Fun! Nothing crazy complex or amazing, just a good ol’ time. Highly recommend for a cozy mystery with a sprinkle of romance— was just what I needed!

A fun new series for Ms. Kappes. This one is all about those cowboys. It was a fun quick read to enjoy. Nothing to hard to understand and it was simple enough to while away an afternoon. Pick it up if you are in the mood for a light hearted mystery.

This was such a cozy and fun mystery—Tonya Kappes never disappoints when it comes to small towns, quirky characters, and a murder that keeps you guessing. I always love returning to Normal, Kentucky, and Mae West brings that perfect mix of sass, smarts, and stubbornness that makes these books such an easy binge.

The mystery in Ranch and Red Herring had just enough twists to keep me hooked without getting too complicated. I had my suspicions early on, but the reveal was still satisfying, especially with how the clues were layered in. And of course, the Southern charm and laugh-out-loud moments make it feel like comfort food in book form.

If you enjoy cozy mysteries with a strong female lead, great pacing, and just the right touch of humor, this series (and this installment) is definitely worth picking up.

4.25⭐
Welcome to Bluegrass Ridge Ranch, a new cozy mystery series, that will have you wishing to move there yourself. When "Cussy" Hollingsworth inherits the million dollar ranch from her uncle over his two children, she knows there's a story or mystery behind it. Turns out her uncle was murdered and Cussy can't go back to the big city until the truth is uncovered. Filled with memorable characters and a mystery chick full of the red herrings the title warns us about. The book is a winner and now it's time to patiently (cough, cough) for the next one in the series.

This is going to be a great series. What a great way to start it off. Cussy is the perfect city girl in a small-town character. She is both smart & lost, but looking for her way. With her bestie by her side, she can do anything. I love the cast of characters & cannot wait to get to know them better. I am looking forward to the next book.

Cussy has returned home for her Uncle Amos's funeral and unbeknownst to her, he left her the ranch. When they find out that Uncle Amos was murdered. Cussy decides to investigate. I enjoyed the writing and the setting and the mystery. I'm excited to see what else happens in this series.

Pre thoughts
- Ranch? mystery

overall
- The pacing of the writing is a little jarring, it may be fine for others when reading (Just not easy for me to follow).
- good world building and immersive
- some continuity issues
- Small town vibes with a tinge of mystery over the course of the novel

stars 3
spice 0

tropes
- Small town
- Mystery
- Farm
- Cattle ranching
- Secrets

Thank you Net Galley, Victory Editing and Tonya Kappes for this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own xx

Ranch and Red Herrings by Tonya Kappes is the debut of the Bluegrass Ridge Ranch Mysteries. I thought the characters lacked development. We are given scant information on them besides their physical appearances. Auburn and blonde are the two popular hair colors (of course, it can change from one chapter to the next along with the spelling of blonde). I did not understand why Georgia’s nickname was Cussy (she was called a completely different name twice). Other character’s names are mixed up as well. I am not a fan of Rowan, Cussy’s roommate and friend. She is annoying, over the top, and pushy. Just because she is Cussy’s roommate in the city does not give her the right to break into the ranch house while Cussy is out and makes herself at home in the primary bedroom (which, naturally, is Cussy’s bedroom). Some characters appear and disappear within a couple of paragraphs. It makes you wonder why they were even written into the story. The dialogue is awkward and there are continuity issues. You will need to dig out your telescope to find the whodunit. The mystery is lackluster (Oh, I might as well say it, it is boring). I did not understand why Cussy was investigating when the townspeople were perfectly willing to talk to the kindly sheriff (the uncle excuse does not fly). This is not Tonya Kappes’ first rodeo, so I expected a better whodunit from her. I felt Ranch and Red Herrings should be Ranch and the Red Hot Romance since Cussy thinks about her handsome ranch manager often. The story moved slower than a cattle drive on a hot July day. Repetitive details were also a problem. I’m sorry, but Ranch and Red Herrings did not strike my fancy.

Small town? Cowboys? Murder? Mystery? Slow burn romance? What more could you want! This was literally Hart of Dixie but with a murder mystery. Everything about this book was so cosy and fun; I loved our leading lady, Georgia and everybody else of Bluegrass Ridge. The murder mystery was intriguing to follow & I was satisfied with the ending. I can't wait to return for book 2!

I DNF'd this book at 27% as I was simply getting distracted by errors within the text. And not just typos or grammatical errors, I can skim over those. But incorrect name being used for the FMC (who is Emmy?), or the FMC telling someone the same thing (Amos was murdered) twice in subsequent chapters and the side character both times reacting as it was the first time, telling someone a critical plot point but with the wrong timeline (she found out Amos was murdered when the cop came to her house, but then later on told someone she found out at the will reading), saying that hearing herself say something out loud really does solidify it but this was the third (maybe fourth) time she had verbally told someone this same thing. It felt like this book needed to undergo another round of editing and wasn't quite ready for publication. I'm not sure if the final published version has been edited again after the ARC, but frankly, I'm not sure if I will pick it up to find out. I suppose I could grab it and do a search for "Emmy", and that would easily tell me. I will not be posting a review of this on Goodreads or Storygraph, as I am unsure if it will be a review of the final published copy.

