in places. I was giggling while picturing Evie and Bailey out on their sleuthing missions, especially the one Sawyer referred to as a Lucy and Ethel scheme. And yep, they were basically a modern-day Lucy and Ethel but either one would probably take a bullet for the other. You couldn’t ask for better friends!

Granny and the Hive book club ladies cracked me up! She and her sisters were something else and it was pretty funny to see them gross out Evie and Bailey when they told about their romance lives.

I never knew whodunit until the reveal. The showdown was the quiet and non-dangerous type which after what Bailey had been through, she needed non-dangerous. Lots of secrets were held by tons of people so I wonder if we’ll ever hear anything more in a future book…like maybe who Daisy’s father was? Lots and lots of recipes at the end that didn’t look terribly complicated. Granny’s cakes sounded amazing.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Crooked Lane via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.