I absolutely loved it!!! This book was amazingly good and I didn’t want to put it down! I cannot wait for another one!!

I stumbled across Kappes Camper & Criminals Cozy Mystery Series on Libby.
I listened to book one and I’ve been hooked for months now! (Just wished all her books were on Libby)

So when I seen Ranch And Red Herrings on NetGalley and seen it’s a brand new series I had to hit request!

Ranch & Red Herrings is book 1 in the brand new Bluegrass Ridge Ranch series by Tonya Kappes.
I love that her books are based in Kentucky (born and raised here) but currently living in Florida.
So it’s a little piece of home.

This book was a nice time away from my thrillers.
The writing is excellent and the mystery keeps you turning the pages.
I found this to be a fun and entertaining.
I thought the characters in this book were entertaining and delightful and the descriptions of the town and surroundings are so vivid I could picture myself accompanying Cussy wherever she went.
I’m loving Kappes little cozy mysteries.
They are quick, entertaining and so much fun.

I can’t wait for more cozies written by this author.

Thank you Victory Editing and Tonya Kappes for this eARC.

Happy Pub Day!

Georgia "Cussy" Hollingsworth traded her country life for the big city. She is forced to return home when her uncle dies. Cussy gets the shock of a lifetime when she finds out her uncle has left his ranch to her. She also soon learns that her uncle's death was not what it seems. She must make a decision on what she wants to do with the ranch while also looking into his death.

I am a very big Tonya Kappes fan and was so excited to see she had a new series starting up. Tonya has a real talent in setting up interesting and fun communities within her books. Cussy is a delight. She is funny and smart. I found the mystery to be interesting. It had some good twists. The book was fast paced and balanced the mystery with the personal story line well. I can't wait for the next book. I will also be on the watch for this one to come out on audio to do a reread!

Thank you to NetGalley, Tonya Kappes, and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Tonya Kappes, so when I saw this new series, I was so excited! The first thing I noticed was the cover, it’s absolutely stunning. Then I had seen it was by Tonya Kappes, that’s when I realized I needed this book! I was so pleased with this book and so proud of Tanya. I can’t wait to read more of this series!

ARC Review - Huge thanks to Tonya Kappes and Victory Editing for the opportunity to receive a review copy of Ranch & Red Herrings!

⭐️⭐️ - I’m not going to mince words. This book is a complete mess. This is my first time reading Tonya Kappes, so I don’t have anything to compare the book to, but I know she has countless other books out there (a series of which is being developed for television with Hallmark Media), which makes it very strange that this book was sent out for review in its current format.

The book is not complete, and as a few other reviewers have pointed out, is not fit for publishing. There are at least two instances where FMC Cussy is called by a different name entirely (I’m guessing the author was considering that other name at some point and missed it with find and replace when she went with Cussy - which, what kind of a name is that, and who would choose to go by that name when their first name is Georgia? But I digress…). There are other instances where the town doctor and veterinarian’s names are mixed up, a secondary character, Libby, is described as having red hair which later becomes blonde (spelled “blond” which is typically masculine), and the timeline is all over the place which creates continuous plot holes.

Beyond the fundamental issues with structure and formatting, I found Cussy’s friend Rowan (who kind of just appears all of a sudden) incredibly immature and annoying. Every single woman whose hair colour receives a description has auburn hair - Cussy included - except for Libby and Rowan (at first). The book is single POV and Cussy describes the expressions or words of others as “something I couldn’t quite place” so many times I decided it was actually the author who was choosing to be lazy and/or lacked the ability to, in fact, place said emotion.

OK, so you’re probably asking yourself “why didn’t she just DNF the book then?” Despite all of the above (and so much more), I actually really liked the concept for this book and found I was intrigued enough to stick around and find out what direction it took (when I could decipher a direction, that is), hence the reason for the 2⭐️ rating. This book had the potential to be a kitschy southern murder mystery, but instead, just ended up as a bunch of stereotypical sounding names and unorganized events thrown together (remember the Hallmark series? I can definitely see how the author’s style lends itself to that). I’m a bit confused about how I ended up with this ARC to begin with when I almost exclusively only browse the Romance category on NetGalley, so I’m guessing it was listed as such at the time I found it? This book is not a romance. There are occasional will they/won’t they moments between Cussy and the ranch foreman, Colt, but there is literally no romance present.

I really wanted to enjoy Ranch and Red Herrings. A cozy mystery set on a horse ranch sounded like the perfect summer read. Unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me on every level.

The characters felt flat and underdeveloped. The main character, Cussy (honestly, not a fan of the name), flip-flops between being a prissy city girl and a down-to-earth ranch hand with no real consistency. The romance? It sparks out of nowhere and has zero depth — more of a checkbox than a believable subplot. The murder mystery is just...not great.

The ranch setting could’ve been charming, but it felt like the author had little understanding of farm life. Cussy complains about cleaning the barn and feeding chickens — what exactly did she expect on a ranch? The plot jumps around confusingly, and the editing (or lack thereof) makes it hard to follow. Everything feels extremely rushed, from the pacing to the character arcs.

I’m all for cozy mysteries, but this one just didn’t deliver. It needs more time, more care, and a lot more character development. It feels like the author is trying to ride the cowboy trend that Lyla Sage does so well, but this ended up as a strange copy placed in a “random” genre.

the plot was there and the cover was stunning. i was a bit left confused sometimes and characters were randomly added to scenes but i had a good time. it just left something to be desired.

Unfortunately, I really struggled to get through this book. Although the plot really interested me, I found the execution a little bit lacking I didn’t care for the main character or her potential love interest.

Something that continually took me out of the story was the dialogue. In some circumstances, it seemed as though the dialogue was in the wrong place. The tone in the conversation shifted rapidly, and sometimes I found myself reading a few pages over and over again to determine which characters were in the scene or not and who was speaking.

On a positive note, I will say that the descriptions in this book were very, very good. The author painted a very vivid picture of ranch and small town life. Everything was easy to visualize and I got a real sense of where we were meant to be.

In terms of the characters, I wasn’t their biggest fan. I found Cussy to be a little bit immature and annoying, and I was really put off by the fact Colt had a fiancé and yet had no issue sharing a bed with a Cussy, so soon after meeting her. I would’ve preferred Wade to have been the little interest but I will admit I like the thought of him and Rowan together. It’s almost a pity that this is a series that will follow one character throughout as I think the two of them would make very interesting main character characters.

Overall, I think this book had a lot of potential and had it on for the dialogue issues. I probably would’ve read it higher. While the main character wasn’t one I particularly liked, that is just a personal preference. The descriptions in this book really are the highlight.

Thank you to NetGalley, Victory editing and the author for an opportunity to read an advanced a copy of this book.

Ranch and Red Herrings is the first book in the new Bluegrass Ridge Ranch Mystery Series by Tonya Kappes. The amateur sleuth is Georgia "Cussy" Hollingsworth, a city girl who inherits a working horse and cattle ranch and a mystery.

Cussy's beloved Uncle Amos just passed away. She is shocked to discover that she has inherited his sprawling Kentucky ranch. His children are just as surprised and not very happy about it.

Cussy is a city girl and hasn't been to the ranch for more than a decade. She doesn't know the first thing about running a ranch that size. But when she finds out Amos was murdered and didn't die a natural death, she decides to stay until she finds out who killed him.

But Bluegrass Ridge is a small town with big secrets and figuring out whodunit is easier said than done.

I loved Ranch and Red Herrings! I have read quite a few Tonya Kappes books, and this is my new favorite!

A cowboy cozy is a brilliant idea. The setting is unique and lends itself well to interesting characters and scenarios.

Cussy is a stranger in a strange land and finds herself balancing farm chores, fact finding, and family drama.

She has fond memories of the ranch and Uncle Amos, and they all come rushing back the more time she spends there.  It isn't long before she starts falling for a different kind of life...and the swoon-worthy ranch manager, Colt.

Tonya Kappes does a great job of balancing small town secrets and family drama with a puzzling mystery and a will-they-won't-they romance.

I found myself rooting for Cussy, hoping she'd decide to stay at the ranch, and wondering what (if anything) was going to happen between her and Colt. All of this made for a very suspenseful read.

The mystery stumped me and had me guessing whodunit right up to the very end.

The story is beautifully written. The descriptions of the ranch, the town, and the various settings made me want to visit Bluegrass Ridge for real!

There were so many good lines in the book. I smiled and laughed more than a few times. And I found myself moved when Cussy reminiscences about Uncle Amos and yearns for connections with family and friends.

I am all in on this series and can't wait to read more to find out what's next for Cussy!

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Net Galley and Victory Editing. This did not influence my opinion. I chose to voluntarily leave a review.

I FLEW through this! Our main character Cussy inherits a ranch from her Uncle Amos and his children are NOT happy with this decision. When it comes to light that Amos was murdered, Cussy looks to find his killer whilst learning to run a ranch.

This was a cosy mystery with a fast paced plot and investigation. Cussy was a good main character and I enjoyed her being suspicious of basically everyone but omg Rowan was just plain annoying- like girl literally SHUT UP! Why are you telling everyone everything?!? You can’t be inconspicuous if everyone knows you’re investigating a murder 😂

I liked Colt and the mini romance going on and the family dynamic with Cussy and her cousins.

I look forward to reading book 2 next year as I feel this town has unfinished business